Disclaimer
This report was compiled by an ADRC visiting researcher (VR) from ADRC
member countries.
The views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of
the ADRC. The boundaries and names shown and the designations usedon the maps in the report also do not imply official endorsement or
acceptance by the ADRC.

DISASTER EDUCATION AND WAYS TO REDUCE
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY TO DISASTER

The White Paper argued that citizens and companies still lack sufficientknowledge on disaster preparedness,
including ways to address disaster risks based on their own initiatives.
Thus, intangible measures, such as disaster management
education and response exercises, are deemed equally important
as tangible ones, such as strengthening of infrastructures for disasterprevention and mitigation, in enhancing disaster awareness and preparedness
in everyday life. Intangible measures, in particular, lead to raising ofawareness of “self-help,” which means one’s own life must be protected byoneself.

∗∗School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan[Received August 6, 2016; accepted January 6,
2017]

Education is the key to development. When we talk about
mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into development practices,much has been discussed on how to bring this to national and local
development plans and policies. While development plans areimportant to disaster risk reduction, real mainstreaming begins witheducation. Disaster reduction is ultimately linked to human behavior.
Rajib Shaw Kyoto University

1

CONTENTS

Introduction

3

Disaster in Armenia and Japan

5

General information of Republic of Armenia

5

Natural Hazards in Armenia

6

Survey for Seismic Protection (Armenian SSP) at
the Ministry of Emergency

9

Situations of the Republic of Armenia
General information of Japan

12

Natural Hazards in Japan

12

Disaster Management

16

Disaster Education in Armenia and Japan

18

Disaster Education For Different Age Groups ofPopulation as a Part of Disaster Risk Reduction in

18

Armenia
ADRC-Armenia Cooperative Project22

Disaster Education For Different Age Groups ofPopulation as a Part of Disaster Risk Reduction in

27

Japan
Disaster Resilience Education

28

Disaster Education and ways to reduce social andpsychological vulnerability to disaster
35
The importance of being psychologically prepared

35

Conclusion
90
References
912

Introduction
Most people in Armenia live in areas of threat from natural disaster, whether it
be from bushfires, floods, severe storms, droughts, cyclones or earthquakes.
Pamphlets and brochures available from local council offices, emergency services andcommunity groups provide helpful information on how to be prepared and what to doin an emergency situation to protect lives, home and property.
As well as information on physical and practical preparation, it is very helpful
for people to know how to prepare psychologically before a natural disaster and how
to cope emotionally during or after a disaster. Knowing ahead of time how a disastersituation might be experienced can help to decrease people's anxiety levels andoverall psychological responses. Being psychologically prepared when a disaster isthreatening can help people feel more confident, more in control and better able to
make effective emergency plans. It can also help to reduce the psychological distressand longer-term mental health problems that can result from the trauma of being
involved in disasters.
Of course, the first and vitally important part of psychological preparation for an
emergency situation is to be physically prepared with a practiced emergency plan.
Making all the necessary physical preparations and having a household emergency
plan that is well known and practiced by everyone will increase the sense of being incontrol when the emergency begins.
This study outlines the importance of being psychologically prepared andprovides the steps to take for psychological preparation when a natural disaster isthreatening.
Background and significance: Both Japan and Armenia are disaster-prone
countries. Several times both Japan and Armenia hit by the great disasters such as
earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc. As Armenia lies in one of the most seismically
active regions of the world, the earthquakes have affected large numbers of people
and caused significant economic losses.
The Government of RA recognizes the threats to the country’s development posedby natural hazards. Since 1991 it has worked to address DRR and to increase disaster
response and recovery capacities for the sustainable development of the country.
Survey for Seismic Protection of MES RA develops various means for earthquake
disaster management:- coordinates activities performed in the field of seismic risk reduction in the territoryof the RA;- organizes preparedness and training of the population to cope with strong
earthquakes;- raising population knowledge and preparedness;- training of trainers in government bodies and local authorities;- organization of relief and rehabilitation of population and sustainable recovery.
This study seek answers to the following questions:
What is the Disaster Education system in Japan and Armenia?
- Government Institutions;3

- Educational/Learning Institutions
Which methodologies are more effective for different social groups of population fordisaster education?
Within the frames of my research program I want to use up-to-date international
and Japanese methods and experience for the development of population
preparedness to disaster and make visible psychological elements accounting forsocial and psychological vulnerability to disaster, intending to develop ways for its
reduction.
Specific aims: The aim of this research is to investigate and compare the international
and Japanese experience in “disaster education and ways to reduce social andpsychological vulnerability to disaster,,.
The peculiarities of social and psychological adaptation mechanisms of an Individual:-The efficient behavioral model of population in disaster.
-The process of the reduction of social and psychological vulnerability of population todisasters largely depends on the comprehensive interrelation of psychologicalqualities.
- Stress resistance, nervous and mental stability, anxiety and disadaptation risk areimportant constituents contributing to Individual’s psychological preparation.
Proposed research activities: Development of disaster education and ways toreduce social and psychological vulnerability to disaster awareness as a part ofdisaster risk reduction (DRR). To identify the Strategies of disaster education andways to reduce social and psychological vulnerability to disaster.
To carry out the purpose of the research, the following research questions will be
addressed:- What kind of disaster education methodology is conducted in Japan and Armenia?
- What is the good example of the disaster preparedness that can promote thepsychosocial well – being of the community?
Required information and potential resources: The required data and information
for disaster education and ways to reduce social and psychological vulnerability todisaster obtained from relevant institutions and organizations. Research methodology:- Arrival and observation in the visited places and institutions related to disastereducation- Attending the activities related to some Disaster Education Issues.
- Literature Study / Documents analysis; Review related literature on the psychosocial
aspects of the disaster education.
Expected results: The results of research will give me more new ideas and allow tolearn new methods which will help me to improve my knowledge in the field of public
education and stimulate for new approaches. People working in emergency situations
and those who investigate their core problems will benefit from the results of theresearch.
I hope the results of my research will be an important component for Seismic Risk
Reduction and will allow me to use new approaches and methodologies in the field of
disaster education and ways to reduce social and psychological vulnerability todisaster, which is very important for my Safe and Happy Armenia.
4

DISASTER IN ARMENIA AND JAPAN
General information of Republic of Armenia

Armenia and Japan are highly vulnerable to a variety of natural hazards
including earthquakes, floods, landslides and others because of their geographic
location.
Armenia is considered as a high-risk country, prone to disasters such as earthquakes,
landslides, hailstorms, droughts, floods, etc. It is at high risk of natural hazards, owing
to high levels of exposure and vulnerability.
Risks associated with geophysical hazards are significant. The landslide
hazard zone covers one-third of the country, primarily in foothill and mountain areas.
As Armenia lies in one of the most seismically active regions of the world, theearthquakes have affected large numbers of people and caused significant economic
losses.
Geographical information

Territory
Neighboring countries

Average elevation above sea level

29.74 thousand square km (is comparablewith theterritory of Belgium or Albania)
north- Georgia; South–Iran; East-Azerbaijan
south-west - Nakhichevan (Azerbaijan)
west - Turkey
1800 m5

The highest peak
The lowest altitude
The greatest extent
Time zone
RegionClimateAverage temperature
Population
MillionEthnic breakdown

ReligionAragats mountain - 4090 m
Debed river canyon - 380 m
365 kmGreenwich mean time + 4 hours
north latitudes of subtropics
dry, continental
in January - -6.8°C, in July - +20.8°C
3.2 Million, population of the capital - 1.1
Armenians (98%), Russians, Yezidis, Kurds,
Assyrians, Greeks, Ukrainians, Jews andrepresentatives of other nationalities
Christianity (Armenian Apostolic Church),
professed by the vast majority of the
population

Natural Hazards
Natural Hazards likely to affect the country
Armenia is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world (except the sea
disasters), but In Armenia the earthquake disaster is the most harmful for people andproperty.
Seismic events in the territory of Armenia are determined by its position in the collisionzone of the Arabian and Eurasian plates.

6

Major risks of natural disasters in Armenia:

Earthquakes – 94%
Landslides - 3.15%
Rockfalls - 1.2%
Floods - 0.15%
Road accidents - 1.5%

Тhe most devastating impact is caused by the earthquakes.

Seismic risk map of RA

Seismic hazard map of RA7

Devastating Spitak Earthquake of December 7, 1988, M=6.9
It took place on December 7
Force in the epicenter is 10 points
The
death
toll
was
25,000
Various injuries were reported
20,000people514 thousand people were homeless
Earthquake hit 40% of Armenia's territory
There were 21 towns and 342 villages in
the region
Spitak （1988） Destructive Earthquake
December 7, 1988 at 7.41.22.7 GMT (11.41.22.7 local time). The epicenter by
the records of seismographs has the following coordinates: latitude 40.92°N, longitude
44.23°E. The depth of the hypocenter, measured by various methods and means,varies from 2.5km to 10-15km. It is natural as the earthquake source as a spatial. The
magnitude of the earthquake was 7.0. The intensity at the epicenter was 10 value on
MSK-64 intensity scale.
The earthquake hit 40 % of the territory of Armenia, densely populated region
with 1 ml people. The affected area, where the intensity of the earthquake was > 8,
involved 30002 km area. 21 towns and 342 villages were destructed, 514 000 people
were left without shelter, 20 000 people were injured and 12 500 people were
hospitalized. Number of victims was about 25 000. Particularly in Gyumri (15 000-17000) and in Spitak (4 000) number of victims was more than anywhere else. 17% fundsof dwellings were destroyed, the work of 170 industrial companies were halted, thegreat losses were caused to villages and agro industrial complexes as well as to thearchitectural, historical and cultural monuments, 917 public buildings were destroyed.

SPITAK

8

GYUMRI

The rescue activities were systemized only two or three days later. From the firstsecond the earthquake strike, the population carried out restless rescuing works.
Anyhow the absence of their experience and sometimes the lack of basic knowledge
on actions in emergency caused real difficulties for the efficiency of rescue operations.
Even there were cases when the public unawareness brought to life losses. Also there
was a need of rescue equipment. With the efforts of population and the rescuers
45.000 dead or alive people were brought out from the rubble and 12.5000 people
were hospitalized.
Recent Major Disaster was Spitak earthquake in 1988. We need to have high level ofreadiness in case of any disaster.
The main reasons of the losses:
1. Underestimated seismic hazard
2. Structures design and construction errors
3. Wrong behavior of the population
4. Governmental bodies weren’t able to organize the rescue works in time.
Survey for Seismic Protection (Armenian SSP) at the Ministry of Emergency
Situations of the Republic of Armenia (MES of RA)
MES of RA is a republican body of executive authority, which in line with suchcompetences as are vested in it by laws and other legal acts, develops, implements
and coordinates RA government’s policy in the area of civil defense and protection of
the population in emergency situations.

9MINISTRY OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS OF ARMENIAMINISTERY OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

STAFF OF MINISTERY“Seismic Protection Survey”
AgencySeismic Risk
Reduction
Administration

State non-profit organisations“Seismic
Protection
Northern
Survey” SNCO

“Seismic
Protection
Western
Survey” SNCO

“Seismic
Protection
Southern
Survey” SNCO

Network
Observation
andInformation
Analysisdepartment

Building andConstructio
ns Seismic
Resistance
Department“Seismic
Protection
Eastern
Survey” SNCO

The 1988 Spitak Destructive Earthquake reveals that there is no seismic
protection system at all and the Government RA and people were helpless towithstand the disaster.
First, Armenian SSP was founded in 1991 with the aim to organize population as wellas buildings and structures seismic protection. It takes various measures forearthquake disaster management.
SSP’s main goal is seismic risk reduction in Armenia, the population residence hazard
mitigation and the state economic and social loss reduction results from earthquake.
It has developed two long-term Strategic National Programs on seismic risk reduction
in Armenia and in Yerevan city. Today SSP is not only a national but also a keystoneinternational center.
The main objectives and the aims of Armenian SSP are as follows: provision of seismic hazard monitoring in the territory of Armenia
 assessment of the seismic hazard and seismic risk of the territories
 seismic risk reduction
 assessment of the levels of caused seismicity
 assessment of other secondary hazards connected with the seismic hazard.
The Legal Authority in Seismic Risk Reduction
Seismic Protection activities are regulated by a number of laws and legislative acts
and National programs of the Republic of Armenia:

10

Low of Resolutions of Government
RA
Regulation

The complex program of seismic risk reduction in the RA territory (1999).

The complex program of seismic risk reduction in Yerevan city (1999).

The resolution of the Government of RA on establishment of the list of criticallyimportant and general facilities in the field of seismic protection (2003).

The low of the Republic of Armenia on seismic protection (2002).

“National Survey For Seismic Protection” Agency (2008).

The basic goal of SSP is Seismic Risk Reduction in Armenia:

Armenian SSP has developed
two Strategic National Programson:

1.
Armenia"2.

Seismic

Risk

Reduction

in“Seismic Risk Reduction in thecity of Yerevan”

The Programs, adopted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the10th and 7th of July in 1999 are designed for 30 years. All the Ministries and other
Governmental, non-Governmental and private organizations will implement these
National Programs under the general co-ordination of Armenian SSP assigned by theGovernment as a responsible body for the Seismic Risk Reduction Strategy
development and implementation.

11

General information of Japan
Japan is vulnerable to various natural disasters deriving from its geographical,
topographical, and meteorological conditions. It is located on the circum-Pacific mobile
belt, a region where volcanos are active and the earth’s crust is moving at
geographically rapid rate causing frequent earthquakes. Although it covers only 0.25%
of the world’s land area, the occurrence of an earthquake and the number of
distribution of active volcanos in the country are extremely high. The March 2011
earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku was a magnitude of 9.0, the highest everrecorded in Japan. Seismic intensity of 7 was observed in Miyagi Prefecture andstrong shake in most areas in the eastern part of Japan. This earthquake caused ahuge tsunami resulting in the immense and wide-area damage around the Pacificcoast of the eastern part of Japan. For the first time in Japan, in the Kumamoto
Earthquake that occurred in April 2016, a series of magnitude-7 earthquakes struck
the same area twice. This earthquake caused a tremendous damage, including lossof lives and the destruction of about 160,000 houses. Other kinds of natural disasters
also result in loss of lives and properties every year because of Japan’s uniquecharacteristics. Examples of these are the tornado disasters in Ibaragi and Tochigi
Prefectures in September 2012 and Saitama Prefecture in September 2013, a largescale sediment disaster triggered by the heavy rain in Hiroshima Prefecture in August
2014, and the Mount On take eruption in September 2014, which is thus far the worst
volcanic eruption after the war. Japan has taken measures against these major natural
disasters. For example, the disaster prevention and mitigation measures for theimmense and wide-area damage following the Nankai Trough Earthquake or any
earthquake that hits Tokyo area directly were planned in cooperation with the central
and local governments and research institutions.
Geographical information

12

Geographic coordinates: 36 00 N, 138 00 E
Map references: Asia
Area: total: 377,835 sq km land: 374,744 sq km water: 3,091 sq km note: includes
Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-gunto), Daito-shoto, Minami-jima, Okino-tori-shima,
Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shoto), and Volcano Islands (Kazan-retto)
Area – comparative: slightly smaller than California
Land boundaries: 0 k
Coastline: 29,751 km
Climate: varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in northTerrain: mostly rugged and mountainous
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Hachiro-gata -4 m highest point: Mount Fuji 3,776m
Natural resources: negligible mineral resources, fish the largest consumers of fish
and tropical timber, contributing to the depletion of these resources in Asia andelsewhere
Environment - international agreements: party to: Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of theSea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution Tropical Timber
83,Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
Geography - note: strategic location in northeast Asia
Time zone: JST (UTC+9) /Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+9)
Natural hazards: many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic
occurrences (mostly tremors) every year; tsunamis; typhoons
Environment - current issues: air pollution from power plant emissions results inacid rain; acidification of lakes and reservoirs degrading water quality and threatening
aquatic life; Japan is one of
Natural Hazards
Natural Hazards likely to affect the country
Japan is located in the Circum-Pacific Mobile Belt, the number of earthquakes
and active volcanoes is quite high, and because of geographical, topographical andmeteorological conditions, the country is subject to frequent natural disasters such as
typhoons, torrential rains and heavy snowfalls, as well as earthquakes and tsunami.

13

Every year there is a great loss of people's lives and properties in Japan due tonatural disasters. Until the second half of 1950s, largescale typhoons with earthquakes
caused extensive damage and thousands of casualties. Thereafter, with the progressof society's capabilities to respond to disasters and mitigate vulnerabilities to disasters
by developing disaster management systems, promoting national land conservation,
improving weather forecasting technologies, and upgrading disaster information
communications systems.
Japan has suffered enormous damages due to repeated mega disasters sinceancient times, at present the country is considered to be leader in disastermanagement because it has increased its resilience every time a large-scale disasteris experienced.
The event that changed the course of local history
Japan is one of the countries most affected by natural disasters. Two out of thefive most expensive natural disasters in recent history have occurred in Japan, costing$181 billion in the years 2011 and 1995 only.
Japan has also been the site of some of the 10 worst natural disasters of the
21st century. The types of natural disasters in Japan include tsunamis, floods,
typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The country has gone through many
years of natural disasters, affecting its economy, development, and social life. The
Great Hanshin earthquake or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, Kobe,
Osaka and the surrounding area were rocked by a massive earthquake. Sitting directly
over the epicenter, the area, home to some 3.5 million people and one of Japan’s
economic powerhouses, was devastated. Electricity, water, gas, and public transport.
All lifeline services were knocked out, and innumerable homes were destroyed, either
by the quake or, because they were mostly old wooden structures, in the resulting fire.
Huge numbers of people faced a long cold winter in temporary shelters.
6,434 people dead, 43,792
injured, 249,180 homes
completely or partiallydestroyed.
This was Japan's worst
earthquake in the 20th
century after the Great
Kantō earthquake in 1923,
which claimed more than
105,000 lives.

