7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020
Paper N° C001007
Registration Code: A00930

STUDY ON CHANGES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN JAPAN:
ANALYSIS OF THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT EDUCATION CHALLENGE PLAN
Kouji SATO(1), Reo KIMURA(2)(1) Chief teacher,Utatsu Junior High School, Minami-sanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture,utatsu-jh@key.ocn.ne.jp(2) Professor, School of Human Science and Environment , University of Hyogo, Himeji, Japan, rkimura@shse.u-hyogo.ac.jp…

Abstract
This study provides analysis of actual cases of the Disaster Management Education Challenge Plan (“DECP”), in
which voluntary disaster management specialists support disaster management education in schools and communities.
The Cabinet Office of Japan, in collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), has supported the Disaster
Management Education Challenge Plan Steering Committee, which consists of voluntary disaster management
specialists. From fiscal year (FY) 2004 to 2018 (April 2004 to March 2019), 307 individual programs were conductedunder DECP.
To identify changes in disaster management education programs before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake(“the Earthquake”), this study classified individual education programs conducted under DECP into two groups, byphase (before and after the Earthquake), and compared the two groups from the following perspectives: the type oforganization that conducted the education program, target learners, target disaster type, and style of learning. The data
used in the analysis were provided by the DECP secretariat. The data collected through FY 2013 contained multipleanswer questions, but these were changed to single-answer questions in FY 2014. For such multiple-answer questions,in our analysis, the score was divided proportionately and allocated to the answers according to the number of times
each answer was selected in each year.
The analysis provided some characteristic results: first, for the target disaster type (Fig. 1), after 2011, the year of the
Earthquake, the number of programs targeting earthquake and tsunami increased to some degree. Subsequently, thenumber of programs targeted at multiple hazards, which addressed diverse disaster types without focusing on a single
type, increased. This is due to the fact that many disasters related to heavy rainfall have occurred across Japan since theEarthquake.
Second, the majority of organizations who apply for the DECP are elementary, junior high, and high schools, whichare “schools” defined under Article 1 of the School Education Act of Japan. This trend remained consistent before andafter the Earthquake. Our equivalence test, based on a Chi-squared test of the different types of organizer schools,
revealed no significant differences that reject the null hypothesis before vs. after the Earthquake. A statisticallysignificant increase was observed in the number of programs targeting college students and working people, whereas asignificant decrease was observed in the number of programs targeting teachers, parents, and groups combining thesetwo populations.
In regard to the style of education, differences before vs. after the Earthquake were evaluated using the difference
between the two population proportions, based on the Chi-squared test; the results revealed significant increases in thenumber of programs performed as interdisciplinary classes at school, school excursions, and emergency drills.
Meanwhile, a significant decrease was observed in the number of programs performed as disciplinary classes at school,or as lectures, both of which tend to be provided in a format in which the students sit and learn.
A similar test of the purpose of these programs revealed a significant increase in the number of programs with thegoal of conducting emergency drills and a significant decrease in the number of programs with the goal of conferringknowledge and skills related to and/or enhancing awareness of disaster management.
Keywords: Disaster education; educational program; Disaster Management Education Challenge Plan

© The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering- 7g-0004 -7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020

