ADRC Study visit to the affected areas by Kumamoto Earthquakes
19-20 December 2016, Kumamoto, Japan

Fact Sheet：Assistance provided by local governments outside the affected areas
Case of Hyogo Prefecture: Lessons of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
After the earthquakes, many local governments in Japan have dispatched their teams to the affected local
governments through the schemes of Kyushu-Yamaguchi Disaster Support Agreement, Union of Kansai
Governments and National Governors’ Association, as well as the 21 Major Cities Mutual Support
Agreement in order to facilitate and support prompt response, reconstruction and recovery activities inaffected areas.
The number of officials dispatched to the affected municipalities from other municipalities all around Japan
peaked at 1,440 on 1 May 2016.
(Source: http://www.bousai.go.jp/updates/h280414jishin/h28kumamoto/pdf/h281025shiryo01_8.pdf)

1. Case of Hyogo prefecture: Utilizing Lessons of the Great HanshinAwaji Earthquake to Support Schools in Kumamoto
Local governments all across Japan sent support to Kumamoto to provide aid tothe disaster-affected local governments which had themselves become victims ofthe earthquake. Hyogo Prefecture initiated various response measures after theGreat Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which struck the region 21 years ago.
Particularly notable is the Emergency and Rescue Team comprised of publicschool faculty and staff (known as EARTH) which was developed in 2000 based on
the experiences of that earthquake. Under this program, as many as 176 faculty
members, teachers, counsellors and others have completed the Advanced
Training Course for Instructors to promote DRR education (as of April 2016).
EARTH regularly conducts DRR education and dispatches members to disasteraffected areas when disasters strike. They provided support after the Sumatra
Earthquake, Sichuan Earthquake, and Great East Japan Earthquake and have been
dispatched to other disaster sites within and outside Japan. Likewise, EARTH
dispatched approximately 93 members on April 16 to assist immediately after theKumamoto Earthquakes. They have been providing ongoing support, including
shelter management (mainly at schools serving as shelters), mental health care,the dissemination of disaster experiences and lessons learned, and thetransmission of expertise accumulated over the course of their various disastersupport efforts. In this way, valuable lessons have been shared with humanresources throughout the prefecture, and these lessons are then passed on todisaster-affected sites.

Explaining disaster responses toexecutives

Workshop on training session for faculty
and teachers

Educational support provided after classes
2. Future Challenges (ADRC point of views)
resume- How can local governments outside the affected areas could provide
supports more adapted to the affected local governments? How could collaboration at wider regional andnational levels be strengthened?
- How to reduce the gaps among recipient affected municipalities from those well-supported to those poorly
supported, in particular at the initial phase?
- How could the experiences of affected local governments be shared with among other local governments forbetter preparing for disasters they may face in the future?