LESSONS FROM DISASTERS 震災からの学び（

COVER STORY: LESSONS FROM DISASTERS

LESSONS FROM DISASTERS

Almost two years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Japan has experienced numerous disasters in its long history, and following a disaster Japan has improved its bosai measures for prevention and mitigation of disasters in areas such as flood control, forest conservation, weather observation and evacuation systems. In the 1940s and 1950s, more than 1,000 lives were lost annually due to natural disasters, but in recent years casualties have fallen to fewer than 100. Even so, the damage brought by the Great East Japan Earthquake was far greater than Japanese could have imagined. Based on the lessons learned from the experience, Japan is now working on new measures for preventing and mitigating disasters in an effort to facilitate reconstruction. This month’s Cover Story introduces some of the lessons learned from the country’s various disasters.

School students and local residents participate in an evacuation drill in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, in 2009.
Credit: COURTESY OF TOSHITAKA KATADA

At a magnitude of 9.0, the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a massive tsunami and dealt unprecedented damage to a wide area spanning from the Tohoku to Kanto regions. Kamaishi, a city in Iwate Prefecture with a population of approximately 40,000, was hit by a tsunami that topped over 15 meters. More than 1,000 people were killed or went missing. Nearly 30% of the houses were completely or partially destroyed. Despite the suffering from this level of damage, almost all of the nearly 3,000 elementary and junior high school students successfully evacuated and stayed safe. This amazing fact was acclaimed as the “Miracle of Kamaishi” and drew wide-scale response.

“The children attribute it to ‘Achievements of Kamaishi.’ Their survival is not a miracle considering that they made consistent efforts, did the right things at the right time and obtained the outcome they deserved,” says Toshitaka Katada, a professor at Gunma University. “However, Kamaishi lost five children, so I was somewhat reluctant to use the word ‘miracle.’ I’m now leaning toward placing greater importance on this phrase, the ‘Miracle of Kamaishi,’ to ensure that the children’s actions are remembered down through the generations.”

Since 2004, Professor Katada has cooperated with local elementary and junior high school teachers in providing disaster prevention education in Kamaishi. Notably, he strongly advised local children to follow three principles of evacuation: do not get fixated on assumptions, do whatever you can do in the given situation, and take the initiative in evacuating.

Professor Toshitaka Katada explains the tsunami evacuation map to junior high school students in Kamaishi.
Credit: COURTESY OF TOSHITAKA KATADA

In Japan, each of the regions that could be hit by a tsunami has a hazard map indicating the areas that would be inundated. Yet the tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake inundated a far wider range of areas than those anticipated in the maps. Many people who lived in areas that had not been specified as susceptible to inundation attempted to evacuate too late, because they believed tsunamis would not affect them, and in fact many of the casualties were from such areas. In Kamaishi, children sought refuge all the way to higher ground, and did not stay in the evacuation center that the hazard map said would be safe. And through this action they barely escaped the tsunami. The children did exactly what they could do without fixating on assumptions.

Many survivors in Kamaishi began evacuating after seeing local junior high school students who were running while loudly and vocally informing others before the tsunami reached the land, advising them to evacuate immediately. One older survivor was at first reluctant to evacuate believing that the breakwater would protect him, before the cries of his grandchild impelled them to flee. Many parents averted the tsunami by evacuating without attempting to find their children, believing their children would evacuate by themselves. The children did exactly that, and took the initiative.

Kamaishi’s junior high school students were typically encouraged to develop from the saved into the saver. For instance, they received evacuation drills together with elementary schoolchildren and were trained to use two-wheeled carts to carry the elderly. When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit, the junior high school students took the elementary schoolchildren’s hands or carried the elderly on their back to successfully evacuate, as they had been trained to do.

Professor Toshitaka Katada teaches disaster prevention through a game at primary schools on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent (right) and on the Turks and Caicos islands in the Bahamas in 2007.
Credit: COURTESY OF TOSHITAKA KATADA

“The children saved the lives of many adults, as well as their own lives,” Professor Katada says. “Merely scaring children about tsunamis and teaching evacuation knowledge doesn’t get you anywhere. Disaster prevention education must enable children to voluntarily decide to evacuate and to act accordingly when needed.”

Professor Katada is also involved in activities to spread disaster prevention education in Latin America. One such activity is the Project on Capacity Development for Disaster Risk Management in Central America, BOSAI, organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). (“Bosai” is a Japanese word meaning disaster prevention and mitigation.) Through workshops with local people, Professor Katada communicates advice for evacuating from tsunamis, erupting volcanoes, heavy rain, landslides and other types of disaster, as well as the importance of handing down experiences of coming through from a disaster.