1. INTRODUCTION
Japan is one of the countries
most affected by natural disasters.
After the Great East Japan
Earthquake (“the Earthquake”) in
2011, the average number ofpeople dead or missing due tonatural disasters in Japan rose toabout 190, as shown in Fig. 1.
Recentmajor
earthquake
disasters in Japan include the 2016
Kumamoto Earthquake, the 2018
Northern
Osaka
Prefecture Fig. 1 The number of dead or missing people due to natural disasters(created by the author based on the White Paper on Fire Service each year)
Earthquake,
and
the
2018
Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake.
In 2014, Mount Ontake erupted. In addition, disasters caused by rainstorms or torrential downpours include
the 2014 Hiroshima Landslides, the 2016 Typhoon No. 10 that hit Hokkaido and Iwate Prefectures, the 2018
Western Japan Heavy Rain, and the 2019 Typhoons No. 15 and 19, which caused wide-ranging flooding byinland and coastal water.
These natural disasters occur throughout the country. Therefore, it is necessary to give appropriate disastermanagement education to citizens from a young age, appropriate to their level of understanding. Today, inJapan, disaster management education (e.g., evacuation drills) is regularly performed in various schools
including kindergartens; elementary, junior high, and high schools; and universities. In addition to such
regular educational opportunities in schools, various organizations such as voluntary disaster mitigation
entities organized for each community, non-profit organizations (NPOs), private companies, and local
governments (prefectural and municipal) provide their own disaster management education for every layer ofcitizens in this country, in a multitiered manner. However, the relationships among these efforts have notbeen systematically organized. In addition, improvements in the quality of implementation of theseeducational efforts are largely dependent on individual entities and practitioners. It is also notable thatcurrently, only the elderly, housewives, and children participate in disaster response drills because thedisaster management program only repeats identical drills; consequently, these efforts cannot be seen as
effective measures for disaster management because they do not involve all local residents. In this context, toaddress the desired disaster management education in the future, this study attempted to identify the trends indisaster management education in Japan by comparing the contents of all implemented programs of theDisaster Management Education Challenge Plan (“DECP” or "the Plan") [1] before and after 2011, when the
Earthquake occurred. DECP is a nationwide disaster management education initiative that is implemented bygroups of voluntary disaster management specialists and lead by the Cabinet Office of Japan, in
collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and theMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Figure 2 shows the trends in the numbers ofprograms conducted by organizations under DECP, by target disaster type.
DECP was implemented with the purpose of facilitating widespread dissemination of disaster management
education across Japan. The Plan invites proposals for disaster management education programs from allover Japan. Each year, about 15 successful programs (and hence 15 successful organizations) are selected by
the Plan's Executive Committee, which consists of voluntary disaster management specialists.
The successful organizations (“implementing organizations”) range from educational institutions such as
schools and universities, to local public authorities, self-governing bodies, NPOs, and private companies.
These organizations will implement disaster management education for 1 year while receiving financial
support and advice from the Executive Committee. The outcomes and efforts of the implemented education

2© The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering- 7g-0004 -7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020

Fig. 2 Trends in the numbers of programs conducted, by target disaster type(based on scores calculated in this study)plans will be presented in an activity report meeting. Implementing organizations with remarkableachievements are recognized by awards each year.
In addition to what was described above, DECP also carries out the following activities: first,
accumulating valuable lessons learned from past implementing organizations and publishing them as casereports on the Internet; and second, encouraging information exchange and interaction between each
implementing organization. Through these ongoing efforts, each implementing organization actively collects
useful information from case reports and other implementing organizations and utilizes it to improve andenhance its own efforts. The Executive Committee also actively encourages implementing organizations toimitate the best practices of other organizations because this leads to the dissemination of good practices
nationwide and the improvement of disaster management education in Japan.
Other projects that recognize excellent disaster management education efforts on a nationwide scale
include the Bosai Koshien [2] and the Community Safety Map Contest [3]. Although these two initiatives
mainly target school-aged children, DECP does not restrict ages of learners.
As a general rule, the Plan invites proposals without any restrictions on the proposed program contents;
consequently, past implementing organizations included one based in the United States. Considering theseunrestricted characteristics of the Plan, it would be best to analyze programs implemented in the past under
the Plan to understand the general trends in disaster management education in Japan.

2. METHODSThis study analyzed data from 283 disaster management education programs implemented under DECP in
15 years from fiscal year (FY) 2004 to FY 2018. The dataset was provided by the Plan's Executive
Committee.
The dataset for the 283 implementing organizations included variables such as type of organization(school, local organization, NPO, etc.), target learners (elementary school children, local residents, etc.),
target disaster type (earthquake, flood, etc.), style of learning (experiential learning, lectures, etc.), and the
purpose of the education (raising awareness against disaster management, etc.). We classified the dataset into
two groups by phase, before and after 2011, in which the Earthquake occurred, and analyzed them with thesevariables to identify the changes in disaster management education programs before and after the Earthquake.
We also analyzed the impact of the Earthquake on disaster management education and discuss features of an
ideal disaster management education program.