14

The great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (2011)
2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku was a magnitude 9.0 (Mw)under sea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST(05:46UTC) on Friday 11 March 2011, with the epicentre approximately 70 kilometres(43 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku and the hypocentre at an underwater
depth of approximately 30 km (19 mi). The earthquake is also often referred to in Japanas the Great East Japan earthquake and also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to have hit Japan, and the fourthmost powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.
The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5
metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture, and which, in the Sendai area,
travelled up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. The earthquake moved Honshu (the main islandof Japan) 2.4 m (8 ft) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 cm(4 in) and 25 cm (10 in), and generated infrasound waves detected in perturbations of
the low-orbiting GOCE satellite.

On 10 March 2015, a Japanese National Police Agency report confirmed 15,894
deaths, 6,152 injured, and 2,562 people missing across twenty prefectures, as well as
228,863 people living away from their home in either temporary housing or due topermanent relocation. A 10 February 2014 agency report listed 127,290 buildings
totally collapsed, with a further 272,788 buildings "half collapsed", and another747,989 buildings partially damaged. The earthquake and tsunami also caused
15extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy
damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, "In the 65 years after the end of World War
II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan." The tsunami caused
nuclear accidents, primarily the level 7 meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex, and the associated evacuation zones affecting
hundreds of thousands of residents. Many electrical generators were taken down, andat least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built
up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure resulting fromthe loss of electrical power. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daini
Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated.

Disaster Management
Mission of the Cabinet Office
Japan’s legislation for disaster management system, including the Disaster
Countermeasures Basic Act, addresses all of the disaster phases of prevention,
mitigation and preparedness, emergency response as well as recovery andreconstruction with roles and responsibilities among the national and local
governments clearly defined, it is stipulated that the relevant entities of the public andprivate sectors are to cooperate in implementing various disaster countermeasures.
Along with a series of reforms of the central government system in 2001, the post of
Minister of State for Disaster Management was newly established to integrate andcoordinate disaster risk management policies and measures of ministries andagencies. In the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for securing cooperation andcollaboration among related government organizations in wide-ranging issues, theDirector-General for Disaster Management is mandated to undertake the planning ofbasic disaster management policies and response to large-scale disasters, as well as
conduct overall coordination.

16

Basic Disaster Management Plan
The Basic Disaster Management Plan is a comprehensive and long term
disaster management plan forming a foundation for the Disaster Management
Operations Plan and Local Disaster Management Plan. It stipulates provisions for theestablishment of the disaster management system, promotion of disastermanagement measures, acceleration of post disaster recovery and reconstruction
measures, and promotion of scientific and technological research on disastermanagement. The plan was revised entirely in 1995 based on the experiences of theGreat Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. It defines responsibilities of each entity such as thenational and local governments, public corporations and other entities. It consists ofvarious plans for each type of disaster, where specific countermeasures to be taken
by each entity are described according to the disaster management phases of
prevention and preparedness, emergency response, as well as recovery andreconstruction.

Law Development after Mega-Disasters
DisasterLaw
1923 Kanto Earthquake () 105,385 lost: 1923 Special Law on Urban Planning
90% by fire1946 Nankai Earthquake, 1,330 lost1947 Disaster Relife Law
1956 Isewan Typhoon (5,098 lost, 38,
1961 Basic Law on Disaster
921 injuried)Countermeasures
1995 Hanshin Awaji Earthquake
1998 Law on Support for Life(6434 lost, 43,792 injured)
Reconstruction
2011 East Japan Earthquake (15,894 2013 Law on Recovery fromlost,
Mega-Disasters
6152 injured)

17

DISASTER EDUCATION IN ARMENIA AND JAPANOne of the ways of disaster mitigation, is disaster education. Armenia isconsidered a developing country, persistently in need of up-to-date world expertise inany scientific area which is likely to contribute to its sustainable development.
The state training system includes the following subsystems, which are done regularly:• Training of target groups beginning from kindergartens and schools• Educational programs, methodical manuals, relevant interactive materials• TV and radio programs, publications in mass media• Social-psychological preparedness.
Armenia collaborating with ADRC (since 2000) and JICA (since 2007) in the frame ofvarious projects and programs implements the research, education and training for the
DRR specialists who acquired and shared valuable Japanese experience.
Disaster Education For Different Age Groups of Population
as a Part of Disaster Risk Reduction in Armenia
Earthquake and other natural hazards threatening Armenia urge the need ofdevelopment and strengthening of DRR system in Armenia. This process implies
involvement of all the potential of the country, which can be achieved throughelaboration of Disaster Risk Reduction National Platform (DRR NP). DRR system is aframework of functions and processes with the aim to reduce population’s vulnerability
to disaster risks. It is aimed at prevention or reduction of negative impacts of hazards
and contributes to sustainable development of the society. Fund for DRR NP wasestablished in 2010. The Head of the Board is Ministry of Emergency Situation of RA.
The goal of the DRR NP is to establish a multi-spectral mechanism with involvementof all stakeholders.
Current Situation of the Training and Disaster Education in Armenia
In Armenia various governmental and other organizations have been involved
in DRM Education, within the framework of the HFA. MES of RA is an executive
authority, which in line with competences vested by laws and other legal acts,
develops, implements and coordinates RA government’s policy in the area of civil
defense and protection of the population in emergency situations.
The ARNAP Foundation (Disaster Risk Reduction National Platform), Crisis
Management Center (CMC) and Crisis Management State Academy (CMSA) havebeen established for dealing with various aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction.
Survey for Seismic Protection of MES RA (Armenian SSP) develops various
means for earthquake disaster management: Develops the basic directions of state policy in the field of seismic protection
Provides seismic risk assessment Coordinates activities performed in the field of seismic risk reduction in the
territory of the RA18Organizes preparedness and training of the population to cope with strong
earthquakes
 Coordinates and controls the execution of the state programs in the field ofseismic risk.
Basic tasks of seismic risk reduction are:
 reduction of territories vulnerability
 raising population knowledge and preparedness
 training of trainers in government bodies and local authorities creation of earthquake early warning system
 ensuring medical preparedness
 organization of relief and rehabilitation of population and sustainable recovery
The raise of knowledge and preparedness of population is provided by meansof state training system.
The state training system includes the following subsystems, which are done regularly:
 training of target groups beginning from kindergartens and schools
 educational programs, methodical manuals, relevant interactive materials
 TV and radio programs, publications in mass media
 social-psychological preparedness.
The state training system ensures the reliability and availability of the given
information. The stage of recovery of a zone suffered from strong earthquake is theintermediate between the stages of an emergency seismic situation andreconstruction. The duration and the strategy of recovery stage defined by theGovernment RA.
The one of the main principles of the accomplishment of recovery works isbased on the creation of the conditions for population active participation in recovery
works in the disaster zone.
The purpose of aid rendering to the population and its rehabilitation is the reduction ofmaterial and psychological losses of the state after an earthquake.
Rendering of aid to the population and its rehabilitation are basedon the following principles: Preliminary planning of works amount on rendering aid and rehabilitation before
the catastrophe and their adjustment right after the catastrophe Active participation of government bodies and local authorities and society.

The Centre of Activities with Population (CAP) of SSP:
The Centre of Activities with Population of Survey for Seismic Protection (CAP
SSP) consists of Departments of Education, Methodology, as well as of Sociology andPsychology. The Department of Education implements trainings on code of conductof seismic protection in schools of Yerevan and regions of Armenia according to an
established schedule. It carries out instructional warning/alarm drills and exercises forschoolchildren of different age groups. It also conducts lectures for the regional areas
officials of SSP. The Department of Methodology performs development of19

educational programs on earthquakes for different segments of the population. The
department implements development of different methodical materials and manuals
to provide various segments of population with necessary knowledge and skills onearthquake code of conduct. Didactic materials are developed taking into account thepsycho-physiological peculiarities of the age groups.

20

Disaster education at the schools

Ministry of Science and Education together with the Ministry of Emergency Situationsin the frame disaster risk reduction program will submit to National Assembly
proposals and additions for the Law “On Public Education” aiming at inclusion disasterrisk reduction elements in the school curricula.
To implement the complex seismic risk reduction measures provided by theComprehensive Program for Seismic Risk Reduction in Yerevan, developed andapproved by the normative acts regulating seismic risk reduction activities in the
territory of Yerevan Decree N 136-N of February 9, 2012 "On Making Changes to Government
Decision No. 392 of 7 June 1999 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia“
 Government Resolution N 140 of 16 February 2012 on “Approving Pilot
Program on Training of Impacts and Behavioral Impacts in Strong Earthquakes
in Public Schools, Hospitals and Other Medical Institutions in Yerevan City”

21

Disaster education at the University, companies and municipalities,

ADRC-Armenia Cooperative Project
Training at the orphanages and nursing homes
Reaching the Most Vulnerable-Orphans and Seniors Inclusive Earthquake
Safety in the Capital City of Yerevan and District of Ararat, Armenia

There are 380 children and 175 staff, including guardians, mentors, nurses andtechnical workers, at the target Yerevan Mari Izmirlian and Kharberd (Ararat district)state orphanages.
There are 540 seniors and 275 staff, including psychologists, nurses andtechnical workers at Yerevan # 1 and Nork nursing homes.
Out of Plan training including lecturing and Q&A module has been provided tothe staff (109 persons) and residents (up to 6 year old 61 children) of Kid’s Home22

which located in the Nork borough of the Yerevan-city. Thus, the Project has included
all the orphanages of the city of Yerevan.

Earthquake protective measures and behavior rules for people
with special needs and their mentors and nurses
1.
How people with special needs (blind, dumb and deaf ones) get informed
about disaster/emergency.
2.
How the disaster/emergency does affect those people’s environment.
3.
Are those people aware of disaster/emergency peculiar to the region.
4.
Which are the protective measures for people with special needs before
disaster, during disaster and after disaster.
Earthquake protection rules• Before earthquake- For mentors and guardians:- For people with special needs:
Do remember or write down and keep stand-by the phone numbers of your doctor,
mentor and nurse.
If you have speech difficulties keep paper and pen.
In case of short vision teach your dog the shortest and secure exit.
b. During earthquakec. After earthquake
3. Specific features of proposed methodology
The methodology has the following features:- selected instructons are brief,- relevant emphasis is done,- do not include excess information,- streamlining to people who are able to act on themselves,
Peculiar features of methodology are:- stage by stage approach when training is followed by the alert drills,- periodicity of training, it is desirable to repeat it several times a year.
“Earthquake Protection Behavior Rules:
Paint yourself 5+” brochure for little ones
The specialists of SSP centers including Project participants taking into consideration
the acquiring capacities of different age groups of children have developed the
behavior rules for junior, middle and senior students.
The following coloring books were compiled:<<Paint Yourself>> - for 3-4 age children.
- <<9 Planets of Solar System>> - for 4-7 age children.
- <<Secrets of Planet Earth>> - for junior school students.
- <<Tsunami Josef and Earthquake Moses>> - for 4-7 age children.
- <<Strange behavior of the Animals>> - for 5-9 age children.
23

- <<Earthquake Protection Rules>> - for 5-9 age children.
- <<Covenant of the Planet>> - for 3-8 age children.
- <<Game>> - for Junior school children.

<< Earthquake Protection Rules:
Paint Yourself 5+>> brochure (cover)

How to Get Ready for Earthquake

The coloring book <<Earthquake Protection Rules: Paint Yourself 5+>> for 5-9 age
children has recently been published in 1500 copies and shared with the stakeholders.

Training at the Yerevan “Kids’ Home” state orphanage

24

Training at the Yerevan Nork state nursing home

•
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•
•

Frequently asked questions on Earthquake
Do Earthquakes reoccur? Is the frequently occurred earthquake good or bad?
Is there recurrence period for the major earthquakes in Armenia?
Can we predict major earthquake?
What are the magnitude and intensity of the would-be strongest earthquake inArmenia?
Can animals predict earthquakes?
Has the earthquake hazard level rightly assessed for the territory of Armeniain
Armenia?
What does cause earthquake in Armenia?
Could the Armenian Nuclear power plant withstand major earthquake?
Has Spitak 1988 Earthquake had natural or man-made origin?
In case of major earthquake what kind of destruction could be expected in
Yerevan-city and vicinity?
Could multi-story buildings be constructed in Yerevan?
How the settlements in Armenia are protected from negative consequences ofmajor earthquake?
What do cause the massive destructions in case of major earthquake inArmenia?
How we can ensure the seismic resistance of new apartment buildings?
What is the priority for seismic safety of the country?
Can I return home after the major earthquake?
What shall I do while shaking is starting and which is most secure place inhome?

Main Outcomes /preliminary/Within the Project “Reaching the Most Vulnerable-Orphans and Seniors Inclusive
Earthquake Safety in the Capital City of Yerevan and District of Ararat, Armenia”
the following activities have been carried out:
- international experience on inclusive seismic protection behavior rules of Japan, theUSA, Germany, Greece, Uzbekistan, China etc. has been studied and acquired, and25

familiarized in Armenia. The specialists involved in the Project are permanently
participating at the Workshops and Seminars organized by the various internationalorganizations, Survey for Seismic Protection and Ministry of Emergency Situations of
the Republic of Armenia,- earthquake protection behavior rules for people with special needs including orphansand seniors and their guardians, mentors and nurses have been developed at the SSP
of MES RA.The guidance “Earthquake Protection Behavior Rules” for children withspecial needs developed by the Save the Children have been mastered and used inpractice,- 1500 copies of “Earthquake Behavior Rules: Paint Yourself. 5+” color book havebeen published and destributed amongst stakeholders,- preliminary agenda for the working meetings, workshop, classes and drills involving
ADRC experts has been developed and is to be agreed with ADRC,- training on Earthquake Protection Behavior Rules and Seismic Resistance of
Buildings and Structures have been provided to the staff of three orphanages and two
nursing homes, located in Yerevan city and Ararat district,- The SSP specialists have summarized the frequently asked questions during
meetings and trainings and our relevant answers. The preliminary outcomes havebeen viewed and evaluated.

Disaster Education For Different Age Groups of Population as a Part ofDisaster Risk Reduction in Japan
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and technology (MEXT) has a
Disaster Operational Plan (2001). One of the points of plan is Guidance about Disaster
Education at School which include advice to relevant organizations about educationof safety, spirit of respect for life and volunteerism, and must be improved for securingchildren's safety and disaster time. MEXT compiled a Guide to Make a Disaster
Reduction resilience at disaster time. ,,Manual for Schools (Earthquake andTsunami),, and ,,Development of a Disaster Reduction Education to Nurture Power toLive On,, demonstrating the direction of the school education in disaster reduction,and to enhance the disaster education at school.
Educational curricula of disasters applied in schools of different provinces ofJapan are different. The main ideology is based on recognition of the natural
phenomenon and on organization of quick and relevant actions during a possible
disaster. The models of training inside and outside a classroom are topical, critical roleis given to recognition of the experience of the past and to the issue of avoiding the
failures of the past, for implementation of which efficient means are considered to bemeetings with adults with experience of surviving disasters and visits to museums andlibraries of disasters.
Disaster Mitigation Education at schools Important to mention that Each
Prefecture’s school's Disaster Education based on own Prefectures and Cities Board
26

of Education. For example, Disaster Education of Kobe City based on Board of
Education of Kobe City and Board of Education of Hyogo Prefecture. And thismechanism is actual for each Prefecture in Japan.

Disaster Resilience Education

What is Disaster Resilience Education?
The Aims of Disaster Resilience Education.
The primery objective of disaster resilience education is to bolster the disaster
resilience (the capabilities to prevent the damage from worsening and to enact
restoration measures) of communities, by heightening the disaster resilienceawareness of each individual belonging to a community and by forging links within thecommunity.
In order to do this, it is vital to create an educational climate that fosters equilibrium of
the three elements of knowledge of the disaster history of a particular community, theattitude required to work together in standing strongly against disasters, and the skills
necessary for safe evacuation and emergency aid.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11,2011, disaster resilienceeducation initiatives bore fruit, exemplified by the case of Kamaishi city Kamaishi
Higashi Junior High School in Iwate Prefecture, where the lives of many school
children and students who were at school were saved from the tsunami.
27

Disaster Reduction Drills and Exercises
The Government has designated the 1st day of September as the Disaster
Preparedness Day and the week including this day as the Disaster Preparedness
Week, and carries out various events to raise awareness and readiness about thedisaster. Disaster drills and ,,disaster reduction fairs,, are held in various parts ofJapan.
It is obviously that Disaster Drills is one of the very important tasks for Disaster
Education.

