IMPLEMENTATION OF TSUNAMI DISASTER EDUCATIONFOR CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Toshitaka Katada1, Masanobu Kanai2
1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gunma University, 1-5-1,
Tenjin-cho, Kiryu, Gunma, 376-8515, Japan, t-katada@ce.gunma-u.ac.jp
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gunma University, 1-5-1,
Tenjin-cho, Kiryu, Gunma, 376-8515, Japan, kanai@ce.gunma-u.ac.jp
Abstract: It is expected that many coastal regions in Japan will be
attacked by huge tsunami in near future. Therefore, tsunami evacuationplans are considered in Japan. In this paper, tsunami disaster education
was carried out for elementary school children and their parents. The
purpose of this education was to encourage development of a family planfor tsunami evacuation. At first, children and their parents learned abouttsunamis and how to evacuate safety during tsunamis. Second, they
searched for safety tsunami evacuation places near their houses. Third,
they made a tsunami evacuation map and developed the family
evacuation plan based on this map. Through this education program,children not only got the knowledge about tsunami but also got thewisdom about tsunami evacuation.
INTRODUCTION
Problem about Tsunami Evacuation in Japan

There is a prevailing concern that a huge tsunami might be generated by earthquakes
on the Sanriku, Toukai, Tounankai, or Nankai fault zone in Japan. It is clear that
residents who live in coastal areas need to evacuate immediately after the earthquake
occurrence in order to reduce the number of casualties that might result due to thesetsunamis.
However, even if the Japanese government issued tsunami warning and evacuation
information to the residents in coastal areas, there is a concern that residents might
not understand or obey the evacuation order. For example, in a recently survey
undertaken by T. Katada, et al. 2005, it was found that during Miyagiken-Oki
1earthquake which occurred on May 26 2003 the percentage of residents evacuated in
Kesennuma City Japan was 1.7%.
Therefore, tsunami disaster education is being carried out in various means in orderto give residents information about the risk from tsunamis and encourage them toevacuate immediately following an earthquake occurrence. Moreover, many articles,
games and simulators (text books, simulation system, educational tools card game,etc) have been published or developed (K. Yamori, et al. 2006) to educate residents
about tsunami preparedness measures.
Low Level of Residents Participate in Tsunami Education

Tsunami disaster education faces several problems. Generally, the trend is that few
persons attend these disaster educational forums and it is usually those who alreadyhave a keen interest in the subject matter that attend. On the other hand, residents
who are not prepared or who do not have any interest in the subject matter tend not toattend the disaster educational forum. As a result, the facilitators of tsunami disastereducation forum cannot communicate with the residents who do not participate in thediscussions.
It is not surprising, that those residents who do not participate in the educational
forums are less prepared and have a lower level of tsunami risk perception that thoseresidents who do participate in the forums. As such those who do not participate areless likely to undertake evacuation immediately following the occurrence of anearthquake in the future. Moreover, research has indicated that there is a lower rate ofparticipation among younger residents than among the elderly. Therefore, it isnecessary to develop a method of tsunami disaster education that will encourage or
enable communication with all residents especially those who have never participatedin a disaster educational forum.
Tsunami Experience is Fading

In the past a number of coastal towns have been repeatedly affected by tsunami
occurrences. Therefore, this has resulted in the development of a disaster culture(tsunami knowledge and wisdom) which is peculiar to each town based on theirindividual experiences of being affected by tsunamis. Until now, this knowledge andwisdom has been conveyed to children by parents and to grandchildren by children.
This tradition of relaying tsunami experience and wisdom from generation to
generation can contribute to a reduction in the number of causalities caused by thetsunami.
For example, over 220,000 people died in 2004, due to the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
However, a lot of residents of Simeulue Island in Indonesia were able to survive thetsunami by evacuating to higher ground due to the tsunami wisdom which theyreferred to as “Smong”. This means “If the tide goes out unnaturally after a strong
earthquake, a huge tsunami will occur, so one should evacuate to a higher ground
immediately” (McAdoo, B. G, et al. 2006).