3© The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering- 7g-0004 -7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020

The data collected through FY 2013 contained multiple-answer questions, but these were changed tosingle-answer questions in FY 2014. In our analysis, the score allocated to multiple-answer questions was
divided proportionately and allocated according to the number of times each answer was selected in eachyear.

3. Overviews of implementing organizations of DECP before and after the Earthquake
In 2004, DEPC started to host only single year programs. We divided the 15-year term from FY 2004 to
FY 2018 into two periods: 1) 8 years from FY 2004 to FY 2011 (before the Earthquake); and 2) 7 years fromFY 2012 to FY 2018 (after the Earthquake). We compared the aforementioned variables between these twoterms. The numbers of implementing organizations before and after the Earthquake were 132 and 151,
respectively.
From FY 2004 to FY 2018, DECP’s data collection method was changed once; accordingly, in this study,
the data comparison was made by giving 1 point to each variable for each implementing organization.
1) Regional distribution of implementing organizations
Figure 3 shows the regions where theimplementing organizations are based; they
are evenly distributed throughout thecountry. After the Earthquake, theproportion in the Kanto, Chugoku, Shikoku,
and Kyushu regions increased, likely due tothe increased fear about the next massive
Fig. 3 Regional distribution of implementing organizations
earthquake in the Tokyo area, increases instorm and flood damage, and the significant damage from the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.
2) Types of implementing organizations
As shown in Fig. 4, the majority of theimplementing organizations are schools.
After the Earthquake, the proportion ofprograms implemented at schools orcommunities increased. On the other hand,the proportion of programs implemented byvolunteers or academic entities has
decreased.

Fig. 4 Proportion of Implementing organizations

3) Target learners
As shown in Fig. 5, about 60% of target learners were students in educational institutions (kindergartens,
nursery schools, elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and universities). An equivalence test on
school type did not identify any significant difference before and after the Earthquake (χ2(5)=6.928，n.s.). In
addition, differences before and after the Earthquake were examined using the difference between the two
population proportions; the results revealed significant increases in the proportion of programs targeting highschool students (χ2(1)=6.492 ， p<.05), university students (χ2(1)=16.335 ， p<.05), working people and adults(χ2(1)=27.116，p<.05), and all people (χ2(1)=25.671，p<.05). The proportion of educational efforts targeting adults,
such as university students and working people, tended to be higher than the proportion of programs targetingchildren. Based on this result, disaster management education seems to be undergoing a transformation towardtargeting all people, rather than specific groups.

4© The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering- 7g-0004 -7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020

Fig. 5 Target learners

4) Target disaster types
As shown in Fig. 6, the most targeted disaster type was"disasters in general," whereas earthquake was the mosttargeted specific disaster. After the Earthquake, theproportion of programs that cover disasters in generalincreased from 41.1% to 45.0%. This may indicate that
attention to disaster management increased after the
Earthquake, and that efforts have been made throughout
Japan to prepare for future disasters, taking region-specifichazards and characteristics into account. This could also be
Fig. 6 Target disaster types
because disasters related to large and intense storms
occurred frequently in the years after the Earthquake. In light of this situation, the number of multi-hazard efforts
has increased.
5) Style of learning
Differences in style of learning before and after the Earthquake were tested. As shown in Fig. 7, the results
revealed significant increases in the proportion of programs performed as interdisciplinary classes at school(χ2(1)=12.976，p<.05), school excursions (χ2(1)=41.299，p<.05), and evacuation drills (χ2(1)=31.335，p<.05).
However, we found a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of lecture-based programs; e.g., classroom

Fig. 7 Style of learning
study (individual subjects) (χ2(1)=12.033，p<.05) and lectures (χ2(1)=41.798，p<.05).