Five basic principles for successful Disaster Resilience Education
Below are five basic principles to remain mindful of when implementing disaster
resilienc education.
1.
Learn about the problems and peculiarities of a community, as well as its pastexperiences in Suffering disasters
It is important to precisely gauge the envisaged disaster risk of a community by usingmaterials and site visits to understand its vulnerabilities.
28

Message from Organization with Featured Initiatives
When it comes to creating resilient communities, the disasters that each community
faces are different. Thus, it is first and foremost important to understand the kindsof disasters that each community faces, and then to respond to the needs of thelocal people, with a view to making them more resilient to disasters.
[Aichi Prefectural Handa Commercial High School]2.
Act on your own initiative, witness everything firsthandGet active, experience everything yourself.
It is important to start by taking action yourself, setting an example to others.
Message from Organization with Featured Initiatives
Don’t start out setting yourself limits; it is a key that you take the first step, reachingout to the authorities, corporations and other entities. Adopt the mindset that it may
not even work out, but get going anyway with something, no matter how small.
[Shiga Prefectural Hikone Technical High School]
There are some things that only make sense once you begin. If indeed you aren’t
successful in your aims then take the chance to reflect on what the issues are.
[Itoigawa City Nechi Elementary School]

3.
Set Smart, Realistic Goals
While it is fine to set ideals and goals, it is important to confirm the resources
necessary for your programs, and to go about implementing them within realistic
boundaries in a reasonable manner without being greedy in one’s objectives.
Message from Organization with Featured Initiatives
It is most important to keep your activities going, however small, as you will reap the
benefits in areas where you were not expecting to.
[Yasashii Nihongo Volunteer Association]
Although we started out just wanting to make a good map, the more we did the more
we realized that the aims of disaster resilience education can be met just by “walking
around the area, getting to know the area”[Toba City Arashima Children’s club]29

4.
Be proactive in mingling with key people in various fields and disciplines
It is important to take onboard new insights and know-how by networking andcooperating with key persons in the field, always looking to reinforce the framework ofyour initiatives.
Message from Organization with Featured Initiatives
Members have various qualifications and because they are affiliated to all sorts oforganizations they can use their network to create new links with experts and otherbodies. We have a cooperative spirit whereby we aim to make out other’s
deficiencies. Which empowers us to do activities that we wouldn’t have expected to
be able to do.
[Nadeshiko Resiliance Network]
First and foremost is finding like-minded people. Without like-minded cohorts, yourinitiatives won’t catch on, and your network will be limited.
[Yasashii Japanese Volunteer Association]

5.
Keep your approach positive, fun and lighthearted
Connect disaster resilience with having fun, and ensure that your initiatives andprograms can be comfortably accommodated within daily life on an ongoing basis.
Also, develop initiatives that provide people with knowledge of the beneficence of
nature, rather than focusing exclusively on seismic and wind/water disasters, and indoing so engender a sense of pride in living in that particular community.
Message from Organization with Featured Initiatives
By interweaving resilience into common local events (festivals/rice-cake making
events) people can get to know each other, providing opportunities to encounter
disaster resilience in a fun manner which in turn makes the community more resilientand in tune with nature.
[Sakuragaoka 2 chome self-governing bodies (Nishi Yamato 6 Neighborhood
Council Liaison Group )]30

Preparation Phase
In the first phase (Preparation) of disaster resilience education, you need to think about
who is doing what, for whom, where, and how it will take place. You then need to put
together your program with materials that fit your goals, secure the necessary timeslots and venues, and of course, funding.
Appoint project leaders
Consensus must be reached with all stakeholders when selecting project leaders andfrontrunners, taking into consideration their individuality and functional capabilities.
Case Study 1−1 Organization：
Toba City Arashima Childrens' Club (Toba City, Mie Prefecture)
Issue: We were implementing disaster resilience education as part of our activities at
the Children's Club. However, rotation of staff threatened to alter our approach todisaster resilience education activities. To ensure disaster resilience education that iscontinuous, you need to appoint project leaders who won't be impacted by staff
alternation.
Solution: A graduate of the children's club who is also a local mentor type figure, took
up the reins as project leader for disaster resilience education during his spare time.
By adopting a system different to the one of the children's club, which involved regularrotation of staff, it became possible to implement ongoing initiatives.
Network with Key persons in the community

31

Consult with people who are cornerstones of the community including neighborhood
watch leaders and local government officials, and maintain a network with them byexchanging information.
Case Study 2−1 Organization:
Kamaishi City Kamaishi Higashi Junior High School (Kamaishi City, Iwate prefecture)
Issue - Needed to get the cooperation of the local community in order to spread
activities out beyond just the school
Solution - Consulted with PTA chairman and district head to introduce people who
could help. When doing so, instead of communicating just by email and telephone, we
made an effort to go with the students who would form the main body of the initiatives
to meet and talk to potential collaborators.
Case Study 2−2 Organization:
Tanabe City Shinjo Junior High School (Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture)
Issue: Needed a pipeline-type figure that could be the link between school and the
local area, in order implement initiatives in tandem with the community at large.
Solution: Consulted with a key person who serves as a director at the public hall forcommunity events, and enlisted their cooperation in overseeing contact and divisionof duties between schools and self-governing bodies.
Systematize the core of your initiatives
Deliberate with all relevant parties to determine the name of your organization,
persons in charge, allocation of responsibilities, and methods for sharing information.
Having designed your activities plan, you can systematically enact disaster resilienceeducation. When systematizing the body of your initiatives, consider using existingorganizations where necessary.
Case Study 3−1 Organization:
Chiba Prefectural Togane Special Support School (Togane City, Chiba Prefecture)
Issue: Pursuant to raising the level of disaster resilience education for the community
as a whole, various stakeholders involved in the community's resilience and welfare
needed to get together and share information, to better understand their respectiveroles.
Solution: Set up “Sanbu Resilience Universal Network” ＊ comprising variousorganizations involved in disaster resilience/welfare/education within the Sanbu
Community, and scheduled regular information and opinion exchanging sessions
between the persons in charge of disaster resilience in each. This was conducive to acoordinated, aligned approach across the community and the implementation of an
integrated disaster resilience education program.
Through the“ Togane community Disaster Resilience Education Network Conference,
which is one of the constituent elements of“ Sanbu Resilience Universal Network”,
disaster resilience officers get together to swap notes and work on raising the overalllevel of resilience education for the region.
Case Study 3−2 Organization: Sakuragaoka 2 chōme self-governing bodies (Nishi
Yamato 6 Council Liaison Group)（Kanmaki, Nara Prefecture）
32

Issue: Because self-governing bodies officers change every year, the group needed
to deploy a structure that would be conducive to maintain disaster resilience education.
Solution: As a separate entity to officers of self-governing bodies, Sakuragaoka 2chōme self-governing bodies appointed special members to assist them, fulfilling thefunction of head office for disaster resilience education activities. The fact that these
special members do not rotate every year and are in the first place experienced officersof self-governing bodies with a high awareness of disaster resilience education has
translated into being able to maintain sustainable disaster resilience education
measures.
Case Study 3−3 Organization:
Tanabe City Shinjo Junior High School (Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture)
Issue: Because the whole school was starting disaster resilience education, it wasnecessary to create activity goals and activity policies for each instructor.
Solution: For several consecutive years at a time, project leaders coordinate thedisaster resilience education officers for each school year. Selected an officer incharge of disaster resilience education from each school grade (three members
totally), and organized section meetings for these officers. These meetings are held
once a week, during which project leaders can confirm the direction of disaster
resilience education with each officer and discuss other matters. This has paved theway for a singular coordinated approach to disaster resilience education across theschool year groups.
Do not over-extend the range of your activities
Make the program gradually wider, rather than act widely from the
beginning of the activities but act as possible as you can.
Case Study 4−1 Organization:
Tokushima City Tsuda Junior High School (Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture）
Issue It was expected that it would be hard to implement a smooth program thatinvolved all students in the school, because some children lack motivation toparticipate, clash with extracurricular activities, and sometimes it's hard getting theapproval of parents to attend programs during long school holidays.
Solution Started out with small numbers (1 class in each year group) who presented
what they had learned to other children during school assemblies.

33

DISASTER EDUCATION AND WAYS TO REDUCE SOCIAL AND
PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY TO DISASTER

The psychological and social effect of a disaster is harder to see rather than thephysical effect. The recovery from it often takes far longer. The effect of disasters canbring vary reactions to the people. Helping people for facing the situation after disasteris important. This research is to investigate the psychosocial support program and thebest practices related the disaster preparedness activities in Japan that can promote
the psychosocial well-being.

The importance of being psychologically prepared
Being directly involved in any potentially life-threatening emergency situation
can be genuinely terrifying. People often don't have prior experience of being in natural
disasters or knowledge of just how stressful this can be. When people are under
severe stress they are usually not able to think as clearly as usual and this can affectdecisions and reactions. These are normal, although not always helpful, responses toa possibly life-threatening situation.
When people have a better understanding of their own likely psychologicalresponses in natural disaster warning situations this can help them to feel more incontrol and better able to cope. Being psychologically prepared can assist people tothink more clearly and reduce the risk of serious injury and loss of life or property.
Being cooler, calmer and more collected can also be very helpful to family members
and others who may not be as well prepared psychologically for what is happening.
Of course, it is unrealistic to think that people can be fully emotionally prepared forsuch stressful and confronting situations as severe natural disasters. However, being
psychologically prepared can help in coping with the stress of the unfolding situationand can help to reduce the distress after the disaster has passed. This does not meanthat people can be fully prepared for anything that may happen or that being
psychologically prepared means being emotionally ‘bullet-proof'.
Being psychologically prepared also includes having realistic expectations thatan emergency situation such as a bushfire or cyclone event can very quickly become
unmanageable, unpredictable and life threatening. Being able to anticipate that sucha situation could occur can help people to ‘let go' when necessary and leave thesituation to the expertise of emergency services.
What does being psychologically prepared involve?
Once the household emergency plan has been set and practised and thenecessary physical preparations have been made, we can turn our attention topsychological strategies for managing the stress of a threatening natural disaster.
34

Psychologists use a term called ‘stress inoculation' to assist people to prepare
themselves psychologically for emergencies, which in other words means planning tobe better protected from stress by working through the likely psychological reactions
beforehand and learning strategies to cope. These strategies ‘inoculate' people
against being overly anxious or overwhelmed by their emotional responses, and will
help prevent being caught up in unhelpful thinking in an emergency situation.
Obviously this approach will work better with some disaster events that may be more
frequent and to some extent more predictable, but the psychological principles can beapplied for any emergency.
The way people feel in highly stressful situations is strongly affected by the way
they cope with the signs of physical arousal (e.g., racing heartbeat, shortness ofbreath) and the thoughts that they are having (e.g., ‘I can't cope'; ‘We're going to getbadly hurt'). These reactions and thoughts can make people feel anxious, hopeless oreven angry, and while these feelings are understandable, they are not very helpful inan emergency situation. Being psychologically prepared means that these natural
reactions to stress can be anticipated and managed to help people feel more in control
and confident.
There are three main steps to being psychologically prepared for a threatening
natural disaster:
1. Anticipate the anxiety and concerns that will arise.
2. Identify uncomfortable or distressing thoughts and feelings that may cause
further anxiety.
3. Manage the responses so that the ability to cope remains as effective as
possible.
An easy way to remember the skills involved in being psychologically prepared is tofocus on aiming for psychological as well as emergency household preparedness.

The three steps to being psychologically prepared
1. ANTICIPATE that you will be feeling worried or anxious and remember these
are normal, although not always helpful, responses to a possible
lifethreatening situation
2. IDENTIFY what the specific physical feelings associated with anxiety are andwhether you are having any frightening thoughts that are adding to the fear
3. MANAGE your responses using controlled breathing and self-talk so that you
stay as calm as possible and can focus on the practical tasks that needattention

35

Step 1: Anticipating the psychological reactions leading up to a disasterIn the lead up to most natural disasters like bushfires, cyclones, floods or severe
storms there is usually a series of warnings on radio, television and in newspapers. For
example, there may be repeated reminders about buying batteries for torches andradios, having gas bottles filled, ensuring an adequate supply of emergency water andfood, removing flammable material from around homes, or securing doors andwindows.
Warnings and uncertainty in an emergency situation affect people
psychologically. There are often repeated risk messages and frightening images andsounds to ensure people know about the risk. This can leave people feeling anxious,
helpless or confused.
How to anticipate your reactions?
 To begin preparing yourself for the natural disaster that may be coming, try to
anticipate what your likely response to the situation will be.
 Expect that the situation will be highly stressful and think about how you usuallyreact to stress. Although these reactions are very natural they can get in the wayof other necessary preparations.
 If you understand your usual reactions, you can learn ways to be better preparedto manage them when they happen.
Step 2: Identifying the specific feelings and thoughts
It's important for people to tune into the specific feelings and thoughts they
are having in response to a threatening natural disaster, as this will help them to findways to manage them.
People usually become physically aroused in highly stressful situations. Common
physical symptoms include:Racing heart and palpitations
 Shortness of breath and dizziness Tense muscles Fatigue or exhaustion Nausea Numbness or tingling Headaches.
When these physical reactions to stress begin, they usually trigger stressful thoughts
such as:

I can't cope
I'm so afraid
I'm panicking
I don't know what to do.

36How to identify your own feelings and thoughts?
 Notice what is happening to your body and the physical sensations that tell youthat you're feeling anxious.
 Try to focus in on the frightening thoughts you may be having that are adding to
the fear. What exactly are you saying to yourself? Are your thoughts helping you
or making things harder? Check whether you are jumping to conclusions.
 Remind yourself that strong bodily sensations and frightening thoughts are normal
reactions to stress but they are not helping you to stay calm and clearheaded.
Don't get too critical of yourself though!
Step 3: Managing responses to the stress
In stressful situations, people can feel more in control through two strategies:
1. Slowing down breathing to help calm the physical arousal symptoms
2. Replacing frightening thoughts with more helpful ones (‘self-talk').
Learning to breathe and think more calmly
 To slow your breathing down, take smaller breaths and pause between breaths tospace them out. When you have breathed out slowly, hold your breath for a countof three before inhaling your next breath. Sometimes people find it helps tobreathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
 While concentrating on breathing out slowly, say to yourself ‘Relax', or ‘Stay calm',or ‘It's OK, I'm managing OK'. These are good words to use because they areassociated with feeling relaxed and in control.
 Try not to dwell on the bad things that might happen, but instead tell yourself thatthe calmer you are, the better you'll be at managing exactly what needs to bedone.
 Remember you need to be able to draw on your own strengths and survival
resources and your coping ability. It's important not to let unhelpful feelings andthoughts get in the way of careful and well planned actions.
 Remind yourself that this is an emergency situation and that it's natural you arefeeling anxious and stressed. You cannot directly control what's happening but
you can manage your responses in this emergency and influence the impact on
you and your family.
Helping others to cope with their feelings
 Teach others the simple breathing exercises.
 Be sensitive and supportive to them, rather than judging. They may be feelingscared, anxious or embarrassed if they are not coping as well as you.
 Encourage them to talk about how they are feeling with you.
 Assist them to find more helpful thoughts to say to themselves and others.
 Get people involved in occupying their time rather than worrying.
 Encourage them to take responsibility for a task that needs attending to.

37

Some unhelpful psychological 'traps'
There are a number of common ‘traps’ that people can fall into in response to athreatening natural disaster. Knowing that these are common reactions may help
people to understand and be better prepared if they find themselves feeling this way.
Anxiety
and
worry
are
triggered by the
preparations
for the natural
disasterOnce people start preparing for a natural disaster, they may
experience sudden and unexpected feelings of anxiety andhelplessness as the reality and possible consequences of aforthcoming natural disaster may suddenly become more real.
What happens: The worry often stops people from doing
what they are doing, so they don't complete preparations forthe natural disaster.
What to do: Go ahead with your preparations knowing that it
is normal for people to feel this worry and even to experience
occasional panic. It's not pleasant, but you can deal with it.

Feelingthat Another cause for feelings of worry and helplessness is the
everythingis repeated thought that a natural disaster is an awesome anduncontrollable ‘act of God or nature'.
completely
uncontrollable
What happens: These feelings of helplessness and futility
may cause people to do nothing.
What to do: Remind yourself that although you cannot directly
control the disaster, you are not helpless to protect yourself
and your family from its consequences. Undertaking theprotective measures contained in your local disasteremergency guides will not only help make you safe, it will help
you to feel more in control and less anxious.
Blindly
followingothersWhen people are frightened and anxious, it is easy to become
overwhelmed and confused, and do whatever someone else
is doing, without thinking about it.
What happens: Uncertainty, along with a sense of urgency
that something must be done, can lead to blindly following
someone else's anxious behaviour.
What to do: Don't be afraid to take charge if that is what you
feel you should do. It is important, however, that you knowwhat should be done, and that you behave calmly.

38

The
disaster Unless people have been through a natural disaster, it isfeels ‘unreal'difficult to imagine what it will be like, and what the feelings offear and panic might be. Some people deal with this by making
light of the threat and treating it as if it isn't real.
What happens: This feeling of unreality can interfere withdisaster preparation by interfering with making necessary
practical plans.
What to do: You need to keep telling yourself that what ishappening is very real and requires sensible behaviour.
Warnings lose Once people have heard a number of similar warning
their impact
messages, they may start to expect that nothing serious isgoing to happen. The messages can be repetitive and it may
be that the threat of the disaster becomes just a threat, as thedisaster misses the area or simply doesn't happen.
What happens: The repeated warnings lose their impact andpeople feel a sense that things are unreal or that the risk isn't
as threatening as it really is.
What to do: Watch out for this, as you may miss critical new
information and start behaving as though things are back tonormal.
False sense of It is also possible and indeed common for people tosecurity
experience a false sense of security in response to disasterwarnings, because they may think that modern technology,
the government, or the emergency services would not allow
such an event to happen.
What happens: People think they are safe because we now
live in safer houses and can very accurately ‘track' what ishappening with threatening events in terms of location, speed
and intensity. This is reassuring but can also be very
dangerous. Location on a map does not mean there isscientific control over the event nor accurate predictions.
What to do: Always treat the actual danger as very real sothat you can respond realistically and responsibly, minimising
the risk to your family and yourself.