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In Japan, similar traditions about tsunami wisdoms also exist in coastal towns,
however, these traditional accounts of tsunami damage are gradually fading away. In
research carried out by M. Kanai, et al. 2007, it was found that local tsunami
knowledge/wisdom is beginning to disappear in the Kamaishi City, Japan. Thislocation is known to have been repeatedly affected by tsunami occurrences in the pastthat have resulted in a number of casualties. And now it is predicted that Kamaishi
City will be affected by Sanriku earthquake tsunami in the near future. According to
the research carried out by M. Kanai, et al. 2007, most children in Kamaishi City
have little knowledge about tsunami evacuation. For example most of them don’tknow where they should evacuate following the occurrence of an earthquake. This isbecause the occurrence of parents sharing with their children their knowledge abouttsunamis has been decreasing. As the result, most household have never developed afamily plan which should include; where to evacuate, how to contact each other, or
what to pack for possible tsunami evacuation, etc.
Purpose of Tsunami Disaster Education

Based on the above issues, it is necessary for residents in tsunami-prone area tounderstand the tsunami risk of their domiciles and to know the safety evacuation
places from tsunami in order to encourage more residents to evacuate from tsunami.
Therefore, our research group carried out tsunami disaster education. The purpose ofthis education is as follows;
1. To share with children the wisdom of tsunami knowledge and evacuation, and toencourage them to evacuate promptly after an earthquake occurrence.
2. To encourage more parents to participate in tsunami disaster education.
3. To encourage families to develop tsunami preparedness and response plans foreach household.
UNDERTAKING OF TSUNAMI EDUCATIONAL FORUM

In order to achieve the above three purposes, tsunami education forums were carriedout with children and their parents from two Elementary Schools in Kamaishi City,
Japan. Both schools are located at seaside areas. Therefore, when tsunami comes toKamaishi, portions of each school zone are in inundation areas. The forum wascarried out over three days. The flow of a forum is shown in Fig. 1. The number ofchildren who participated in the forums and the date when forums were carried out
are shown in Table 1. All schedules of the forum used our research group staff as thefacilitators.
Lecture on Tsunami to Children and Their Parents

On the first day of the forum, the facilitator started the program by giving separate
lectures on tsunamis to children and their parents. The contents of the lecture tochildren were different from those to their parents. Children were educated in
traditional tsunami wisdom and where to evacuate safely in their town. On the other
hand, parents were informed that their children have very little knowledge abouttsunami, and encouraged to develop a tsunami family plan. Both lectures were carriedout at school. The time of each lecture was about 90 minutes.

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1st daya) Lecture on Tsunami to Childrenb) Lecture on Tsunami to Parentsc) Search for Tsunami Evacuation Place in Vicinity of School Zone
Next day2nd dayd) Create an Evacuation Map by Children
About two months after
3rd daye) Distribute an Evacuation Map and Lecture on How to use the Map
Fig. 1. Flow of Tsunami Disaster Education Forum
Table 1. Schedule of Tsunami Disaster Education Forum
SchoolGrade

School A
School B

Number of participants

Date of LectureChildren

Parents

1st day

2nd day

3rd day

5,6

117

24

Aug. 30. ’06

Aug. 31. ’06

Nov. 1. ’06

4,5,6

71

10

Nov. 6. ’06

Nov. 7. ’06

Feb. 9. ’07

Search for Tsunami Evacuation Place in Vicinity of School Zone

After lectures to children and their parents, children along with their parents searched
for areas in the vicinity of their school zone that could be used to safely evacuatefrom a tsunami. The facilitator distributed the map of their school zone to each child.
Children went back their houses from school with their parents. On their way, eachchild and his/her parent searched for areas where they think it is safe for tsunami
evacuation place and noted the places on the map. Each child and his/her parent
searched for as many places as possible and wrote all places onto the map. The childand his/her parent had a chance to talk about evacuation and to develop a family plan
through this search. Children whose parents did not participate in the lecture talked
about tsunami evacuation with their parents using the map after they went back home.
Create a Tsunami Evacuation Map