5© The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering- 7g-0004 -7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020

4. DISCUSSION
We divided the 15 years of DECP into two phases, before and after the Earthquake, for the purpose of analysis.
The results of our analysis can be summarized as follows.
Disaster management education is widely implemented throughout Japan. Consequently, attention to disastermanagement education has increased after the Earthquake; moreover, because a great deal of damage is caused bylarge and intense storms and floods almost every year, the proportion of multi-hazard education programs, notlimited to earthquakes or tsunamis, is increasing. In addition, although about 60% of implementing organizations
covered in this study are schools and other educational institutions, the proportion of educational programs
targeting working people or all local residents has increased after the Earthquake. Furthermore, with regard to thestyle of learning, we observed an increased proportion of experiential learning, such as evacuation drills and offcampus learning, and a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of lecture-based learning and classroom
study.
Our results indicate that disaster management education in Japan is being conducted mainly by schools andeducational institutions, but an increased interest in disaster management after the Earthquake has led to the
spread of disaster management education into local communities, including working people. The increased
interest in disaster management may be due to the frequent occurrence of disasters and media coverage regarding
damages in Japan, as well as the enriched content and increased frequency of media reports on disastermanagement efforts after the Earthquake. In any case, it is clear that various attempts have been made to improvethe content of disaster management education programs in each region and at each layer of society for the purposeof improving disaster management education throughout society. Because the content of disaster management
education is enriched, and various approaches to disaster management education have been developed, we
anticipate that disaster management education in each region will be a continuous process, and that each region
will have the capability to respond to multiple hazards unique to its local characteristics. We also expect that thesekinds of educational efforts will naturally be passed on to the next generation in each region.
In addition, we would like to highlight that disaster management education initiatives at Japanese schools are
shifting from classroom study and lectures to experiential learning, such as evacuation drills and offschool/campus learning. In fact, in recent years, few DECP programs have focused on classroom study or lectures
alone. Instead, an increasing number of programs have provided students with opportunities to learn experientially.
Many recent DECP programs have provided students with opportunities to understand actual evacuation routes
and methods and to visit the unique sites
in their communities, such as geoparks.
These opportunities enable students tolearn about these community-specificsites and interact with the local people.
In school disaster management
education, as described in the Reference
Materials for Disaster Management at
School – Development of Disaster
Management Education to Foster “Zestfor Life” [4] issued by MEXT, emphasis
is placed on the development of "zestfor life." As shown in Fig. 8, thedevelopment of "zest for life" includes Fig. 8 Two objectives of disaster management education at schools(conceptual figure, created by the author)
two types of disaster management

6© The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering- 7g-0004 -7g-0004

The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 17WCEE
Sendai, Japan - September 13th to 18th 2020

education: 1) education that cultivates the ability to survive in case of disaster, i.e., emergency responses, and 2)
education that nurtures students’ resilience, i.e., recovery from disaster (e.g. life at evacuation sites and recovery
works in collaboration with local residents). For example, evacuation drills aim to foster the former capability(capability to survive), whereas off-campus/school learning and training in methods for compassionately helping
one another at evacuation sites foster the latter capability (resilience).
The major theme of the Course of Study Guidelines issued by MEXT [5] is to nurture in students “Zest for life”
through school education. In order for disaster management education to be widely practiced in schools
nationwide, it is necessary to enhance educational activities aimed at fostering the latter capability, resilience. The
results of this study are considered to represent these trends.

5. Acknowledgements
This research is based on a funded research project "Establishment of a Disaster Prevention andManagement Educational Hub for Improving Disaster Prevention Literacy among a Wide Ranging
Stakeholders” (Representative: Reo Kimura, University of Hyogo), which is supported by the SECOM
Foundation for Promotion of Science and Technology, and a consigned research project "Project onComprehensive Resilience Improvement in Tokyo Metropolitan Area: Building a Collaborative System for
Data Utilization that Contributes to Improvement of Comprehensive Resilience Centering on the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area" (Area Representative: Keiko Tamura, Niigata University) by the National ResearchInstitute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience.

6. References[1] “Disaster Management Education Challenge Plan” cite, 2019.8.
http://www.bosai-study.net/top.html[2] Bosai Koshien website. August 2019 (in Japanese)
http://npo-sakura.net/bousai-koushien/[3] The 13th Community Safety Map Contest proposal invitation site. August 2019 (in Japanese)
http://www.ogo.jp/contest/index.html[4] Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Reference Materials for Disaster Management at
School – Development of Disaster Management Education to Foster “Zest for Life.” March 2013 (in Japanese)[5] Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Junior High School Course of Study Guidelines.
March 2017 (in Japanese)

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