39

After the emergency has passed
Checking on how you coped
After the disaster or threat has passed it is helpful to check whether identifying
and managing your feelings and thoughts helped you feel being better psychologically
prepared and able to cope.
Were you able to:Anticipate how you might react?
 Identify emotional responses?
 Practice breathing more slowly and calmly?
 Use more helpful thoughts?
 Identify any psychological traps?
 Make decisions more easily and attend to the necessary practical tasks?
Coping with losses and damage
It is inevitable in disaster prone areas that some loss or damage will occur. Many
people have strong emotional or physical reactions following a disaster. Emotional
distress following a disaster can include anger, anxiety, sadness or grief and atendency to unfairly blame people or agencies.
The APS Tip Sheet Understanding and managing psychological trauma describes
some of these symptoms of distress and provides suggestions promoting recovery,such as: Trying to maintain a normal routine
 Spending time with people who care about you Giving yourself permission to experience some reaction to the distressing
experience.
Department of seismic Risk Reduction ofSurvey for Seismic Protection
Department of seismic Risk Reduction of Survey for Seismic Protection
conducts social-psychological research, sociological surveys, as well as processing
and psychological analysis of data. As the main specialist of the Department of seismic
Risk Reduction of Survey for Seismic Protection, social-psychological investigations are
implemented, by me the goals of which are to reveal the level of cognitive andpsychological preparedness on earthquakes among different segments of population.
Training on code of conduct of seismic protection is implemented by SSP CAP
with an aim of increasing the level of knowledge on proper behavior during a possible
earthquake, as well as a psychological research program is conducted in order to form
the description of anxiety, stress resistance, cognitive-psychological preparedness of
population on earthquake.
The relevance of the above noted activities is directly driven by the fact of seismic
riskiness of our region.
40

The aim of the program is to
Increase the level of cognitive-psychological preparedness of earthquake resistance,
as well as to investigate the effectiveness of the training on code of conduct on seismic
protection implemented by CAP and the possible level of application of that knowledge
in practice by the trainees.
Work description
The process consists of the following 5 stages:
I.Training stage
 Instruction of code of conduct on seismic protection
 Group discussion on “What should I and my friends do in case of anearthquake?” Watching of didactic materials
 Role plays
II. Research stage
 Characteristics of a temperament (test, author – Rusalov) Trepidation (Taylor's alarm methodology)
 Perception of cognitive and practical knowledge on earthquake, as well as
emotional attitude (questionnaire)
III. Stage of an instructional alarm drill
IV. Psychological debriefing
V. Social-psychological analysis of the group behaviour
I. Training stage
Training of code of conduct on seismic protection is implemented with apresentation material developed by CAP, which includes 3 basis points of actions:• What to do before an earthquake?
• What to do during an earthquake?
• What to do after an earthquake?
Group discussion
During the thematic discussion on “What should I and my friends do in case of anearthquake?” a conversation-discussion is held with the group on earthquake, on its
possible consequences, on necessary code of conduct during an earthquake and on
the importance of the code’s applicability.
Observation of didactic materials• Exploration of a poster prepared by CAP• Watching of visual materials on earthquake – cartoons on “The disaster-let and theearthquake” (2,5 minutes), “This is the planet” (6 minutes), “The disaster-let ineveryday life” (3 minutes) and films on “When the crust is shaking” (5 minutes),“Resistance” (55 minutes), “How to resist the earthquake” (14,5 minutes), “Megatsunami” (50 minutes).
• Watching of thematic photos, booklets, brochures.
Role play41This is an effective method applied during an education process. For instance, thetrainer can suggest unexpected situations to the group, where they need to take a roleor a viewpoint and further, try to develop or finish it.
Those who aren’t taking part in the main role play take a role of an observer and makeconclusions after the end of the game.
After the role play
• what happened is clarified,• the mistakes are discussed,• the positions, feelings, changes are discovered which existed during the main roleplay,
• a possibility of self-observation is created,• the results of the role play are compared with the initial goals,• the behavior is analyzed,• new topics for thinking are proposed,• the role play is connected with already-watched didactic materials.
The effectiveness of the method is that the gained practice is maintained for a longtime. This is an interesting way of accumulation of knowledge and skills and gives apossibility to understand the situational demonstrations of the problems.
II stage․ Social-psychological research
Diagnostics of a temperament with testing (Rusalov)
Temperament is a complex of more or less stable typological characteristics which
describes the dynamic specifications of mental processes and behavior of anindividual, their strength, the speed of their occurrence, flow and pause, as well as
influences on the vital and energetic tonus of a personality.
It is important to note that in nature there is no pure type of a temperament and people
are bearers of each of the above noted types, however, prevalence of one of thempredefines the behavior of a personality, based on what we have decided to explore
the types of temperaments of the group members.
Diagnostics of trepidation with testing (Taylor's alarm methodology)
Trepidation is the expectation of a negative outcome of certain situations andphenomena. When the level of trepidation is high, a person is distinguished withinclination of emotional outbursts. It is important to note that in case of high trepidation
the self-esteem of a personality is low, because of which he does not consider himself
and his actions to be competent. In case of low trepidation, a person is distinguishedwith inactivity, indifference and low level of motivation. Thus, in both of the cases theinclination of a personality on acting in an organized and targeted manner decreases.
Based on all this we have considered it to be purposeful to explore the grade oftrepidation of the group members.
III stage. Social-psychological analysis of the group behavior
Therefore, it is assumed that this complex program will increase the proficiency
level of the code of conduct during an earthquake and the cognitive-psychologicalpreparedness and, in the meantime, an opportunity will be created for the evaluationof this assumption with the means of feedback.
42

Social-psychological research program intended for 17-65 age group
Psychological research is implemented by the Department of Sociology andPsychology of SSP CAP, which tend to discover the level of stress resistance andtrepidation, as well as the cognitive-emotional perception of the earthquake among the
population of RA (17-65 years). The aim of the implemented research is to discover
the following:
Level of trepidation expression (Taylor's alarm methodology)
Overall level of de-adaptation risk and neuropsychological stability during stress
It is important to note that
Stress-resistance is the ability of a personality for resisting stress, conditioned with aperson’s individual, social-psychological, social-demographic characteristics.
Trepidation is the felling of expressed uncertainty, fear and expectation of negative
outcome, i.e., the perception of different situations (regardless of their nature) as
distressful and fearing, where expectation of some sort of negative flow and outcome
is existing.
It is important to note that the low level of stress-resistance, as well as the highindicator of trepidation can conduce that a person gets into panic even in case of slightshocks and is not able to use the necessary code of conduct.
Panic is the occasion when a person is distinguished with untargeted actions, performs
inadequately and is unable to make thought and centralized actions. Because of thata big danger exists for the personality and his surrounding environment.
Based on the received results necessity of psychological work arises. For its
implementation we consider to be effective the application of such psychologicalmethods and techniques as: Relaxation techniques which are special means ofcreating psycho-neuromuscular relaxed, peaceful and balanced condition via
generation of inhalation, special breathing and corresponding therapeutic atmosphere• Art therapy – therapy of self-expression via art. Art therapy is a psycho-therapeutic
method, which is implemented with means of imaginative activity. It is one of the
gentlest and, in the meantime, deepest methods in the work of psychologists andpsychotherapists.
By painting, carving or expressing the problem or mood in an artistic way, a person
seems to receive an encrypted message from the subconscious level.
Art therapy ensures• expression of feelings, emotions search of new ways for communicating with theworld• confirmation of the uniqueness and significance of the self
• increase of adaptability in the constantly changing world.

43

Educational Psychological Measures and Research results of populationsociety-psychological vulnerability in earthquake
In case of the absence of psychological preparedness, the suddenness of thesituation is one of the causes of affective behavior. The forms of emergency behavior
depend on the individual’s psychological protection and subjective governance.
Testing has been organized and periodically implemented. Based on the results
obtained, a correlation analysis of test results was performed. Research has been
done to verify the effectiveness of the methodology. The above-mentioned first threetests were given to the audience, followed by teaching process. A month later, thesame tests were held in the same auditoriums again.

Map of spatial and quantitative data of psychological testing

Basic research methods:
 T. Holmes' Method of Diagnosis of Stress Disorder and Diagnosis of
Neurosurgical Stability,
44




Taylor's alarm methodology,
T. Holmes and R. Rhee's "Methods for Identifying Stress-Resistant andSocial Adaptation”
 At the same time we used the questionnaire and statistical analysis
methods.
Below the graphic are imagery of the three tested tests that show what indicators
have been recorded before the training and what indicators after the application of themethodology.

Taylor's alarm methodology

Yerevan-before(29.18)/after(24.82)
Kapan- before(29.13)/after(24.82)
Stepanakert-before(23.33)/after(13.84)
Gymri-before(29.93)/after(17.75)

45

T. Holmes and R. Rhee's "Methods for Identifying Stress-Resistant andSocial Adaptation”

Yerevan-before(260.93)/after(217.12)
Kapan-before(284.89)/after(225.88)
Stepanakert-before(274.25)/after(215.21)
Gyumri-before(301.47)/after(229.79)

T. Holmes' Method of Diagnosis of Stress Disorder and Diagnosis of
Neurosurgical Stability,

Yerevan-before(30.62)/after(24.43)
Kapan-before(31.32)/after(23.45)
Stepanakert-before(29.36)/after(22.87)
Gyumri-before(32.45)/after(24.00)

46

According to preliminary data, the alarm in Yerevan was at a high level (25-40),
and then increased by an average (15-25), indicating anxiety reduction. Stressresistance did not undergo substantial changes in initial and final indices, for example
it corresponds to the boundary level (200-299). Neurological stability was initiallyconsidered to be lower in the NRC conventional scale (29-32, = 2), ie moderate
neurological stability and greater risk of misdiagnosis, and then relatively more stable(23-28, = 3).
According to the data from Kapan, at first there was a high level of distress (2540), and then the average level (15-25). Stress resistance at the beginning and at theend has been recorded with slight differences at the border level (200-299).
Neurological stability first coincided with the lower scores of the NQC (29-32, = 2),
followed by improvement of indicators (23-28, = 3). As you can see, the data in thesetwo cities are similar, which proves the effectiveness of the methodology, regardlessof territorial peculiarities.
The data from Stepanakert city researchers had the following picture: The level of
disturbance at first, unlike in the previous two cities, was 15-25, which speaks about
an average level of anxiety, and then a low level of low intensity (5-15). Stressresistance in both cases corresponds to the border level (200-299), but there is adelicacy. if at first the average value = 274.25 then then it = 215.21. Neurologicalstability was consistent with the low prevalence of the NRC conditional scale (29-32,= 2), followed by double improvement of indicators (18-22, = 4).
Gyumri researchers had the following picture: The disturbance first coincided witha high level (25-40), and then increased to an average (15-25). Stress-resistance has
undergone significant changes. initially it was at low (300 and more), then at the border(200-299) level of stress. The neurological psychiatric outpatient initially showed a 2932, N = 2, and then higher neurological stability, 23-28 = 3 at the NSC conventional
scale.
In summary, it should be noted that in all four cities surveyed improvement of
indicators was observed, which allows us to conclude the effectiveness of proposed
methods.
 We offer a methodology that can be used to mitigate the psychologicaltrauma resulting from the earthquake. We also offer psychological nuancesthat should be used during training, awareness-raising and seismic
protection. So, we offer the teaching methodology, the novelty of which isthe following:
A. the selected instructions are brief,
B. relevant accents are made,C. free from excess information,
D. they are aimed at people with the ability to act independently, can betaught using advertising posters, runner lines.
 In the application of the basic methodology we distingue- learning duration: after training, anxiety and excitement areorganized.
47

-after anxiety, trainees visit a seismic protection service and get
acquainted with seismic risk reduction activities on site.
training periodicity: it is desirable to repeat several times a year.

Proposing A Multi-Hazard Approach to Disaster Management
Education to Enhance Children’s “Zest for Life”:
Development of Disaster Management Education Programs
to Be Practiced by Teachers∗∗School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan[Received August 6, 2016; accepted January 6, 2017](Shortened; Earthquake)
1.2. Current Status and Problems in Disaster Management Education
Disaster management education is defined as the education aiming at prevention ofdisaster and minimization of damage through a swift and an appropriate response todisaster when the disaster already occurred [2]. After the Great East Japan
Earthquake, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology(MEXT) founded “the Council on Disaster Education and Disaster Management after
the Great East Japan Earthquake” [3], indicating a “promotion of the disastermanagement education to enhance the capacities to forecast the risk and avoid it” asan orientation for the policies on disaster management education in schools in the
future. The “Development of Disaster Management Education to Foster ‘Zest for Life”’[4] and “Guidelines for Disaster Management in Schools in Preparation for
Earthquakes Earthquakes and Tsunami Disasters,” [5] which contain information on
disaster preparedness and reference examples of evacuation drill, have beendeveloped and distributed among schools. Since 2004, a number of experts on
disaster management education have been operating the website on “Disaster
Management Education Challenge Plan” [6], in cooperation with the MEXT, Fire
Defense Agency, and National Institute for Educational Policy Research, among
others. This website introduces several examples of highly motivated activities on
disaster management education in schools, where disasters have already been
experienced or the risk of disaster is imminent. Nishira et al. [7] and Fujioka et al. [8]proposed practical studies in schools, including the development of materials andgames for disaster management education. Ichii [9] provided summaries of the books
and picture books to be used as reference materials in carrying out disastermanagement education in schools and guides on ways to use these materials, suchas games for disaster management education that have been developed by otherresearchers. Moreover, Kimura et al. [10] presented various methods of implementing“disaster management literacy.” The author has also supported the disastermanagement education in schools, such as elementary, junior high, and high schools
in the Kanto Region, especially since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The author
has undertaken the disaster management education and drills in certain schools tolearn not only the attitudes toward disaster but also the appropriate knowledge on
disaster and capabilities to respond to potential risks for schoolchildren to protect48

themselves from various natural disasters (for examples, see [11–13]). However, inessence, schoolteachers do not develop disaster management expertise in teacher
training course, as they are only trained with respect to the challenges onschoolchildren’s psychological and physical health, such as bullying and refusal to go
to school, and school safety, such as bicycle accident and problems caused by SNS.
Accordingly, schoolteachers find it difficult to teach systematically the mechanism ofoccurrence of natural disaster and the appropriate behaviors to respond to it in theirclasses [14, 15]. For example, several schools in Tochigi Prefecture, which is the focusof this study, carry out evacuation drills regularly as part of disaster management
education, but they do not consider specific local conditions, such as the naturalenvironment surrounding each school.
2. Current Status of Risk Consciousness
In May 2016, a “questionnaire on risks in the surroundings” was conducted toelementary students and teachers in Tochigi Prefecture to identify their risk
consciousness of school safety at a time of natural disaster. The aim of thequestionnaire was to know whether the proposal mentioned above would be acceptedby the students and teachers and determine the current situation with respect to theirrisk consciousness.
The survey asked how vivid the students’ and teachers’ impressions are of each risk
mentioned in the 20 question items regarding school safety, including disaster, traffic,
and school life safety, and crime prevention. Referring to the “Development of Disaster
Management Education to Foster ‘Zest for Life’,” which the MEXT developed, the risks
mentioned in the 20 question items were selected from the “Miyagi Basic Guidelines
for Disaster Management Education,” [20] which the Board of Education in Miyagi
Prefecture formulated; such guidelines outline the concrete direction on school safety.
Moreover, the 20 question items were selected based on whether the students could
answer them within the reasonable time without excessive burden, according to theopinions of the concerned schools. These 20 question items were classified into 12
items on disaster safety and 4 each on traffic and school life safety (Fig. 1). The
following instruction is provided at the beginning of the questionnaire: “If you haveencountered the following events in your daily life and could imagine the situation
vividly, what kind of damage would such situation cause and how you would beinconvenient by it? Please mark the applicable number with a circle.”
2.3. Concrete Image of Risk
The extent of how each risk is imagined was derived based on the findings of thesurvey. The scores were calculated and arranged in descending order; the option“imagine vividly and clearly” was assigned with the highest score. Reviewing thefindings on the students (n = 266), the risk that was marked mostly with “imagine vividly
and clearly” is “2. Earthquake” (78.3%). Hence, an earthquake is supposedly imagined
vividly because it is experienced frequently in Japan, and thus evacuation drills forearthquakes are exercised regularly in schools. The risks with the next highest scoresare “15. Intrusion of a suspicious person” (75.4%) and “16. Talked to or asked by astranger about something” (67.6%). Such high results could be attributed to theschools being located in the residential areas and the regular implementation of49