The second day of the forum was carried out at school the day after the first day.
Children brought to school the map on which they had written tsunami evacuation
places. The facilitator separated children into smaller groups according to their
domicile. Children of each group wrote the tsunami evacuation places where they had
searched the day before onto the large size map. Each child could find only places
near the route from his/her house to school. Therefore, children can find more

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Fig. 2. Investigation of Tsunami Evacuation Safe Places by children and their parents
Left: Children and their parents were searching tsunami evacuation places
Right: An example of child’s investigation result

Fig. 3. Children making the Tsunami Evacuation Map
Left: Children were writing evacuation places into map
Right: The map which children wrote evacuation placetsunami evacuation places once they put together the information that was developed
for the school zone from all their individual searches.
Distribute the Complete Tsunami Evacuation Map

The third day of the forum was carried out about two months after of the map
preparation. During this period, the facilitator confirmed the safety of the each
evacuation place that children had written into the map and created a composite mapthat shown only safety tsunami evacuation places. At the third day of the forum, thefacilitator distributed the complete tsunami evacuation map to children and taught
them how to use the map. The facilitator told the children bring the map to theirhouse and show it to their parents. The children were instructed to show the map totheir parent, to check the tsunami evacuation places on the map and develop a familyplan about tsunami evacuation.
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Fig. 4. Complete Tsunami Evacuation Map
MESURING THE EFFECTS OF THE TSUNAMI EDUCATIONAL FORUM

The effect of the tsunami educational forum on children was measured in two ways.
One was to measure the change of tsunami awareness and preparedness amongchildren between before and after the forum. Another was to ascertain children’s
behavioral response following a government-issued evacuation order after anearthquake.
Change of Tsunami Awareness and Preparedness

A questionnaire survey about tsunami awareness and preparedness among children
were carried out before and after the tsunami educational forum. The questionnaire
survey before the forum was carried out in December 2005. The questionnaire survey
after the forum was carried out after second day of the forum. Both surveys werecarried out by teacher of each classroom at school and included some same questions
about tsunami awareness and preparedness.
Fig.5. shows children’s answer of the question “Do you think that tsunami will cometo Kamaishi City? If yes, how about your house?” According to Fig.5, the rate ofchildren who think that tsunami will not come to Kamaishi decreases from 10.3%
before the forum to 1.4% after the forum. On the other hand, the percentage ofchildren who think that tsunami will destroy their house increases from 30.8% before
the forum to 35.7% after the forum.

60%Before the forum

20%

10.3

40%

60%

20.5

80%

37.6

100%

30.8

(N=131)35.7(N=141)

1.4
18.2

After the forum

44.8

I think tsunami will not come to Kamaishi.
I think tsunami will come to Kamaishi, but not inundate with my house.
I think tsunami will come to Kamaishi, and inundate with my house.
I think tsunami will come to Kamaishi, and destroy my house.

Fig. 5. Children’s answer of the question “Do you think that tsunami will come toKamaishi City? If yes, how about your house?”0%
Before the forum

20%

40%

60%

35.9

After the forum

24.8
69.0

80%
24.1
14.1

100%
5.5 9.7(N=145)13.4(N=142)

I think that I will ask the neighborhood to help.

I think that I will wait for family
in my house.

I think that I will call for our family.

I don’t know what I should do.

I think that I will evacuate alone immediately.

Fig. 6. Children’s answer of the question “If big earthquake occurs when you
stay your house alone, what will you do?”Fig.6. shows children’s answer of the question “If big earthquake occurs when you
stay your house alone, what will you do?” According to Fig.6, the percentage ofchildren who think that they will evacuate alone immediately increases from 35.9%
before the forum to 69.0% after the forum.
Fig.7 shows children’s answer of the question “If big earthquake occurs when you go
to school form your house, what will you do?” According to Fig.7, the percentage ofchildren who think that they will evacuate to the nearest high ground increases from
47.3% before the forum to 81.8% after the forum.
These results of the survey revealed that following the educational forum there wasan increased in tsunami knowledge among children.
Children’s Behavioral Response Following a Tsunami Evacuation OrderA large earthquake occurred near Chishima Island, Japan on 15th November 2006.
Following the earthquake occurrence, the government issued the tsunami warning
information and evacuation order for the residents of Kamaishi City. The survey
which ascertained children’s behavioral response following a government evacuation
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0%

20%

40%

60%

47.3

Before the forum

11.6

80%
15.8

13.0

81.8

After the forum

100%

11.2

8.2

(N=146)(N=143)I think that I will evacuate the nearest high ground.