“People try to forget bitter memories, but these memories must be utilized as lessons,” Professor Katada says. “With a vivid memory of the Great East Japan Earthquake, we have the responsibility to ensure, for future generations, that evacuating is a certainty whenever a tsunami occurs. In other words, evacuation must be made a part of our culture.”

震災からの学び（仮訳）

2011年3月11日に発生した東日本大震災から2年が経つ。日本は長い歴史の中で、様々な災害を経験してきたが、その度毎に、治水、治山、気象 観測、避難体制といった防災・減災対策をレベルアップさせてきた。その結果、1940〜1950年代には、年間1000名を超える人命が自然災害で失われ ていたが、近年は、100名以下に犠牲者は減少していた。そうした日本にとっても、東日本大震災は、想定を越える被害をもたらした。そして現在、その教訓 をもとに、日本は新たな防災・減災対策や、復興に取り組んでいる。今月号の特集記事は、様々な震災からの学びを紹介する。

東日本大震災は、マグニチュード9.0の地震と巨大津波の発生により、東北・関東地方の広いエリアにかつてない甚大な被害をもたらした。人口約4万人の岩 手県釜石市では、高さ15メートル以上の津波が押し寄せ、死者・行方不明者数は1000名を超え、住宅の約3割が全壊、半壊といった被害を受けている。し かし、このような被害にもかかわらず、釜石の約3000名の小中学生のほぼ全員が無事に避難していた。このことは、「釜石の奇跡」と言われ、大きな反響を 呼んだ。

「釜石の子ども達は『釜石の実績』と言っていますね。確かに、自ら努力を重ね、すべき行動をとり、得られた結果という意味では奇跡ではないと言えるでしょ う」と片田敏孝群馬大学教授は言う。「釜石では5名の子どもの命が失われているので、私は『奇跡』という言葉はあまり使いたくなかったのですが、今は、子 ども達のとった行動を未来に残すために、『釜石の奇跡』と言う言葉を大事にすることも必要かなと思っています」

片田教授は、2004年から釜石市で、地元の小中学校の教員と協力して、防災教育を行ってきた。特に片田教授が子ども達に強調してきたのは、「想定にとらわれるな」、「その状況において最善を尽くす」、「率先避難者たれ」の避難三原則だ。

日本では津波が襲う危険性のある地域では、津波の浸水地域を示すハザードマップが作成されている。しかし、東日本大震災では、多くの地域で、想定していた 浸水地域をはるかに超えて津波が押し寄せた。そのため、津波が来ないと思いこんでいた、浸水地域外に住む人の避難が遅れ、多くの犠牲者が出ている。しか し、釜石では、子ども達はハザードマップで安全とされる避難所に留まらず、高台に逃げた結果、津波から間一髪逃れている。子ども達は、まさに、「想定にと らわれず」に、「最善を尽くし」たのだった。

また、釜石では中学生が、津波が到達する前に、「津波が来るから、逃げろ！」と大声を上げながら逃げる様子を見て、逃げ始めた人も多かった。防波堤がある から安全だと考え、最初、逃げようとしなかったある高齢者は、孫から泣きながら「逃げよう」と訴えられたことで避難をし、助かったという。また、「自分の 子どもは必ず避難をする」と信じ、子どもを探しに行かず避難したことで、津波に巻き込まれなかった親も少なくなかった。子ども達は「率先避難者」であった のだ。

釜石の中学生には「助けられる人から助ける人へ」ということも、教えられていた。日頃から、小学校との合同避難訓練や高齢者をリヤカーで運ぶといった訓練 が行われていた。そして、東日本大震災の時、中学生は訓練通り、小学生の手を取り、あるいは高齢者をおぶって、避難をしている。

「子ども達は自分の命だけではなく、多くの大人の命も救ったのです」と片田教授は言う。「『津波は怖い』と脅かしたり、避難方法の知識を教えるだけでは意 味がありません。子どもが内発的に『避難をする』と考え、自主的に避難行動が出来るような防災教育でなければなりません」

片田教授は、こうした防災教育を中南米で広げる活動も行っている。その一つが、国際協力機構(JICA)の実施する「中米広域防災能力向上プロジェク ト”BOSAI”」だ（「BOSAIは「防災」を意味する日本語）。片田教授は、現地の人とのワークショップを通じて、津波だけではなく、火山、豪雨、土 砂などの災害から逃れる方法、あるいは、災害伝承の重要性を伝えている。

「人間はつらい記憶を忘れ去ろうとします。しかし、そのつらい記憶を教訓として活かさなければならないのです」と片田教授は言う。「今、東日本大震災の 生々しい記憶を持っている私たちは、今後の世代のために、津波から逃げるという行動を当たり前のようにする、つまり、逃げることを『文化』として醸成する 責任があるのです」