education that targets suspicious person. The following other risks are listed indecreasing order of scores: “5. Sudden heavy rain” (65.7%), “11. Typhoon” (63.3%),“9. Flooding” (60.4%), “1. Fire” (59.4%), “6. Thunder” (58.5%), “18. Bicycle accident”(57.0%), “12. Heavy snow” (57.0%), “13. Injury at school” (55.1%), “14. Injury outside
the school” (53.6%), “17. Accident on school road” (53.6%), “10. Landslide” (53.1 %),“20. Minor collision” (52.7%), “8. River flooding” (52.2 %), “7. Tornado” (49.3%), “19.
Accident while riding a vehicle” (48.8%), “3. Tsunami” (46.9%), and “4. Volcanic
eruption” (32.4 %) (Fig. 2). As regards findings on the teachers (n = 573), the risk withthe highest score of “imagine vividly and clearly” is “2. Earthquake” (46.4%). The
following other risks are listed in decreasing order of scores: “11. Typhoon” (45.7%),“13. Injury at school” (45.2%), “5. Sudden heavy rain” (42.9%), “20. Minor collision”(40.3%), “18. Bicycle accident” (40.0%), “12. Heavy snow” (38.4%), “17. Accident onschool road” (38.0%), “1. Fire” (37.5%), “14. Injury outside the school” (36.0%), “16.
Talked to or asked by a stranger about something” (30.7%), “15. Intrusion of a
suspicious person” (26.5 %), “8. River flooding” (26.2%), “6. Thunder” (24.3%), “9.
Flooding” (23.7%), “19. Accident while riding a vehicle” (19.2%), “7. Tornado” (15.7%),“10. Landslide” (12.2%), “3. Tsunami” (8.9%), and “4. Volcanic eruption” (4.7%).
In summary, an earthquake is the risk that can be imagined most vividly among all the
20 items, as both students and teachers have experienced it in their lives andevacuation drills for earthquakes are exercised regularly in schools. Other risks, whichhave high incidence and are highlighted frequently inside and outside the school, canalso be imagined vividly to a certain extent. These other risks include the storm,
flooding caused by heavy rain and typhoon, suspicious persons, and injuries.
However, the risks, such as tornado, flooding, sediment disaster, and volcanic
eruption, which has occurred in Tochigi Prefecture in recent years, can be imagined
relatively less than the others.
2.4. Factor Analysis of Risk Image
Factor analysis (maximum likelihood method with Pro max rotation), which is a kind of
multivariate analysis and often used to search the relation among multiple variables,
was performed to determine the relation among the risks based on the findings of thesurvey conducted to students and teachers. The following four factors were extracted
as a result of the analysis of the students (n = 266) (Fig. 4). The first factor represented
by traffic accident and suspicious persons is termed “Risks coming from the world
outside of home and school, such as traffic accident and suspicious persons.” Thesecond is represented by tornado and volcanic eruption; it is termed “Risk of thenatural disaster that is not clearly considered as ‘my concerns’.” The third one
represented by earthquake and sudden heavy rain is termed “Risk of the natural
disaster that is often observed and experienced in the surroundings.” The fourth one
is termed “Risk of injury,” which occurs in daily life. Taking the findings of the analysis
into consideration, the following guidance is regarded as effective to raise students’and teachers’ risk consciousness in a comprehensive way. That is to say, the risk ofan earthquake, which is classified under the third factor and has been experienced by
the students in their lives including the evacuation drills in schools, is set as a starting
point of learning. Then, the risk of tornado and volcano, which is classified into second
50

factor and is not so familiar for the schoolchildren, is associated as the possible risk intheir surroundings. On the other hand, a similar survey was conducted withschoolteachers (n = 573) and the following 4 factors were extracted (Fig. 5). The first
factor, represented by traffic accident and suspicious persons, is termed “Risk fortraffic safety and school safety.” The second one, represented by typhoon and flood,
is termed “Risk of storm and flood disaster caused by typhoon, etc.” The third one,
represented by tornado and volcanic eruption, is termed “Risk of natural disasters thatare unfamiliar and cannot be imagined easily.” The fourth one, consisting ofearthquake and fire, is termed “Risk of natural disasters that can be imagined,
including how to respond to it.” Although the construction of the factors is different fromthe case of the students, the following guidance is regarded as effective to raise
teachers’ risk consciousness in a comprehensive way. The disaster response
exercise, which can be imagined easily and has already been targeted frequently forevacuation drills, is first practiced for earthquake and fire. Next, the volcanic andtornado disasters, which are difficult to be imagined, are associated as part of disastermanagement education.
2.5. Applicability of the Survey Findings to Tochigi Prefecture in Particular and Japanin General
According to the “Opinion Poll on Tochigi Prefectural Government 2014”(covering the whole prefecture, two stage stratified random sampling, selection, n =1,318) as regards consciousness of disaster prevention of the residents of Tochigi
Prefecture who seldom suffer from largescale disasters, the answers to the question“What kind of disaster do you feel most uneasy about in your daily life” are as follows:“Earthquake” (66.2%), “Damage caused by a tornado, etc.” (9.7%), “Fire” (8.5%),“Typhoon and flood” (5.6%), “Lightning damage” (4.4%), “Snow damage” (0.8%),“Volcanic eruption” (0.7%), and “Others or no answer” (4.0%) [21]. Although thequestionnaire was not answered by multiple answers, less than 70 percent of all theresidents of Tochigi Prefecture are conscious of the risk of an earthquake, but they
are less conscious of that of a tornado disaster, a storm, and flooding. Meanwhile,according to the “Opinion Poll on Disaster Management 2013” (covering the entire
country, multiple answers are allowed, n = 3, 110), which was conducted by Japan’s
Cabinet Office, the answers to the question “Have you ever imagined vividly that you
would suffer from natural disaster” are as follows: “Earthquake” (80.4%), “Damage
caused by a tornado, gust of wind, and typhoon, etc.” (48.1%), “River flooding”(19.6%), “Tsunami” (17.8%), “Landslide” (13.2%), “Heavy snow,” (9.7%), “Volcanic
eruption” (5.9%), “High tide,” (3.5%) and “Others” (9.4%) [22]. The level ofconsciousness of the risk of a storm, flooding, and a tornado across the country ishigher than that of the Tochigi Prefecture. The findings of the two polls indicate thatearthquake crosses most Japanese’s minds when they hear the word “disaster.” Thus,
setting earthquake as a starting point of learning to understand other natural disasters
eventually is assumed to be an effective and a comprehensive way of raising risk
consciousness in not only Tochigi Prefecture but also other parts of Japan.
3. Development of Disaster Management Education Programs
3.1. Outline of the Programs
51

The disaster management education programs developed in this study correspond to
two kinds of natural hazards, namely, earthquake and tornado. The programs weredeveloped based on the ADDIE process of instructional design, a learning theory. It
was designed so that each educational program is not necessarily conducted bydisaster management specialists, as the teachers themselves can teach the lessons
in the regular learning process for students. The objective of the educational programs
is to teach students of the correct knowledge on natural disasters and enhance theircapacities to forecast the risks and avoid them; in other words, the programs aim tofoster “zest for life” among the students. Moreover, the students can learn the“package of recognition, judgment, and action” through disaster response exercises.
The intension of learning, ways on how to proceed in class and apply the educational
materials, and notes on guidance are mentioned understandably. Word andPowerPoint files, with high versatility, are provided to incorporate teachers’ originality
and ingenuity into the programs in accordance to the characteristics of the school andthe students’ developmental stage. The programs allow much flexibility to be
reproduced and redirected.
3.2. The Proposed Earthquake Disaster Management Education Programs
The “Earthquake Disaster Management Education Programs” developed in this study
aim for students to learn the correct knowledge on Earthquake Early Warning and thevoluntary and appropriate behaviors after an issuance of an Earthquake Early
Warning. Earthquake Early Warning is a forecast and warning for seismic motion to
be disseminated as quickly as possible. The process involves analyzing the data
observed by the nearest seismograph to the epicenter, estimating the epicentre andthe magnitude of the earthquake immediately, and forecasting the arrival time of theprincipal shock and the seismic intensity at each place. The Meteorological Agency
issues such warning, which is considered an urgent information that must be gathered
every second, and it takes only several seconds to several tens of seconds from its
issuance to the arrival of a strong shock. Accordingly, it is required to respond to the
Earthquake Early Warning instantly when hearing it. To be able to save one’s own life,
it is essential that one learns how to respond similar to a conditioned reflex one thiswarning is issued. In “the Council on Disaster Education and Disaster Management
after the Great East Japan Earthquake” and “Plan for Promotion of School Safety”,
among others, the evacuation drill using Earthquake Early Warning is recommended
as a method for disaster management education and drill to learn how to behave
based on the initiatives of the learners.
This set of programs has the following three steps (structured by units), namely,
Step 1: Prior Learning: “Learn the correct behaviors when hearing the Earthquake
Early Warning”;
Step 2: Disaster Response Exercise: “Disaster response exercise is performed byusing the Earthquake Early Warning”; and Step 3: Review: “Review the behaviors
when hearing the Earthquake Early Warning.” Then, the Teacher’s Guide formulates
a flow of several guides that shows the ways and sequences on how to guide thelearners and how to learn the learning objectives. The Worksheet comprises ofteaching materials that contribute to the effective and efficient learning by formulating52the contents and points of learning clearly and briefly. The useful ideas can bearranged by “writing” and “summarizing” them on this Worksheet. The Program forDisaster Response Exercise is a plan showing a flow of the exercise performed byusing the sound of chime of the Earthquake Early Warning. Two kinds of programs
have been prepared; one is a “long exercise” for evacuation to a schoolyard, whereas
the other is a “short exercise” for quick response in a short period. The Questionnaire
has been developed to review the disaster response exercise (qualitative survey) andevaluate the degree of knowledge and behaviors acquired through the implementationof the programs (quantitative one). Next, the outlines of each step are described
below. Prior learning of Step 1 aims to teach the basic knowledge on Earthquake
EarlyWarning and allows the leaners to imagine the movements of the objects causedby an earthquake (or the risks involved), consider the concrete measures to be taken
when hearing the Earthquake Early Warning, and understand the rules for evacuation
to safe place after an earthquake. A flow of guidance of Step 1 is described as follows.
To begin, in the part of “Introduction,” it is intended to understand the fear ofearthquake by reviewing previous earthquake disasters and knowing the sound ofchime and the mechanism of Earthquake Early Warning. The next step of“Development 1” aims to know the movements of objects caused by an earthquake
and consider measures to protect oneself when hearing the Earthquake Early Warning
or feeling a strong shake of earthquake. In this step, students must understand theimportance of evacuating to a safe place where any object would “never drop, neverfall down, and never move,” which is a key phrase at a time of an earthquake. In thisstep, students must also deepen their understanding of the appropriate behaviors inschools by putting their ideas in the worksheet and creating a presentation mutually.
In “Development 2,” the necessary response in evacuation expressed by the motto of“OKASHIMOCHI,” an acronym of “Osanai, Kakenai, Shaberanai, Modoranai, andChikazukanai (don’t push, don’t run, don’t return, and don’t approach)” is learned.
Finally, in the “Conclusion” of Step 2, Disaster Response
Exercise is prepared by summarizing the contents of the prior learning of Step 1. Step
1 is recommended to be performed in one period of time in school, which corresponds
to 45 minutes. In step 2, the objective of the Disaster Response Exercise is forstudents to use their prior learning described in Step 1, pay attention to the key phrase
for evacuation, “(objects would) never drop, never fall down, and never move,” andbehave to protect themselves based on their own judgment when hearing the soundof chime of the Earthquake Early Warning. The capabilities to judge on their own andbehave as if it is a conditioned reflex action are acquired by practicing the exercise
with assumed various situations, such as break time or time for cleaning, at the signalof broadcast of sound of the chime of the Earthquake Early Warning. The disaster
response exercise, including the evacuation to a schoolyard and roll call, and reviewof the exercise are supposed to be performed in one period of time in school
corresponding to 45 minutes. If the school could not allocate an enough time for such
exercise, only the disaster response is conducted during break time in a “short
exercise.” A “short exercise” can be repeated without reducing the school hours anderadicate training with script by performing the exercise without previous notice. In
53

Step 3, Review, the learning objective is for students to check the appropriate disaster
response when hearing the Earthquake Early Warning and understand the importanceof protecting themselves based on their own judgment at a time of an earthquake. By
using the Questionnaire for Review on Exercise and Effectiveness Measurement,
students can evaluate whether they have learned to behave on their own initiatives
through prior learning and the practice of a disaster response exercise. A flow of Step
3 can be described as follows. First, in “Introduction,” the disaster response exercise
is reviewed. In “Development 1,” the disaster response that has been practiced in theexercise is filled in the Questionnaire and those to be taken at various places areunderstood deeply through the mutual presentations of leaners. In “Development 2,”
the following important key phrase to protect students from an earthquake is reviewed:“(objects would) never drop, never fall down, and never move.” In the last part of thelearning, “Conclusion” is intended to notice that similar disaster response can beapplied to the other places other than school as well and understand the importancefor students to behave based on their own initiatives. Step 3 is recommended to be
performed in one period of time in school corresponding to 45 minutes. However, it
can also be performed in combination with an alternative of Step 2, a “short exercise,”in one period of time in school corresponding to 45 minutes.
4. Implementation, Evaluation, and Improvement of the Proposed Programs
4.1. Implementation
In this study, it is verified how the learning objectives could be attained for the teachers
who are not the experts on disaster management by practicing the Earthquake andTornado Disaster Management Education Programs. The teachers distributed thequestionnaire to the students before and after the implementation of the programs,
and then evaluated their effectiveness in terms of the degree of attainment of thelearning objectives, as measured by self-evaluation. The survey was conducted atthree schools in Kanuma City, namely, Niregi Elementary School ,Minamioshihara
Elementary School, and Minamioshihara Junior High School, which have been
designated as the model school for disaster management education in the MEXT’s
Project for Comprehensive Support for Safety [24].
The program’s effectiveness was measured in the following order: 1) Earthquake
Questionnaire no.1 “Effectiveness Measurement” (before the implementation of the
program); 2) Earthquake Learning “Step 1: Let us learn the ‘correct behaviors’ when
hearing the Earthquake Early Warning”; 3) Disaster Response Exercise for the
Earthquake Early Warning no.1 “Disaster Response Exercise”; 4) Earthquake
Learning “Step 2: Review the correct behaviors when hearing the Earthquake Early
Warning”; 5) Earthquake Questionnaire no.2 “Effectiveness Measurement” (after the
implementation of the program); 6) Tornado Questionnaire no.3 “EffectivenessMeasurement” (after the implementation of the program); 7) Tornado Disaster
Response Exercise no.2 “Disaster Response Exercise”; 8) Earthquake Questionnaire
no.3 “Effectiveness Measurement”; 9) Disaster Response Exercise for the Earthquake
EarlyWarning no.2 “Disaster Response Exercise”; 10) Earthquake Questionnaire no.4
“Effectiveness Measurement”; 11) Earthquake Questionnaire no.5 “EffectivenessMeasurement.”
54

The same method of evaluation is adopted to evaluate the availability of the programs.
In “Questionnaire on Earthquake” for effectiveness measurement of the proposed“Earthquake Disaster Management Education Programs,” eight questions are set. The
first four items, from 1 to 4, ask about the degree of knowledge in terms of earthquake
phenomena and Earthquake Early Warning. The other four items, from 5 to 8, ask
about the degree of understanding on the disaster response when an earthquake
occurs or the Earthquake Early Warning is heard. These items correspond to thelearning objectives of the proposed “Earthquake Disaster Management Education
Programs.” They are also used as criteria for evaluating the educational programs;
students evaluate the degree of attainment of the learning objectives in five stages.
As for the concrete contents of the learning objectives in terms of knowledge, thefollowing four items are evaluated by the students themselves in five stages, from “Iknow well” to “I don’t know”: “1) Know how to protect yourself correctly if an earthquake
occurs,” “2) Know what is the Earthquake Early Warning,” “3) Know that it takes only
a short time between the issuance of the Earthquake Early Warning and the arrival ofa strong shake,” and “4) Know what to do when hearing the Earthquake Early Warning(sound of chime).” As for understanding the correct behaviors when an earthquake
occurs or the Earthquake Early Warning is heard, students evaluate the following four
items in five stages, from “I think so” to “I don’t think so”: “1) Any place where an object
would drop, fall down, ormove is dangerous if an earthquake occurs,” “2) Drop yourbody low, cover your head and body, and hold on until the shake ceases, in cases
when an earthquake occurs,” “3) Protect yourself in the same way as in the case of anearthquake if you hear the Earthquake Early Warning (sound of chime),” and “4) Thinkand act on your own to protect yourself if you hear the Earthquake Early Warning(sound of chime).”4.3. Implementation and Evaluation of the Proposed
Programs at Elementary Schools
The Earthquake and Tornado Disaster Management Education Programs wereconducted by the teachers to students from the third to the fifth grade of Niregi andMinamioshihara Elementary Schools in Kanuma City (n = 115−116). The effectivenessof the programs was measured. As for the degree of knowledge in terms of earthquake
phenomena and the Earthquake Early Warning in the first four items of the Earthquake
Disaster Management Education Programs, the degree of attainment of the learning
objectives is evaluated as the average of evaluation in five stages (where five is the
maximum and one is minimum) before the implementation of the programs. The
average scores are as follows: 4.10 for the item “1) Know how to protect yourself
correctly if an earthquake occurs”; 3.70, “2) Know what is the Earthquake Early
Warning”; 3.85, “3) Know that it takes only a short time between the issuance of the
Earthquake Early Warning and the arrival of a strong shake”. As a result of the t-test
analysis, a statistical significant difference is recorded at 1% standard under all theitems. As for the other four items on understanding of the correct behaviors when an
earthquake occurs or the Earthquake Early Warning is heard, the degree of attainmentof the learning objectives expressed as the average of evaluation in five stages (where
five is the maximum and one is minimum) is evaluated at 4.46 to 4.83 before the55

implementation of the programs, and 4.47 to 4.83 after it. It is confirmed that all thefour items have attained the learning effectiveness with more than 4 scores. As a resultof the t-test analysis, there is no significant difference under all the items. Thus, it isconfirmed that the learning effectiveness and the efficacy have been improved by theteachers’ implementation of the Earthquake Disaster Management Education
Programs. A problem has been revealed that for the 4 items on understanding of thecorrect behaviors, which had already attained a high score because of the previous
evacuation drills, the understanding on this theme needs to be deepen by acontinuation and a review of the disaster response exercise.
4.4. Implementation and Evaluation of the Proposed Programs at a Junior High School
The Earthquake and Tornado Disaster Management Education Programs were
implemented by the teachers to students of Minamioshihara Junior High School in
Kanuma City (n = 110). The effectiveness of the programs was measured. As for the
degree of knowledge in terms of earthquake phenomena and Earthquake Early
Warning in the first four items of the Earthquake Disaster Management Education
Programs, the degree of attainment of the learning objectives expressed as theaverage of evaluation in five stages (where five is the maximum and one is minimum)
has improved, from 4.28 to 4.60 before the implementation of the programs to 4.70 to
4.79 after it. Thus, the effectiveness of learning can be confirmed. As a result of the ttest analysis, a statistical significant difference can be recognized under all the items(Fig. 15). As for the other four items on understanding of the correct behaviors when
an earthquake occurs or the Earthquake Early Warning is heard, the degree ofattainment of the learning objectives expressed as the average of evaluation in fivestages (where five is the maximum and one is minimum) is evaluated at 4.16 to 4.91
before the implementation of the programs and 4.35 to 4.80 after it. Thus, theeffectiveness of learning can be also confirmed generally. As a result of the t-test
analysis, there is a statistically significant difference under the item 8) at 5% standard,
but no significant difference under the other three items. As for the reason why the
degree of attainment under the item of “7) Protect yourself in the same way as in thecase of an earthquake if you heard the Earthquake Early Warning (sound of chime)”
is lower than the other items, the system receiving the Earthquake Early Warning inschool is used in the exercise and the arrival time of the principal shock, S wave, isannounced after the sound of chime. Accordingly, recognizing more time left than in
the case of a sudden shake, students would judge that they could move to a safer
place. For this reason, certain students would answer “I don’t think so” to the item 6).
There is a room for improvement to add a new item to the questionnaire, which ask
whether the students recognize more time left in the case of the Earthquake Early
Warning or not.
5. Maintenance of the Acquired Knowledge and Improved Capabilities through
Educational Programs
To verify whether the acquired knowledge and improved capabilities through theeducational programs for students could be maintained, the effectiveness is measured
repeatedly. The survey was conducted at the three schools, namely, Niregi
Elementary School, Minamioshihara Elementary School, and Minamioshihara Junior
56