I think that I will go to house.

I think that I will enter the nearest tall building.

I think that I will not move anywhere.

I think that I will go back to school.

I don’t know what I should do.

Fig. 7. Children’s answer of the question “If big earthquake occurs when you go toschool form your house, what will you do?”
0%20%Children who took
part in the forum

40%
48.2

60%

80%

19.6

28.0

100%
(N=143)

4.2
Children who did nottake part in the forum

32.5

17.5

50.0

(N=114)

I evacuated with my family.
I did not evacuate, but I told my family to evacuate.
I did not evacuate, but I wanted to evacuate.
I did not think to evacuate.

Fig. 8. Children’s answer of the question “Did you evacuate after getting the tsunami
evacuation order? If no, what did you think?”

order was undertaken in December 2006. This survey was carried out among bothchildren who had taken part in the tsunami educational forum (Grade 5&6 students of
School A&B) and among those who did not (Grade 5&6 students of School C).
School C was located at seaside area in Kamaishi, and thus was at risk from tsunamis,
but School C had not participated in the tsunami educational forum by our researchgroup.. Both surveys were carried out by the teacher of classroom at school.
Fig.8 shows children’s answer of the question “Did you evacuate after getting thetsunami evacuation order? If no, what did you think?” According to Fig. 8, thepercentage of the children who told their family to evacuate was 48.2% among thechildren who took part in the forum and 32.5% among those who did not. The rate of
the children who did not think to evacuate was 28.0% among the children who took
part in the forum and 50.0% among those who did not. From these results of survey,
more children who participated in the educational forum encouraged their family toevacuate from tsunami than those who did not participate in the educational forum.

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CONCLUSION

In this paper, the tsunami educational forums for children and their parents werecarried out in order to urge them to evacuate from tsunamis. The outline of this forum
was as follows;
1. The facilitator gives a lecture on tsunami separately to children and their parents.
To children: To educate students about traditional tsunami wisdom and where toevacuate safely in their town.
To parents: To inform parents that their children have very little knowledge
about tsunami, and to encourage them to develop a tsunami family plan.
2. Children along with their parents searched for areas in the vicinity of theirschool zone that could be used to safely evacuate from a tsunami.
3. Children created an evacuation map based on their investigation of tsunami safe
areas.
4. Child and their parents developed a family plan using this map.
The effect of the educational forum on children was measured in two ways:
1. A questionnaire survey about tsunami awareness and preparedness amongchildren were carried out before and after the tsunami educational forum. The
results of the survey revealed that following the educational forum there was anincreased in tsunami knowledge among children.
2. A subsequent survey was undertaken to ascertain children’s behavioral response
following a tsunami evacuation order from government. The survey was carriedout among both children who had taken part in the tsunami educational forum
and among those who did not. The results of the survey indicated that
evacuation rate among both groups of children were low. However, amongchildren who had participated in the educational forum, there were a greaternumber of them who encouraged their family to evacuate from the tsunami thenamong those who did not take part in the educational forum.
Now, our research group is carrying out the tsunami disaster education among school
children in only Kamaishi City. Henceforth, we will carry out similar programs inother areas and verify the consistency of effects in this education program.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for supportingby Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 19206255, Research Leader: Toshitaka
Katada).
REFERENCES

K. Yamori, Y. Ishikawa, M. Ushiyama, N. Okada, S. Kataoka and O. Murao (2006).
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McAdoo, B. G., Dengler, L., Prasetya, G., Titov, V., (2006). Smong: How an oral
history saved thousands on Indonesia’s Simeulue Island during the December
2004 tsunami, Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 22, No. S3, p S661-S669.

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M. Kanai, T. Katada and H. Abe (2007). Study on tsunami disaster culture handed
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