Changing disaster prevention with citizens' ideas October 15th 20:45

Typhoon No. 19 caused tremendous damage in various areas including rivers. How should we prepare for disasters that exceed our expectations?
We need to face the issues that emerged this time, such as the development of disaster prevention infrastructure and the way of evacuation, and move toward improvement.
Under these circumstances, efforts to incorporate citizens' ideas into disaster prevention are now drawing attention. This time, we will introduce various ideas that were presented at the event called “Disaster Prevention Idea Song” held in Tokyo in September. (Economics Department reporter Yoshiko Serizawa)

Collect ideas for disaster prevention!

The event was organized by the “disaster prevention girl”, a general incorporated association that engages in disaster prevention awareness activities centered on women in their 20s and 30s. As disasters exceeded expectations, we thought that we could make use of the ideas of residents and companies who know the local circumstances well for disaster prevention.

This was supported by Tohoku University International Research Institute for Disaster Science, Sendai City, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. On Sunday, September 29th, “Disaster Prevention Idea Song” was held at the office of a major IT company Yahoo Japan in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
Misaki Tanaka, representative of “Disaster Prevention Girl,” said the following about the aims of the event.

“There are many disaster prevention professionals, but I thought it was necessary to create new ideas to prepare for unexpected disasters. Encourage individuals to prepare disaster prevention goods and confirm evacuation sites. Alone, there is a limit. I would like to make use of the ideas of residents and companies who know the region well and create a new mechanism to strengthen the cooperation of the whole society. ''

Approximately 60 people from all over the country participate in the event. There are various types of occupations such as food development personnel, fire rescue teams, corporate engineers and new business personnel.
There was also a high school student. Participants first worked in the morning to write ideas for disaster prevention on A3 paper.

“I want to make a delicious emergency food restaurant”
"I want to make disaster prevention information easier to see with the power of design"
"I want to make stylish disaster prevention goods"

We express these various ideas with illustrations. After that, bring a paper with ideas on it, exchange opinions with each other, and discuss what is needed to make it happen.
People with similar ideas gathered and divided into 13 teams to prepare for the final presentation in the evening.

Use forestry knowledge for disaster prevention

At the final presentation, ideas unique to people in the community were presented.
Among them, Akihiro Matsushita, who is engaged in projects such as thinning thinning and forest road maintenance in Fukui Prefecture, insisted on using the knowledge of forestry personnel for disaster prevention.

Mr. Matsushita says that he knows where work, landslide disasters and landslides are likely to occur, but he points out that such knowledge is not well reflected in government landslide prediction and hazard mapping.
Gather photos with on-site location information and make landslide predictions unique to forestry personnel. This is Mr. Matsushita's idea.

It is said that there is a point to improve the initial response when a disaster actually occurs. According to Mr. Matsushita, when a disaster such as a landslide or fallen tree occurs, the local government will first contact the civil engineering company to request a response. If there is still a request from a forestry company when it is still not possible, in the past, it seems that there were cases where it was dispatched to the site several weeks after the disaster occurred.

Mr. Matsushita appealed that “the delay in the initial action could lead to a delay in the recovery. Foresters should make a mechanism that can promptly go to the scene in the event of a disaster”. It is said that we are already moving towards the realization of our own ideas.

“To strengthen the initial response, Fukui Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture have already begun discussions to strengthen cooperation. We want to establish such a mechanism to minimize the damage caused by landslide disasters” (Akihiro Matsushita)

Child cafeteria as a base for disaster prevention education

On the other hand, Kojiro Akiyama, who works for a major telecommunications company and serves as the representative director of the Children's Cafeteria Support Organization, said, “I want to make“ Children's cafeteria ”, a free, low-cost, nutritious meal, a base for disaster prevention education.” I appealed.

Mr. Akiyama became involved in supporting the children's cafeteria because he felt uncomfortable with how to handle emergency food.
Some of the companies that were involved in the work had to spend a lot of money throwing away the emergency food, even though there was still a considerable period until the expiration date, as it was necessary to replace the emergency food with a new one on a regular basis. .

On the other hand, there is a “children's cafeteria” that requires meals, and I thought that if these two were combined, a system could be established for companies to support the childhood cafeteria.

At the final presentation, Mr. Akiyama appealed as follows.

“We want to create a system that centrally manages emergency food data stored in companies and local governments. And we regularly provide it to the children's cafeteria so that children and their families can think about disaster prevention through emergency food. I want to create a place "(Mr. Kojiro Akiyama)

In addition to this, the event also presented an idea that a disaster prevention athletic meet, which combines disaster prevention drills with athletic meet, was held at schools and companies throughout the country to create a mechanism for learning about disaster prevention in a fun way.

Collaboration to strengthen disaster prevention capabilities

As a result of the review, six ideas, including the three introduced here, were sent to the world at the “World Disaster Reduction Forum”, an international disaster prevention conference held in Sendai in November.

More specific studies are planned for commercialization in two years. Common to these ideas is the idea that local disaster prevention capabilities can be strengthened by linking existing social mechanisms with governments and companies.
Society unites towards the common goal of disaster prevention. I think there will be a further need for perspectives on how to create ideas and how to use them.

Economic Department reporter Yoshiko Fujisawa Joined Sapporo Station in 2004