High School, where the educational programs were implemented for the elementary
students from the third to the sixth grade (n = 115−116) and all junior high school
students (n = 110).
5.2. Method of the Survey
To confirm the maintenance of the acquired knowledge and capabilities through eachprogram, the continuous effectiveness measurement is required. For this reason, inthe study, the disaster response exercise for the Earthquake Early Warning and thatfor tornado were performed when about two months had passed since theimplementation of the Earthquake and Tornado Disaster Management Education
Programs. The questionnaire for effectiveness measurement was distributed among
the students before and after the exercise; it was answered in five stages, which canbe evaluated quantitatively.
5.3. Verification of Maintenance of Acquired
Knowledge and Capabilities
To survey the maintenance of acquired knowledge and capabilities through theimplementation of the Earthquake and Tornado Disaster Management Education
Programs, the same students conducted a self-evaluation. This is a statistical method
to survey how the scores on the degree of attainment of the learning objectives of thestudents have been changed. An analysis of variance (with correspondence) ofrepeated measures is conducted. Reviewing the general tendencies among theelementary school students as for the verification of the maintenance of the acquired
knowledge and capabilities through the Earthquake Disaster Management Education
Programs, despite of certain increase and decrease, the knowledge and capabilities,
which were acquired through the first learning, have been maintained. There is no itemin which the degree of attainment of the learning objectives decreases remarkably.
After students are allowed to imagine the risk of an earthquake through learning
activities, such as a disaster response exercise for the Earthquake Early Warning, thedegree of attainment of the learning objectives under four items in terms of knowledge
on the phenomena of earthquake and the Earthquake Early Warning has increased
with statistical significance. As for the four items on understanding of the correct
behaviors, only the degree of attainment of the learning objectives under the item “7)Protect yourself in the same way as in the case of an earthquake if you heard theEarthquake Early Warning (sound of chime)” has increased with statisticalsignificance. Next, reviewing the general tendencies among junior high school
students, despite certain increase and decrease, the knowledge and capabilities
acquired through the first learning have been maintained. There is no item in which
the degree of attainment of the learning objectives decreases remarkably. By
implementing the learning to allow the students to imagine the risk of an earthquake,such as a disaster response exercise for the Earthquake Early Warning, the degree ofattainment of the learning objectives under all the items has increased. Under all thefour items on the degree of knowledge on the phenomena of earthquake and theEarthquake Early Warning, a statistical significance can be recognized in both casesof the elementary and junior high school students. Meanwhile, a statistical significancecannot be recognized under the four items on understanding of the correct behaviors
57when an earthquake occurs or the Earthquake Early Warning is heard. Certain items
in which the degree of attainment of the learning objectives has not increased throughthe implementation of the programs follow a similar transition as the other items. Thereis no item in which the degree of attainment of the learning objectives decreases
remarkably.
The knowledge and capabilities acquired through the Earthquake Disaster
Management Education Programs can be maintained by incorporating the learning toallow the students to imagine the risks of a disaster into the programs. Moreover,comparing the phenomena of earthquake, it is recognized that a higher degree ofattainment acquired through the learning process can be maintained in the Earthquake
Disaster Management Education Programs.
6. Desirable Cooperation Between Disaster
Management Organizations and Educational Institutions
Only the effort to deliver the lessons to individual schools by experts cannot easily leadto a spread of the disaster management education to other schools. This problem
occurs because the educational institutions have a hierarchy from the Prefectural
Board of Education, Municipal Board of Education to the schools, and then teachers;
each layer has its own independence. Thus, in Tochigi Prefecture, the MeteorologicalObservatory plays a role of adviser on disaster management, and the mechanism to
exercise the disaster management education, according to each level, has been built
to take advantage of the schools, Municipal Boards of Education, and Prefectural
Board of Education. To spread the disaster management education to all the otherprefectures the fruits acquired through the exercises are provided as feedback to theboards of education and the schools by taking the opportunity to train teachers under
the sponsorship of the Board of Education. This mechanism follows therecommendation to “urge the cooperation among schools and their founders, thedisaster management departments, the local meteorological observatory, and the fire
department in the relevant region to promote especially the disaster management
education in schools.” This recommendation is referred to in “Plan on Promotion of
School Safety,” which was submitted by the Central Education Council based on thelessons from the disasters, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, and endorsedby the Cabinet in 2012. In Tochigi Prefecture, the disaster management education is
now rapidly spreading among schools through the new mechanism, in cooperation
with different disaster management organizations and educational institutions. For
example, the spread of the disaster management education has been promoted to theteachers through the opportunity of training under the sponsorship of the Board of
Education. The Earthquake Disaster Management Education Programs are alreadypromoted in Nasu Town, Tochigi City, Sano City, and Nasushiobara City. In summary,to realize a cooperation with disaster prevention organizations and educational
institutions, proposes that not only specific educational institutions but also threedifferent actors, namely the Prefectural Board of Education, the Municipal Board of
Education, and the model schools, which are willing to implement the programs, must
be urged to cooperate.
7. Conclusions and Vision58

In the study, the current situation and problems in Japanese schools were reviewed,
systematic disaster management education programs were proposed for students tolearn the correct knowledge on various natural disasters and enhance their capacities
to forecast the risk and avoid it based on their own initiatives, and then the proposed
programs were verified and evaluated in these schools. The proposed programs neednot be implemented by disaster management specialists, as teachers can practice thedisaster management education as part of the ordinary learning process forelementary and junior high school students. Prior to the development of the programs,
an awareness survey was conducted to both elementary students and teachers
regarding “their consciousness of the crisis of school safety caused by natural
disasters, among others.” The results of the survey indicated that “the disastermanagement education based on earthquake disaster was effective for students andteachers as a starting point of learning, as they had already experienced anearthquake and a disaster drill targeting an earthquake.” Thus, the proposed education
programs was designed that the disaster management education for earthquakes andother natural disasters are practiced not separately but jointly to foster children’s “zestfor life” at a time of natural disasters. The proposed two programs corresponded toearthquake and tornado, and each program consisted of three parts. The teachingmaterials, such as the proposed guidance and worksheet, were prepared using
editable files to allow teachers to edit the content by themselves. A survey method
based on ADDIE process of instructional design, a learning theory, was adopted. In
the ADDIE process, effectiveness of the proposed education program was measured
through students’ self-assessment on the extent to which the learning objectives had
been attained.
For this reason, the proposed programs in this study was evaluated by measuring thedegree of attainment several times, before, during, and after the implementations. As
a result of the evaluation, the combination of earthquake and tornado disastermanagement education programs was proved to be highly effective for education. The
results also indicated that the acquired knowledge and improved capabilities could bemaintained by repeating the practice of the programs. In carrying out the study,
cooperation with disaster prevention organizations and educational institutions wasindispensable. However, to realize such cooperation, it is proposed that not only
specific educational institutions but also three the different actors, namely, thePrefectural Board of Education, Municipal Board of Education, and the model schools,
which are willing to implement the programs, must be urged to cooperate with one
another. The conditions to spread the proposed disaster management education
programs in Tochigi Prefecture are now improving. Such education programs havebecome widespread in schools in Tochigi Prefecture. For example, the disastermanagement education using such programs are obligated to be implemented inschools in certain municipalities in Tochigi Prefecture. To promote further the
introduction of practical disaster prevention education all over the country, the“Support for Disaster Management Education” [27] has been established in the
homepage of the Utsunomiya Local Meteorological Office. In certain municipalities in
Tochigi Prefecture, the disaster management education programs are now exercised59under the sponsorship of the Boards of Education. However, such proposed programs
are yet to be standardized to be applied to all prefectures. Tochigi Prefecture
participates in the MEXT’s “Comprehensive Support Project for Practical Safety
Education.” The results of this study is distributed to schools in other prefectures. In
the future, the disaster management education programs will be promoted further bymaking use of this mechanism. Moreover, the preparation for the disastermanagement education programs for volcanic eruption, which is supposed to beamong the characteristic natural disasters in Tochigi Prefecture, is underway. Suchfuture programs will also be implemented and verified in different schools.

Preparing for the worst: disaster education in JapanAs a country prone to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, tsunamis andtyphoons, Japan has a long history of disaster education. But what does Japan’s publicdisaster education look like and how should it be further developed?
Broadly speaking, disaster education fits within two categories: publicly funded andvoluntarily organized education. Currently, voluntarily organized disaster education is
rapidly outpacing its publicly funded counterpart.
It is the responsibility of the government and its agencies — at the municipal,
prefecture and national level — to provide public disaster education. The frameworkof this education program is set out in the Basic Disaster Management Plan, which isin turn broken down into regional, prefectural and municipal plans. This means thatdisaster education can be discussed while taking specific risks and local needs into
consideration.
As many as 24 government organizations and 56 public corporations are also
obliged to have Disaster Management Operation Plans. These plans not only set out
protocols, arrangements and areas of responsibilities in emergency situations, but also
define disaster education for the organization.
The Meteorological Agency, for instance, offers a workshop called ‘what to do if you
experience torrential rain’ to communities which are likely to be hit by heavy rain andtyphoons. Another example is the Stranded Commuters Measures Ordinance, which
was introduced following the 2011 triple disaster when a large number of commuterswere stuck in Tokyo.
In memory of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, which killed more than 100,000
people in Tokyo, the Japanese government has also established 1 September as‘Disaster Prevention Day’ (bosai no hi) and the week commencing 30 August as‘Disaster Prevention Week’ (bosai shukan). During these events, governments at thenational, prefectural and municipal levels offer awareness-raising events and practicaltraining drills. A range of information regarding disaster-related laws and policies,
educational materials and event information are also made available to the public via
government websites.
In schools, disaster education is regulated under the School Health and Safety Act,
within a multi-hazard policy framework called ‘School Safety’. The act requires every
60

school, with guidance from the Ministry of Education, to develop and implement a
School Safety Plan. Requirements for school preparedness in the face of various
hazards are also defined within the national curriculum, with individual schools being
obliged to implement suitable safety initiatives. Disaster education is also a necessity
for school staff, through which they gain scientific knowledge on disasters as well as
first aid and counselling skills.
Historically, volunteer organised disaster response in Japan has taken on a differentrole than the publicly funded form. One critical aspect is mutual cooperation between
local neighbourhoods. Most of the wards in cities and towns have a volunteer disasterprevention organisation (jishu bosai soshiki) along with a neighbourhood association(chonaikai), which are usually led by retired firemen and community leaders. Working
together with the municipal government, volunteer organisations arrange awarenessraising events as well as disaster drills for the community.
On top of such traditional forms of volunteer organisations, there has also been a
recent surge in interest for civic participation and community support. The 1995
Hanshin/Awaji Earthquake originally triggered this interest and, as a consequence,
1995 is referred to as ‘the start year of volunteering’ in Japan. Given the increasing
numbers of volunteers, a not-for-profit and independent organisation called theCouncil of Social Welfare (shakai fukushi kyogikai) was established to organise
training, develop guidelines to clarify the roles of volunteers and promote a culture ofvolunteering.
What is interesting about voluntarily organised disaster education is its twodimensional nature. Volunteers are educated about disasters both through formal andinformal training and through the process of volunteering itself.
Overall, Japan’s disaster relief and disaster education looks to have a promising
future, though it has not yet reached its goal of reducing the damage of natural
disasters by 50 per cent. For instance, collaborative work among different
stakeholders, including voluntary sectors, is continuing to increase. This trend has
partly stemmed from cuts in public funding for disaster education. While such austerity
measures are of concern, this does provide an opportunity for Japan to consolidate
the development of its civil society — a central actor in disaster relief.
Another positive trend has been the emergence of the notion of ‘everyday
preparedness’ (seikatsu bosai). Originally advocated by Kyoto University’s Professor
Katsuya Yamori, its aim is to embed vigilant thinking and behaviour in everyday life,
rather than treating disaster education as an additional activity. Everyday
preparedness is promoted as being developed by citizens, for citizens. Such trends indisaster relief improve Japan’s ability to live with disasters, rather than be a victim of
them.

61

The “Kamaishi Miracle” was not a miracle at all. Evacuation drills and DRM education
are fi xtures in Japan’s schools. In Kamaishi City, where the tsunami claimed 1,000
members of the population of 40,000, the casualty rate among school children was
low: only 5 out of 2,900 primary and junior high school students lost their lives, a rate
20 times lower than for the general public. Regular practice drills, education in theschools, and hazard maps are the keys to preparedness. DRM education saves the
lives of children and other members of the community.
LESSONS
National and local governments in Japan have distinct and complementaryroles in DRM planning. The national level is in charge of defining the overall DRM
strategy, coordination and legislation, allocation of funds, and deployment of thegovernment budget. In local- level disaster management plans, governments are
62

focusing on coordination of administrative and operational functions; preventive
measures, such as education, safety drills, and issuing and transmitting of information
and warnings; evacuation and rescue activities and primary goods supply anddistribution in emergency situations; and overall coordination of reconstruction andrestoring livelihoods during the recovery phase. The central government provides
substantial funding for emergency response and reconstruction. The lessons learned
from the Great Hanshin- Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake in 1995 had already prompted
improvements to Japan’s DRM legislation and government policies. In recent years,
high priority has been given to developing countermeasures for largescale earthquake
disasters. Legislation has been passed on countering large- scale ocean trench-type
earthquakes, plans for large cities where damage is likely to be wide- ranging havebeen established, and the overall legislative framework on DRM and disastercountermeasures has been improved. After the GEJE, these kinds ofcountermeasures have been emphasized even more, and the Disaster
Countermeasures Basic Act was revised in June 2012. The main drivers of the latest
revision were the need to account for low- probability, high- impact, and multilocation
hazards and to strengthen the local government’s role in providing training andplanning emergency measures and evacuations.
The Education Sector
Although the education sector sustained considerable damage in the Great East
Japan Earthquake (GEJE), it also played a key role in protecting lives. Importantly, it
provided both civil protection “hardware” and “software”: school buildings served as
evacuation shelters and transition shelters, and the school curricula ensured thatchildren knew how to prepare for and react in emergencies. The performance ofschools in responding to the GEJE provided a number of important lessons about therole of the education sector in disaster risk management.

