To prepare for the first eruption of volcanoes in Japan
This is the first effort in the country to assign volcanic staff to local governments. In preparation for the eruption of Mt. Fuji, Yamanashi Prefecture decided to recruit human resources with expertise in volcanoes as administrative staff and began recruitment.
Yamanashi Prefecture has decided to hire the first nationwide administrative officer of the type “volcano disaster prevention job”.
According to the prefecture, few staff members have expertise in volcanoes so far, and staff members provided advice from researchers on disaster prevention measures in preparation for the eruption of Mt. Fuji.
However, every time the person in charge changed due to personnel changes, it was necessary to re-learn how to deal with the eruption.
For this reason, the prefecture decided to hire one person with administrative knowledge, such as volcano-related subjects at the graduate school, and to have a knowledge of volcanic disaster prevention in the next fiscal year.
The recruitment exam will be held for two days, 30th of this month and 1st of next month, and will be held as a liberal exam and a specialized exam, as well as a thesis exam and an interview.
The hired staff will be responsible for disaster prevention measures and drills for volcanoes at the Prefectural Disaster Prevention Bureau and the Fujisan Science Laboratory in Fujiyoshida City.
Takashi Hosoda, Director of the Disaster Management Crisis Management Division in Yamanashi Prefecture, said, “I want new hires to demonstrate the latest knowledge on volcanic research and disaster prevention. To protect the safety and security of local residents and many tourists, I would like to enhance Mt. Fuji volcano disaster prevention measures. "
Expert "Consider positively in other prefectures"
According to Associate Professor Yasunori Tsuji of the Yamanashi University Regional Disaster Prevention and Management Research Center, which is familiar with volcanic disaster prevention, there is no specialist in the volcanic disaster prevention on the administrative side. It means that.
Regarding the efforts of Yamanashi Prefecture, Associate Professor Tsuji said, “The voluntary disaster prevention profession has attracted the public recruitment of administrative staff. It is very innovative. I think that long-term activities will be a very important key in building trusting relationships with various volcanoes and continuing to promote volcanic-related measures. " It was.
On top of that, Associate Professor Tsuji said, “I want other prefectures to actively consider recruiting volcanic disaster prevention specialists based on the Yamanashi case.”
Volunteer staffing is more necessary in the Mt. Ontake eruption
The need to place volcanic specialists in local governments was further pointed out in the eruption of Mt. Ontake, where 63 people were sacrificed five years ago.
Before the eruption five years ago, the Japan Meteorological Agency released information called “commentary information” because of the increase in earthquakes beneath Mt. Ontake.
However, unlike the eruption warning level, which indicated disaster prevention behavior, it was actually difficult for local government officials to determine how to accept this information, and the situation has not changed at volcanoes nationwide. .
Under these circumstances, local government employees are trying to acquire specialized knowledge of volcanoes.
For example, in Gifu Prefecture, after the eruption of Mt. Ontake, officials in charge of volcano disaster prevention go to the university and learn regularly about the mechanism of eruption.
The government is also dispatching local government officials who have experienced evacuation of residents in past eruption disasters to local governments to improve their professional knowledge.
However, such efforts are still being carried out only in some local governments, and many local governments have changed in about two to three years, and the staff in charge of volcanic disaster prevention has also changed. It is left.
For this reason, recruiting staff with special expertise as in Yamanashi Prefecture this time, and getting them to continue volcanic disaster prevention is attracting attention as an effective means.