Know your Local Area
Another activity on the timetable at many schools in Japan is making up disaster safety maps. Students do research to find out where the local evacuation areas and danger spots are, and then use this information to create maps of their local area. These maps show things like walls that might fall down in an earthquake, and the addresses of people who might need special help in an emergency, such as old or disabled people. Japan has also been helping to introduce these maps in schools in other countries in Asia.
At the Children's Disaster Training College run by Yokosuka City, children work on their disaster safety maps. The kids walk around their local area entering things that draw their attention onto their maps.
Computer programs and games are another way of teaching students important lessons about planning for a disaster while having fun at the same time.
All these activities are based on lessons learned from real earthquakes. Taking part in these training exercises helps kids to imagine what things might be like in a real emergency and what the best response would be. The fun drills let kids enjoy themselves at the same time as learning how to act appropriately if a real earthquake ever strikes. Japan is often struck by earthquakes and other natural disasters like typhoons, but because people practice these drills from childhood, the damage caused when natural disasters do occur is very limited.
“Disaster Prevention DUCK” is a gesture game for small children. Players learn the “first steps” to safety by acting out simple gestures and calls.
(Updated in August 2010)