Damage to the education sector
The Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) caused severe structural damage toschools. In total, 6,284 public schools were damaged. The Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology classifi ed the schools into three categories
according to the level of damage they sustained: 193 schools were completely
destroyed (level 1); 747 schools sustained heavy damage and needed structural
repairs (level 2); and over 5,000 schools had minor, mostly nonstructural damage(level 3).
Seven hundred and thirty-three students and teachers were killed or are missing. The
proximity of the schools to the coastline was a contributing factor. The students andteachers in the Okawa Elementary School building in Ishinomaki City died tragicallybecause they did not evacuate to higher ground (box 11.3). Where students in coastal
schools survived, the school structure, disaster risk management (DRM) education,and linkages to community preparedness played critical roles.
63

Oshima Elem. School Imaginary Drill

The role of DRM education in community preparedness
DRM education conducted eff actively and in cooperation with other local
community preparedness eff orts saved many lives after the GEJE. For example, in
Kamaishi, where the number of casualties reached 1,000, there were 5 deaths
reported among 2,900 school children, and not a single child present in school thatday was killed. The so-called Kamaishi Miracle is attributed to strong DRM education,
including a longstanding local tradition of teaching children the culture of tendenko,
which means to evacuate to higher ground on their own without searching for relatives
or friends (see box 8.1). This practice resulted from many years of experience withdisasters, and is based on a strong mutual understanding and trust that family
members will also evacuate to safety. Kamaishi City has been conducting DRM
education programs since 2005 in cooperation with Gunma University. The programs
are not mandatory, but are being implemented in selected schools in vulnerable
coastal areas. Two such schools are Unosumai Elementary and Kamaishi-Higashi
Junior High School. The program engages the local community in preparing disasterrisk maps and holds evacuation drills four times a year—one joint drill with theelementary and junior high school and one annual drill with the local community.
Kesennuma City provides another excellent example of how DRM is integrated into
school curricula, where education for sustainable development (ESD) has taught
students for years about local environmental issues and how to value and protect
natural resources, the environment, and cultural heritage assets. ESD also includes astrong focus on DRM. In Kesennuma, students at the Hashikami Junior High School
are taught DRM as part of the ESD program. The school served as an evacuation
center for more than 1,500 people after the GEJE, which occurred just before
graduation. A graduation ceremony took place in the gymnasium, and was attended
by the evacuees. During the ceremony, a student gave a speech in which he honored
two students who had lost their lives in the tsunami “People are talking about
Hashikami Junior High School as the ‘School of disaster prevention education,’ andwe are being praised around the world. We trained ourselves thoroughly and have64

been doing disaster prevention drills regularly. But our power as human beings was
dwarfed by nature’s violence, and nature deprived us mercilessly of some of our mostimportant things. This disaster was too cruel to simply be called a trial sent fromheaven . . . I feel angry and hardened. But our future lies not in blaming God but in
helping each other and persevering, as difficult as that may be.” His words reflect theanguish of the community, and at the same time the recognition, gained from the ESD
curriculum, that the community’s responsibility is not to despair, nor to consider thedisaster an “act of God,” but to rely on one another for support and to improve theirrisk management capacity.
The role of Educational Facilities in Disaster Response and Recovery
As noted earlier, schools played a critical role in the immediate response to the
GEJE (as evacuation shelters) and in the recovery process (as transition shelters).
Balancing the need to provide evacuation centers for communities and the need toreconvene classes for students has been a challenge, particularly where limited
availability of suitable land has made housing reconstruction difficult, and the movefrom transitional shelter to permanent housing has been delayed. Another challenge
relates to the future role of school buildings in civil protection as demographics shift.
While schools have traditionally been the most important public facilities in local
communities, declining birth rates and a rapidly aging population make it difficult tojustify rebuilding them in the same numbers and sizes. Considerable resources are
required if the education sector is to recover fully. Funds need to be allocated for
temporary schools, followed by site selection and construction of new schools, andrepairs to buildings that remain structurally sound. An aging population and declining
numbers of students presents a special challenge, as communities balance using
school facilities for both education and civil protection purposes.
LESSONSKey lessons from the GEJE experience for the education sector are as follows:• Importance of DRM education. As exemplify ed by the “Kamaishi Miracle,” DRM
education played an important role in determining the students’ evacuation behavior.
The role of teachers in implementing DRM in schools should be emphasized.
– Structure, location, and layout of schools. The location of school buildings is a crucial
issue. In most cases, the buildings were located in close proximity (within 100–200
meters) of the coastline. Newer schools have slanted roofs to avoid water logging andstructural decay. However, this prohibited people from taking shelter on rooftops. Also,
it has been observed that schools that were parallel to the coast sustained greater
damage than those set perpendicular to the coastline.
– Function of schools and educational continuity. While schools were to be used as
evacuation centers, in several cases people from local communities remained
sheltered in schools for more than six months. This has serious implications for the65restoration of educational services and children’s educational development. This issue
needs to be considered in future school-level contingency planning.
• Human resources and training. In the aftermath of the GEJE, schools face a shortageof teachers, which has aff ected the continuity of education. Students from theeducation faculties of local universities have tried to fi ll this gap; however, this also
needs to be addressed in planning for educational continuity in postdisaster situations.
– New role of schools and multistakeholder dialogue. Given the changing demographic
conditions, schools need to play a bigger role as community facilities. Therefore, abroader range of stakeholders,
including community members, needs to be included in reconstruction decision
making.
Recommendations for Developing Countries
The education sector plays an important dual role in the provision of civil
protection hardware and software. School buildings serve as evacuation shelters andtransitional shelters, and school curricula help instill a culture of DRM andpreparedness in the community. The recovery of the education sector is directly linked
to the recovery of the entire community. DRM education saves lives, as the “Kamaishi
Miracle” shows. Students save their own lives and the lives of others when they leadevacuations in communities. DRM in the education sector should not be limited to theeducation curriculum, but should also include related issues such as structural andnon-structural safety measures; legislative measures supporting the integration,
implementation, and funding of DRM in the education sector; risk assessments andearly warning systems; and DRM training for school staff Include community members
in planning. The postdisaster reconstruction process offers an opportunity forcommunities to reconsider their future needs regarding both the education of theirchildren and their community facilities. A multi stakeholder dialogue canhelp determine
the optimal arrangements and design reconstruction plans accordingly.

“123 of Disaster Education”:
Kyoto University(Shortened; Earthquake)
KYOTO UNIVERSITY

The national planning, local government planning, civil society participation,interventions of donors and international agencies are all important to create theenabling atmosphere. However, within that enabling atmosphere, it is of utmost
importance to generate activities in the individual level, family level, and community
level. To do this, education is the first and foremost vehicle. Two key issues in Disaster
Risk Reduction Education (in this publication, it is mentioned as Disaster Education)
are important: Disaster education should not be an event (like an evacuation drill), it66

should be a process. Disaster education should break the school boundary, and belinked to the community and family. The importance of linking school education withfamily and community education is gradually recognized and currently practiced insome countries, engaging students in more pro-active partnership with theneighborhood. However, there are few tools and workbooks available for this type ofdisaster education. This workbook makes a modest attempt to provide a rather
comprehensive disaster education program linking the school, family, and community.
The 1-2-3 Concept is innovative and original, which has been put forward by a teamof researchers in Kyoto University in cooperation with NIED/ EDM (Earthquake
Disaster Mitigation Research Center, National Research Institute for Earth Scienceand Disaster Prevention).
Earthquake Preparedness Level One
ACTIVITIESMECHANISM
PREVENTION
Short lecture and Knowledge
from Individual
movie watchingother experience

LOCALITY

Reading newspapers
and discussion withparents
Drawing andEssay Competition
Town Watching

Local history

Group Diary
Neighborhood
Meeting
Mapping YourHouse and Preparing
an Emergency
Supply Kit

Individual + home

Individual
Individual +Community
Individual
Individual +Community
Home

Geography ofCommunity
Local History
Indigenous
Knowledge

Earthquake Preparedness Level Two
ACTIVITIESEarthquake
Evacuation Drill
Family Outdoor
Cooking
Survival / Disaster
Preparedness Sports
Meet
Organizing andActing in a Play
Neighborhood
SurveyMECHANISM PREVENTION
Individual

LOCALITY

Individual+Home
Individual +Community

Indigenous
Knowledge
Indigenous
Knowledge

Individual +Community
Individual +Community

Local history
Local history +Indigenous
Knowledge

67

Family Conversationand Household
Checklist
Arranging and
Securing
Furniture for Safety

Individual+Home
Individual+
Home

Earthquake Preparedness Tree
Level OneACTIONS
EL1-G. Mapping Your House
and Preparing an Emergency
Supply Kit
KNOWLEDGE
EL1-A. Short Lecture andMovie Watching
EL1-B. Reading theNewspaperandDiscussion
with Parents

INTEREST
EL1-C. Drawing andEssay Competition
EL1-D. Town Watching
EL1-E. Group Diary

DESIRE
EL1-F. Neighborhood
Meeting

Earthquake Preparedness Tree
Level TwoACTIONS
EL2-F. Family Conversationand Household Checklist
EL2-G. Arranging and
Securing Furniture for Safety

KNOWLEDGE
EL2-A. Earthquake
Evacuation Drill

INTEREST
EL2-B. Family Outdoor
Cooking
EL2-C. Survival /Disaster Preparedness
Sports Meet

DESIRE
EL2-D. Organizing
and Acting in a Play
EL2-E. Neighborhood
Survey68

Prepare Before the Earthquake
Disasters can strike quickly and without warning. In case of an emergency,
being prepared and knowing what to do can save time, property and lives. Simple
actions can make a difference in the survival of our family, our students, and ourneighbors. So let’s start by getting ourselves prepared today.

What are Earthquakes?
An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the earth caused by the release ofenergy in the earth’s crust. Earthquakes may cause loss of life and destruction ofproperty. During a strong earthquake the ground shakes violently. Buildings may fallor sink into the soil. Rocks and soil may move downhill at a rapid rate. Such landslides
can bury houses and people.
What is the purpose of this workbook?
This workbook describes the educational program for earthquakes. It contains
activities that students can perform to help themselves, their household, their school
and their community prepare for earthquakes. It also includes information of thedisaster as well as safety tips. The goal is to increase earthquake awareness and help
the students to be prepared and be able to protect themselves during an earthquake.
Hopefully, this workbook can help promote understanding that disaster preparedness
is not accomplished overnight and it is never complete.
Before we begin, do you know...?
Q1: Have you experienced an earthquake before?
YES NO
Q2: Do you know what are the effects or impacts of earthquakes?
YES NO
Q3: Does your school have earthquake drills?
YES NO
Q4: Does your family have a disaster plan?
YES NO
Q5: Do you know how to prepare an emergency supply kit?
YES NO
Q6: Do you know your community condition and residents well?
YES NO69

EL1-EGroup
Diary
SCHOOL

Optional
Activities

Priority
Activities

HOME

EL1-B, Reading
newspapers anddiscussion with
Parents

EL1-F,
NeighborhoodMeeting

EL1-A,
Short
Lectureand
Movie
Watching
SCHOOLCOMMUNITY

EL1-D,
Town
watching
COMMUNITY

EL1-G, MappingYour House andPreparinganemergency
Supply Kit
HOME

Level One

Monthly/ BiMonthly

SemiAnnually

AnnuallyEL1-C,
Drawing
and Essay
Competition

Level One
Activities and Guidelines

EL1-A Short Le EL1-A, Short Lecture and Movie Watching
RationaleChildren can visualize an actual full-scale earthquake by watching movies.
Visual tools are often more effective in creating an impact or leaving an impression tothe one receiving it. Through movie watching, students may have a clearer image ofwhat they can expect during the actual situation.
Procedure
Discuss with your classmates earthquake-related movies you know. Which one
attracts you best? Exchange your ideas with other groups of classmates and list thetitles of the films. Submit these titles to your teachers for their final selection.
Duration
2 Hours
After selecting the movie, teachers should prepare a short lecture as an introduction
to the movie.

70Suggested topics
What is an earthquake?
Why does an earthquake occur?
Recent earthquake disasters.
Places most likely to be destroyed by earthquakes.
The severe impacts of earthquakes.

Students may write a short memo of their thoughts after the session

MEMO (Date, What I saw)
e.g. 30 Sep,2009. Today, I saw a very impressive e a r t h q u a k e d i s a s t e r mo v i e . I t s h o w e d h o w a n earthquake destroyed Los Angeles. Before watching
the documentary, the teacher gave us a simple explanation to help us understandthe movie.

EL1-B, Reading newspapers and discussion with Parents

Rationale
It is difficult for school children to imagine the impact of a disaster without having
actual experience. Considering the tight curriculum, children may not acquire
adequate earthquake knowledge. Families can play a role in addressing this deficiency
teaching children at home.
ProcedureChildren will be required to read newspaper and magazines, regularly. If daily
is difficult, weekly will be fine. This helps to improve reading ability as well as tocultivate the habit of being aware of public issues, especially earthquakes.
Keep newspaper clippings.
Choose the most interesting information and talk with family members.
Duration
At least 1 hour per session.
Suggested topics• The latest earthquake that happened in my country, surrounding regions, etc.
• What’s the most famous earthquake in history and how many people were killed?
71• When and where did the most severe earthquake occur?
• Generally, what kind of newspaper or magazine do you read?
• Lately, are there any striking news that caught your attention?
Paste your newspaper clippings in the box

EL1-C, Drawing and Essay Competition
Rationale
Competitions can be used to raise earthquake awareness and promotechildren’s understanding of earthquakes. At the same time, it gives teachers or the
local officials the opportunity to see from the students’ perspective and understand theimpact that the disaster have on the students.

Procedure
Students are free to use their imagination. Students can either draw or write an
essay to express their thoughts.
Duration
1 WeekPossible themes:• Imagine and describe the situation before, during, and after an earthquake.
• Depict what may happen to you and your family after an earthquake.
• Think of how you can help to reduce the damage and mitigate the losses
due to an earthquake.
Brainstorming Time:
Do you have some good ideas to share with your friends?

All the students’ drawings and compositions can be exhibited in school and good ones
can be selected and published in the school journal. Meanwhile, excellent ones canbe recommended to be published in newspapers or magazines to encourage thestudents and also heighten the interest of the public.
EL1-D, Town watching
Rationale72

To understand and develop concrete images of your community a field survey
is necessary. This activity can help you prepare an evacuation route. Be sure to involveas many community members as possible.
Materials
Base map, Digital camera, Sticky notes, Double-sided tape. If you don’t have
digital camera, what can be use to take evidence?

Writing materials (pens, pencils, different colored marker pens), clip board.
• If needed, you may also bring snacks or lunch. What food and drink will you prepare?

Participants
In order to involve more stakeholders, who would you expect to invite?
List possible participants and ask your teachers for advice.
ProcedurePreparation (venue, equipment) where would you suggest to gather thepeople and equipment for the presentation? Why?
Duration
1 day
Reference
Orientation or explanation should be given to the participants before the fieldsurvey, providing students an idea of the survey site and what to look for during theirfield survey. Such as:• Potentially dangerous places and safe places. What may hinder escape (e.g., waste
dumped by the roadside)?
• Students to be divided into groups (approximately 6-8). A short meeting will be
carried out whereby students can allocate the tasks among themselves.
What else do you think should be discussed? Why?

Orientation or explanation should be given to the participants before the fieldsurvey, providing students an idea of the survey site and what to look for during theirfield survey. Such as:• Potentially dangerous places and safe places. What may hinder escape(e.g., waste dumped by the roadside)?
73• Students to be divided into groups (approximately 6-8). A short meeting will
be carried out whereby students can allocate the tasks among themselves.
What else do you think should be discussed? Why?

• Field survey (observe the place, take pictures, keep notes)• Lunch• Mapping (mark the spots with explanation and pictures)• Presentation (explain your group’s map and answer questions)• Wrap up
Things to consider• Identify potential problems in the community (e.g., narrow roads,
crumbling buildings, wire poles, dams, fire hydrants, etc.)• Concerning this town watching, what can be improved?

EL1-E Group Diary
Rationale
This activity can be used to raise earthquake awareness. It is also a good wayof enhancing cooperation and teamwork arrange the students.
Procedure• Group the students (5-10 students in a group)• Each group will make its own diary• Each group member will take turns to write one entry per day. They can beanything related to earthquake (e.g., paste pictures, newspaper clippings,
proverbs, stories, even songs)• Every 2 months students will select top 2 entries within their group andshare with other groups.
• Teachers can ask all students to vote and select the best 3 among all theentries shared.
DURATION• 1 hour
Suggested topics:• My plan to learn about seismology, the causes and effects of earthquakes.
• What I have heard about earthquakes today.
• What I did at home about earthquake preparedness.
• What’s the news related to earthquakes in the newspaper or on TV.

74

MEMO (Date, What I saw, what I thought)
e.g. 12th May, 2009. Today is the anniversary of Wenchan, China Earthquake, tensof thousands of people died due to the disaster and still many people are homelessor living very poorly without proper housing. I am in deep sympathy, especially tothe children.

My diary entry

EL1-F, Neighborhood Meeting
Rationale
Students must know more about the neighborhood and community. Students
must learn about historical experiences and lessons learned from national or regional
earthquakes.

Procedure• Assemble the neighbourhood to meet regularly (e.g., every 2 months). Do you know
your neighbors well? Who are they? How many family members do they have? List
these information and try to visit them one by one• Acquire basic information through a questionnaire. Keep this data as a file in a
portfolio. (Please prepare a questionnaire in advance. Think about what information
you want to know about your neighbors.)

My own Questionnaire (What kind of information are important and helpful?)

Duration
1 hourKnow the health condition of your neighbors. Also, know who are pregnant, who are
handicapped, who are new to the area, and who would need special assistance incase there is an earthquake.
75• What would be your suggestions to help the community?
• Establish sound and friendly relationship with your neighbors.
Things to consider• Identify potential problems in the community (e.g., narrow roads, crumbling buildings,
wire poles, dams, fire hydrants, etc). Discuss these with your neighbors to seek
solutions.
• What else should be paid attention to and what can be improved from now on?
Information box
Name:
Name:
Name:

Special Need
Special Need
Special Need

• What would be your suggestions to help the community?
• Establish sound and friendly relationship with your neighbors.
Things to consider• Identify potential problems in the community (e.g., narrow roads, crumbling buildings,
wire poles, dams, fire hydrants, etc). Discuss these with your neighbors to seek
solutions.
• What else should be paid attention to and what can be improved from now on?
EL1-G, Mapping Your House and Preparing an emergency Supply Kit
Rationale
Develop a concrete image of your house. Learn to work and discuss with family
members toprotect you and your family in case of an earthquake.
Procedure
Know your house. When was it built? If the building is old and run down, escaperight away when the earthquake strikes. If it is strong enough, you can conduct the“drop, cover and hold on” at home.
Sketch our bedroom, living room, and layout of furniture. Items include: Hanging
objects, heavy furniture, breakable glass wares, electrical appliance, gas burners, etc.
• When was our house built?
• Do your parents consider your house strong enough? If not, please work together tofind a solution. What can you and your parents do?
• Others?

