The quake in February last year, which was hit by a tremor with a maximum seismic intensity of 6 or higher, occurred after 11:00 at night, and last month's tsunami warnings and warnings associated with the eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga were issued before dawn.

However, when NHK interviewed all the municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, it was found that 95% of the 56 municipalities had never conducted evacuation drills assuming the occurrence of a disaster at night since the Great East Japan Earthquake.

This month, NHK asked 59 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture if they had conducted evacuation drills assuming a nighttime disaster after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accident, and received responses from all the municipalities.



As a result, the respondents who answered that they had


done so were Fukushima City, which conducted an evacuation drill at night last September, and


Aizu, which conducted an evacuation drill on the assumption that a disaster would occur during the day and evacuate from evening to night.


There are only three municipalities, Wakamatsu City and Naraha Town, where training was conducted on the assumption that they would evacuate in the morning due to a disaster at


night

.

I went up to.



When asked if they were aware of the need for training, 52 municipalities, or 93%, answered that they were aware of the need but could not implement it.



When asked the reasons for this in multiple answers,


▽ "Because evacuation at night is dangerous and difficult to judge" was the most common at 37%,


followed


by ▽ "I was not thinking or thinking" and "Cooperation of residents at night". 27%


answered "I can't get it", 25% answered "I gave priority to daytime training", and


19% answered "I don't know how to do it".



In addition, four local governments answered that evacuation drills assuming nighttime disasters are not necessary because they want to give priority to daytime drills or because no major disasters have occurred so far.



Associate Professor Yasunori Hata of the University of Yamanashi, who is familiar with regional disaster prevention, said, "Since the hurdles will be high if the entire city and all residents are targeted, we will recruit areas and people who can participate and increase the number of participants based on their experiences and voices. That's important. Half of the day is at night, so it's normal for an earthquake to occur at that time. Most of the disasters happen suddenly, so you can't do what you can't do in your daily training. It is necessary to keep in mind. "

Experts “It is important to share the experience and knowledge of local governments that have conducted night training”

Associate Professor Yasunori Hata of the University of Yamanashi, who is familiar with regional disaster prevention, points out that it is important to share the experience and knowledge of local governments that are engaged in nighttime evacuation drills in advance, albeit in small numbers, regarding the results of this questionnaire.



Associate Professor Hata said, "Since half of the day is at night, it is normal for an earthquake to occur at that time. To clarify issues that cannot be understood by daytime training, such as nighttime and power outages, in nighttime training. It has great significance. It is important to share the experience and knowledge of the three local governments that conducted the night training, and to think about how the training can be conducted and the challenges in evacuating. "



On top of that, he points out that we should first recruit and practice areas and people who can participate.



Associate Professor Hata said, "The hurdles will be high if the entire city or all residents are targeted, so it is important to recruit areas and people who can participate and increase the number of participants based on their experiences and voices. Most of the disasters. It's happening suddenly, and it's important to keep in mind that what you can't do in your daily training can't be done in production. "

What are the assumptions and contents of the training of the three local governments that conducted night training?

In this survey, after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accident, the three cities and towns of Fukushima City, Aizuwakamatsu City, and Naraha Town answered that they had conducted evacuation drills assuming the occurrence of a disaster at night. was.

Of these, Fukushima City experienced a similar situation in September last year when a power outage occurred in the earthquake a year ago and there was no emergency power supply, so electricity could not be used for several hours at the evacuation center. I assumed and trained.



In order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, it was not possible for the general public to participate in the training to confirm the evacuation behavior, but the city officials involved in the management and operation of the evacuation center and the companies that have a cooperation agreement Approximately 40 people, including employees, participated and confirmed the procedure for evacuation guidance at evacuation shelters where there was a power outage.



In response to requests from residents, Aizuwakamatsu City has an evacuation drill assuming that local residents will be evacuated from evening to night because there is a risk of sediment-related disasters due to the effects of earthquakes that occurred during the day in 2013 and the following year. The we.



A total of 2000 people, including city officials and residents, participated in the two training sessions, and the residents who participated said that it was "meaningful" and that "we should think about what to do in the event of a power outage." is.



In addition, Naraha Town needs to evacuate residents in the morning due to heavy rain that continued during the night in November, based on the lessons learned from the heavy rain disaster caused by typhoon No. 19 three years ago, which killed 32 people in Fukushima Prefecture. The training was conducted on the assumption that it became, and more than 200 people including the town staff and residents participated.

City that could not be trained at night “I want to train in a situation close to night in the future”

In December last year, Iwaki City applied for a nighttime evacuation drill to the city's voluntary disaster prevention organization, but it was refused.



Masahiro Nakane, Chief of the Iwaki City Disaster Countermeasures Division, said, "I have encouraged the training to be conducted at night, but there was no response to the training. Some people wonder if it's hard to see and there is a risk of injury. At the moment, we can't do training, and we're stopped by checking the materials and equipment used at night. " ..



On the other hand, in response to the announcement of a tsunami warning in the early hours due to changes in the tide level due to the eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga last month, we would like to continue training in a situation close to night.



Mr. Nakane said, "I would like to work on it little by little with the image of extending the evacuation drill time during the day to around the evening, not suddenly at night. First, try a model case in one place. I would like to make it and spread it to other districts. "