25 years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake More than 180,000 people who have obtained `` disaster prevention qualifications ''

25 years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake `` Disaster Prevention Person '' qualification More than 180,000 people January 17 4:31

An NPO survey showed that more than 180,000 people had acquired the qualification of a “disaster prevention worker,” a system created in the wake of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 25 years ago. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the awareness of disaster prevention due to a series of disasters.

In the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, there was a limit to rescuing residents and operating evacuation centers alone, and the shortage of human resources for disaster prevention became an issue.

In order to train local disaster prevention leaders based on this lesson, the qualification system established by the NPO "Japan Disaster Prevention Personnel Organization" in 2003 is "Disaster Prevention Personnel". Learn how to operate an evacuation center and get it when you pass the exam.

According to NPO corporations, 185,249 people have obtained disaster prevention qualifications in the 17 years until last year.

Looking at the trends in the number of employees acquired annually, it was about several thousand per year until 2011, but from 2012 after the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, it increased from 10,000 to 20,000 per year. , And is increasing rapidly due to the increasing awareness of disaster prevention due to successive disasters.

In some cases, disaster prevention workers actually operated evacuation shelters in past disasters such as the Kumamoto earthquake and heavy rains in western Japan.

On the other hand, disaster prevention workers are also expected to play a central role in the preparation of regional disaster drills and regional disaster prevention plans during normal times, so they said, "What activities should I do specifically? I don't know. "

For this reason, NPOs have introduced examples of local activities through training, and are also trying to strengthen the cooperation by sharing information between local governments and disaster prevention workers, and how many disaster prevention workers are utilized in local disaster prevention activities. Is an issue for the future.