76Note:For the Emergency Kit, families should prepare the most applicable andavailable items according to the local situation
Duration
2 hours
Sketch your bed room and living room here
• Find safe place in your home ( e.g., bed, interior wall, sturdy table, etc.)
Mark them in Blue.
• Identify potential dangerous places and objects near your house which may hinder
your evacuation. Mark them in Red

Example of disaster supply kit at home
Are important documents, list of contact names and phone
numbers, and valuable items placed in a safe and easily
accessible place.
Is there an emergency kit for your family?
If yes, are the items in good condition?
For food items, are they within expiry dates?
List the items most useful to your whole family.
Make sure you can get them locally.







Suggestions for home emergency kit
Water ( ) Food ( ) Radio ( ) Flash light & extra batteries ( ) First-aid kit ( )Whistles ( ) Cash ( )Put a tick ( ) after checking and updating your Emergency Kit
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov Dec

Level one evaluation: Poster Presentation
Level
1

Activity site
SchoolFrequency
Annually

Activity type
Priority

Rationale77

In this whole year, students have learned many useful earthquake safety tips
and conducted several activities. Requiring students to present and show what they
have learned can trigger critical thinking among them as well as sharing information
about what they have learned with other students. It is a good chance for the students
to review on their whole year’s work and how it has helped them.
Procedure
Presentation can be done in a scrap book or poster with the following:• What I have learned (like new knowledge, safety tips, etc.)• What I have done (like mapping my house, etc.)• Which is my favorite activity? Why?
• Which skill can help me, my family, and my friends the most?
• Paste your drawings and pictures to make your posters more attractive andinteresting (like picture of the activity you conducted, snapshots of the movie you
watched, picture of your emergency kit, picture of you and your friends surveying in
the field, etc.)• Present your poster to the class. See if you have space in the classroom where you
can display your and your classmates’ poster for a few days. Comment on each other’s
work.

I've done it: Level One
Activities

Date CompletedComments, if any

Reviewer’s
Comments

Priority Activities
EL1-A. Short Lectureand Movie Watching
EL1-C. Drawing andEssay Competition
EL1-D. Town Watching
EL1-G. Mapping YourHouse and Preparing an
Emergency Supply Kit
Optional Activities
FL2-G. Ensuring that
Electrical Appliances are
Unplugged
EL1-E. Group Diary
EL1-F. Neighborhood
Meeting
Level One Evaluation
Poster Presentation

78EL2. A.
Earthquake
evacuation
drill

EL2.C.
Survival/
DisasterPreparedne
ss Sports
meet
EL2. E.
Neighborho
od Survey

EL2.G.
Arrangingandsecuring
Furniturefor safety

EL2.D.
Organizing
and Acting
in a Play

EL2. B .
FamilyOutdoorCooking

SCHOOLCOMMUNIT
Y
Optional
ActivitiesHOME

SCHOOL

Priority
Activities

COMMUNITY

EL2.F.
FamilyconversationandHousehold
Checklist
HOME

Level twoMonthly/
BiMonthly

SemiAnnually

Annually

Level two Activities and Guidelines

EL2. A. Earthquake evacuation drill
Rationale
Students need to learn skills to survive an earthquake. These skills must be
reinforced regularly so that students will not panic when an earthquake hits. Students
can apply the knowledge gained in Level 1 by designing their own evacuation plans
and conducting them. Everyone has to be reminded of disasters so that we don’t forgeteasily and become too lax.
Procedure
1. If your place already has an earthquake memorial day and a date to conduct drills,
please go to step 3. Otherwise conduct a group discussion and vote on an earthquake
evacuation drill day.
Please consider 2 dates. The interval should be half a year.
Your suggestions and reasons:____________________________________________________________________________________
79

2. Teachers can collect the suggested dates and make the decision on the dates.Keep
it in mind that school should conduct this drill twice a year.
What’s your Teacher’s decision?
What dates are they?
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Based on the learning in Level 1, students should have knowledge already about
how to react when an earthquake strikes. Assume that an earthquake hits when you
are in different locations (e.g., classroom, play ground, public area, or home).
Based on your assumed location, draft a drill plan on the next page.
EL2-A Earthquake Evacuation Drill
Duration
2 hours
Sketch a map of your evacuation route below:

Which drills are decided to be conducted in your class?
Take notes about these drills.

EL2. B . Family Outdoor Cooking
Let’s boil hot water with empty cans.
Rationale
People many have to face the situation when there is no way to prepare foodthe usual way, like after an earthquake. So students have to be prepared for thissituation. Enjoy this good opportunity to learn something with your family.
Materials
Two aluminium cans, three empty 1L milk cartons or wood sticks, aluminum
foil, 180ml of water, work gloves, lighter, scissors, a metal cutter, and a can opener.
What else can you prepare as boiling container and fuel? Make sure they are easy to
get after an earthquake.
Procedure• Aluminium cans:80• 1. STOVE: Take off the upper lid and make 4 holes (3 x 2 cm each).
• 2. KETTLE: Take off the upper lid of another can.
• Milk carton box or wood sticks :FUEL: Cut them into 2 cm wide rectangular strips asfuel
Put water into the KETTLE can, cover the can firmly with the foil, ignite the strips for
8-10 minutes and you will have hot water for cooking instant noodles, porridge, or rice.
Duration
1 hours
Things to consider
Imagine your city is suffering from an earthquake. What would you eat?
How would you save water and make the best use of limited food?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Discuss with family members how to get local food after disasters?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Come up with another way of preparing food in case of disasters:
Materials(Make sure they are easy to get after an earthquake.)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Procedure______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Take some pictures

Rationale
In order to conduct self-protection and mutual rescue, simple medical careknowledge and team work are necessary. Students can get education and fun at thesame time81

1. Stretcher Carrying Games: 9 students per team.
• First, 4 students run for 20m and stop to make an emergency stretcher using poles
and blankets to carry an injured person.
• They will carry the injured person and run for another 20m to their team members.
• The 4 team members will make another emergency stretcher using poles and clothes
The injured person is transferred to the new stretcher• They run the last 20m to end the relay.
• The time is noted.

2. Buckets Relay: 16 students per team.
• 8 people will pass the bucket that is full of water, crossing 3 hurdles, to put
out the fire
• The other 8 members pass the empty bucket back, crossing 2 obstacles.

82

3. Common Sense Quiz:• 2 teachers hold a board with Circle (correct) and Cross (wrong) respectively .
• 10 questions regarding earthquakes will be asked and students will determine if its
correct or wrong.
• They will leave the game if they answered incorrectly.
• At the end of the 10 questions, whoever is still in the game wins.
EL2
Survival / Disaster Preparedness Sports MeetC
2. Buckets Relay: 16 students per team.
• 8 people will pass the bucket that is full of water, crossing 3 hurdles, to put out thefire• The other 8 members pass the empty bucket back, crossing 2 obstacles.
Duration: 2 hours
Refer to http://www.city.himeji.lg.jp/syoubou/plaza/undoukai/index.html

EL2.D. Organizing and Acting in a Play
Rationale
After students are well prepared and are proficient with earthquake knowledge,
they should try to share what they know with their neighbors. This way they cancontribute to reinforce the social capacity against future disasters.
This can be an opportunity to involve the community more in earthquake
preparedness activities.
Procedure
Each class has to organize a play which can be a drama, comedy, thriller,
musical, dance, etc. There is no limitation on the style but it has to relate to earthquake.
Discuss with your classmates your topic and preferable elements to put into theplay. Please outline the story below.
Duration
1 MonthTopic: ______________________________________________________
Style: ______________________________________________________

Teachers may help create or select the play (e.g., what might happen before, during,or after an earthquake) Conceive some good stories with this topic.

83

Teacher's opinion

If you need to invite 2 persons in the community to watch the play, who do you want
to invite? Why?

Choose the public theater, school studio, or assembly room so you will have enoughroom for a large audience. You can sell tickets and the revenue can be used as
earthquake fund or to contribute in reinforcing and retrofitting the school building or
local cultural heritage sites.
Things to consider• After the play, discuss with friends what they learned.

• Give your suggestions for improvement on how to incorporate disaster elements andprocedures applicable to local condition in your class’s play.

EL2. E. Neighborhood Survey
Rationale
Identifying structural and non-structural risks can help the community prepare
for earthquakes. Knowing about existing risks will allow residents to take thenecessary precautionary and corrective actions.
ProcedureDevelop a questionnaire to collect information from families in theneighborhood. You may consult with your teachers, construction engineers, architects,
geologists, rescue workers, etc. on what details are important to know. Visit yourneighbors and together you list down the risks in your neighbors’ house and discuss
how they can be addressed. Risks include things that can fall in an earthquake andhurt someone, block an emergency exit, or damage other belongings. Take note ofyour neighbor’s proposed measures and share also what you have learned in school.

Survey Questionnaire84Duration 1 day
After surveying the neighborhood, hypothesize the effects of a major earthquake
based on the information you have gathered. Would a major earthquake affect theentire community the same way, or would the effects be different depending on thelocation of houses (type of soil in the area, whether the area is hilly or flat, etc.), theconstruction materials used, the preparedness of household members, etc.?
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Also, evaluate your neighbors on a scale of one to five, using these questions as
criteria:
Did the neighbor participate actively in the survey?
Does the neighbor know about earthquakes and their possible impacts?
Can the neighbor correctly identify earthquake risks inside and outside their house?
Do you think the neighbor is at risk to earthquakes?
Write your own criteria here:____________________________________________________________________＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
What are the things you need to include in your next neighborhood survey?
Can you suggest ways on how you and your neighbors can better prepare forearthquakes?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EL2.F. Family conversation and Household Checklist
Rationale
Knowledge about earthquakes and disaster education in schools can bedisseminated by students to their family members. This can contribute in building aculture of safety and disaster resilience.

85Procedure
1. Identify potential hazards in your home (e.g., hanging objects, objects on open
shelves and table tops, furniture and electronic appliances in the kitchen, water andgas pipes, storage areas, etc.)
2. Create a disaster-preparedness plan. Decide on two places to meet after a disaster.
After determining these meeting places, learn lifesaving actions, stay informed,
consider buying earthquake insurance, develop a business recovery plan if you havea family business, keep separate copies of important records, etc.
3. Protect yourself during an earthquake. What should you do (a) if you are indoors,(b) if you are
outdoors, (c) if you are commuting?
Things to consider
Let’s try to make our own check list. For instance
1. Place beds so that they are not next to large windows, below hanging lights, below
heavy mirrors, below framed pictures, below shelves with lots of things that can fall,etc.
2. Replace heavy lamps on bed tables with light, non-breakable lamps.
3. Use closed hooks when hanging plants, lamps, etc.
4. Remove all heavy / breakable things from high shelves.
5. Take glass bottles out of medicine cabinets and put on lower shelves. How many
items can you think of? Please list them below thoroughly, discuss them with yourparents, and check them annually.
Duration: 1 hour
EL2.G. Arranging and securing Furniture for safety
Rationale
Students have gained basic safety knowledge from Level One and the priority
activities in Level Two. Let’s apply our knowledge to create a safer home.
Procedure
Read home activities in Level One and Two again. First of all, identify thepotential non structural hazards in your own bed room, according to the map of yourroom you sketched in Level One.

In the bedroom
86

・Notice the hanging objects suchas ceiling lamps, etc.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________・ Place beds so that they are not next to large windows.
・What else should be moved?
___________________________________________________________________________________
・Attach or fasten furniture that fall easily, e.g., book shelves
・What else should be fastened?
____________________________________________________________________________________
・Transfer breakable things like mirrors to safer areas.
・What else should be transferred?
____________________________________________________________________________________
・Move materials that can easily catch fire or explode so they are not close to heatsources, e.g., fireworks, etc.
・What else should be kept away?
____________________________________________________________________________________In the living room
・What should we pay attention to?
_________________________________________________________________________________In the bath room
・What should we pay attention to?

87

Re-sketch your bed room and living room after the rearrangement.
Compare it with the original one in LEVEL ONE

Duration: 1 hour
Level Two Evaluation: Poster Presentation
Rationale
In this whole year, students have learned many useful earthquake safety tips
and conducted several activities. Requiring students to present and show what they
have learned can trigger critical thinking among them as well as sharing information
about what they have learned with other students. It is a good chance for the students
to review on their whole year’s work and how it has helped them.
Procedure
Presentation can be done in a scrap book or poster with the following:• What I have learned in Level Two (like new knowledge, safety tips, etc) Please tell
us something different from what you learned in
Level One.
• What was I able to do? (For example, the home conversation and coming up withhouseholdchecklist)• Which is my favorite activity?
Why?
• Which skill can help me, my family, and friends the most?
□Paste your drawings and pictures to make your posters more attractive andinteresting (like picture of the activity you conducted, snapshots, picture of youremergency kit, picture of you and your friends doing the neighborhood survey,
comments from your teacher and neighbors, etc.)□ Present your poster to the class. See if you have space in the classroom where you
can display your and your classmates’ poster for a few days. Comment on each other’swork. You may select good posters to be exhibited in other schools or in thecommunity’s hall. The students whose product received best comments may be
selected to give a speech to other students in school.

88

I've done it: Level Two
Activities

Date CompletedComments, if any

Reviewer's
Comments

Priority Activities
EL2-A. Earthquake
Evacuation Drill
EL2-B. Family Outdoor
Cooking
EL2-D. Organizing andActing in a Play
EL2-F. Family
Conversation andHousehold Checklist
Optional Activities
EL2-C. Survival /Disaster Preparedness
Sports Meet
EL2-E. Neighborhood
SurveyEL2-G. Arranging and
Securing Furniture for
SafetyLevel Two Evaluation
Poster Presentation

89

Conclusion
As a country prone to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, tsunamis andtyphoons, Japan has a long history of disaster education. Broadly speaking, disastereducation fits within two categories: publicly funded and voluntarily organizededucation. Currently, voluntarily organized disaster education is rapidly outpacing its
publicly founded counterpart.
Volunteers are educated about disasters both through formal and informal
training and through the process of volunteering itself. The education sector plays animportant in the provision of civil protection hardware and software. School curricula
help instill a culture of DRM and preparedness in the community. DRM education
saves lives, as the “Kamaisi Miracle” shows. Students save their own lives and thelives of others when they lead evacuations in communities.
Each Prefectures school’s disaster education based on Prefectures and Cities
Board of Education
The choice of tools and methods for conducting disaster education depends onthe decision of the school and the teacher.
The tools ensuring education, in particular booklets, banners, books, gameexercises and their contents are in general the same.
Major attention is paid to the assimilation of each other’s support model.
Disaster education is not major school subjects in Japan and Armenia. Pupils study
about disaster in the textbooks of Earth science subjects of both of the countries.
Volunteers are educated about disasters both through formal and informal training andthrough the process of volunteering itself.
The Japanese model of Disaster Management psychological work andresearch is implemented particularly by National Information Center for Disaster
Mental Health, Hyogo Institute for Traumatic Stress (HITS) and by several
Universities, which have different types of trainings.
It is worth to note that the social-psychological work on Disaster Education is
involved in the operations of CAP and in the Psychological Service of MES of RA.
Another Fundamental difference that exists between Armenia and Japanese disaster
activities is the absence of Disaster museums and Experimental facilities in Armenia,
which are effective tools for ensuring psychological-perceptual preparedness on
disasters.
The specialists offer a methodology that can be used to mitigate thepsychological trauma resulting from the earthquake. They also offer psychologicalnuances that should be used during training, awareness-raising and seismic
protection. The study offers the teaching methodology, which is the following:
the selected instructions are brief,
relevant accents are made,free from excess information,
they are aimed at people with the ability to act independently, can be taught using
advertising posters, runner lines.
In the application of the basic methodology specialists offer
90

learning duration: after training, anxiety and excitement are organized.
training periodicity: it is desirable to repeat several times a year.
References:
1.“Disaster Management in Japan” Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
2. “Proposing A Multi-Hazard Approach to Disaster Management Education to
Enhance Children’s “Zest for Life” : Development of Disaster Management Education
Programs to Be Practiced by Teachers” Toshimitsu Nagata: Senior Scientific Officer
for Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster, Utsunomiya Local Meteorological Office ofMeteorological Agency and Reo Kimura Associate Professor, Ph.D., School and
Graduate School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo
3. “123 of Disaster Education”: Team Members: Rajib Shaw, Kyoto University, Yukiko
Takeuchi, Kyoto University Koichi Shiwaku, National Research Institute for Earth
Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) Glenn Fernandez , Kyoto University Qi Ru
Gwee, Kyoto University Bruce Yang, Kyoto University
4. “KNOWLEDGE NOTE 2-3 CLUSTER 2: Nonstructural Measures The Education
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14. http://www.findapsychologist.org.au
15. http://www.recoveryplatform.org/
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17. http://www.bosai.go.jp/e/18. http://www.bosai.go.jp/km/imp/index.html

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