Background
Information
Students who have decided to join the study group for the Natural Disasters Youth Summit were divided into four groups. They started by watching a documentary video about the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 and taking note of the situations and problems encountered by the following agencies: (1) the hospital, (2) the police department, (3) the fire department, and (4) the government. The video is in Japanese so the four groups were each assigned an agency and worked on summarizing the notes they have gathered, translating them to English and finally editing them with their teachers’ help. The next activity was to research on the following disasters: (1) earthquake, (2) typhoon, (3) flood, and (4) volcanic eruption, referring to the questions for the Youth Summit (i.e., (1) What are natural disasters?, (2) Why do they happen?, (3) What can we do?). Group
1 Situation After the
Earthquake: Fire Department
Water Problem
There
was not enough water, so the fire spread quickly.
When the fire department started putting out the fire, six hours
had already passed since the fire had begun.
It was too late.
Fire
fighters couldn’t communicate with one another. Although many fire
fighters came to Kobe to help, they had different types of transceiver.
Because
of lack of water, they decided to use seawater but the roads were either
destroyed or crowded that it was very hard to combine the hoses from
each fire fighting group. To
make matters worse, many people, bicycles and cars trod on their hoses
so they didn’t work well and one third of the hoses were broken that
night. In
that bad condition, water pressure was so weak that fire fighters had to
get near the fire although it was very dangerous. Telephone Problem
The telephone system was down so many phone calls were not received.
The officials had to go to the top of the building and looked at
the situation with their own eyes to know where the fire was and sent
fire fighters to the scene. It
was after three hours when they were finally able to confirm the
situation from the helicopter. Group
Members’ Impressions Mao
Komatsubara I
think that fire fighters strived to extinguish the fire.
However, Japan had very little provisions for earthquakes.
With more provisions, fire fighters and we, the ordinary people,
could have done moved more efficiently.
People were not only killed by earthquake, but also killed people
by fire and other collateral disasters. So everyone should begin to
provide for the next earthquake from now! Mariko
Yamada
I think the most terrible
thing was the lack of preparation.
In Japan, people know a lot of earthquakes happen frequently.
In spite of that fact, people were too lazy to prepare for it.
Then, it caused a terrible disaster.
Although, disaster often strikes when it isn’t expected, we
should try to predict it as much as possible to be able to take the best
action! Maki
Adachi
It was very shocking to see what happened to the fire department during
the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The
most surprising was the phone problem.
All the people were trying to contact the fire department for
help, but a wall of a phone problem prevented them from doing so.
The cries weren’t sent to the fire fighters!! I hope everyone has learned a lesson from this problem and
prevent it from happening again. Emi
Nakaguchi There
were many problems concerning communication between the people who
needed help and the fire department. It makes me sad to see the problems
they had because some of them could have been solved before the
earthquake and so many more lives could have been saved. They
should’ve discussed the actions they would take in case of a big
earthquake such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Something like “They
had troubles communicating because they had different types of
transceivers” should not happen again. Thousands of lives were lost in this earthquake because of
fire, so fire departments all over Japan should constantly be ready for
earthquakes. Earthquakes
What
is earthquake? An earthquake is a shaking of the Earth caused by pieces of the crust of the Earth that suddenly shift. It often causes a lot of damage. Why
do earthquakes happen? Tectonic plates (earth’s outer surface that’s broken into pieces) – constantly move away from, toward or past each other. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that made the ground shake. When two blocks or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. They don’t just slide smoothly, the rocks catch on each other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not moving. After a while, the rocks break because of all the pressure that’s built up. When the rocks break, the earthquake occurs.
What
can we do to prepare for earthquakes? - Turn off the gas to prevent gas leaks. - Anchor all furniture to the wall so that it doesn’t fall over. - Practice “DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON”. - Choose a safe place in the house and your room. - Place your emergency supplies kit (first aid, canned food and opener, water, clothing, blanket, radio, flashlights, batteries) in a place where it can be accessed easily. - Make a map of your escape route of your house - Prepare an elected place you can get together. - Learn how to use your fire extinguisher. - Store breakable items in low, closed closets. - Strap your water heater to studs in the wall and bolt it to the floor. - Choose an out of town family contact. - Take part in a training of disaster prevention.
Situation
after the Earthquake: Hospital
・12 hospitals in Kobe collapsed. ・People in hospitals could not use the medical equipment because there was no electricity. ・It was very difficult for doctors to deal with the real situation because doctors were busy writing down patients’ names and symptoms. ・A hospital in Osaka was waiting for patients from Kobe, but the doctors of Kobe thought Osaka was damaged by the earthquake, too. So no one went to Osaka hospitals. ・They ran out of medical instruments and medicines. ・There were too many injured people for doctors and nurses to take care of. ・Earlier the death toll was 22 people, but at midnight, it increased to 1,584 people.
Group
Members’ Impressions Rina
Hamada I was very surprised to know these problems. I didn’t know that so many problems happened at that time. The earthquake occurred suddenly, so I think people were so puzzled and didn’t know what to do. That means we had no measures in advance. Now, we know what to do when the earthquake happens, but we must prepare what to do for other natural disasters, too. Natsumi
Isokawa
Nobody knows when Earthquake will happen, so we have to prepare for that all the time. When the earthquake happened, hospitals were confused. So, hospitals should be ready for emergency. I think the biggest problem was that the hospital could not connect with other prefectures, especially Osaka. They should practice for the emergency. Asami
Hashihiro I think that the reason why many people died was there was not enough information. The telephone and electricity were stopped, so they could not get them. Now, many people are suffering from a very big earthquake in Niigata. I hope they recover as quickly as possible. Masataka
Oyabu First, the hospitals should save more places as harbor. Next, they must have machines which will work even if we can’t use electricity. That time many patients lost their lives because we didn’t think about this situation, so both we and doctors should have considered. Satoru
Nabeno First of all, hospitals should have contacted with other hospitals in other prefectures because even if these hospitals were broken or not, they must not have given up the possibility to save the patients. And hospitals had better prepare for disasters in case of emergencies. Typhoons
What
is typhoon?
A typhoon is a very violent
storm in tropical areas like the Pacific Oceans in which the wind moves
in circles. Why
do typhoons happen? When warm air collides with cold air, they spin a counter clockwise direction, and it becomes bigger and bigger, then it goes to various areas such as Japan. What
can we do to prepare for typhoon?
・Don’t
go out. ・Cover
all the windows to protect them from shattering. ・Check
the location of the shelters. ・Be
alert and listen to exact information about the typhoon or weather
reports on TV and radio. ・Buy
everything you need such as candles, flashlights, radio, batteries,
water, food, and so on before the typhoon comes. ・Tie
items down in your yard to prevent them from being flown away. ・Put
dangerous things away. ・Don’t
use an umbrella. ・Be
aware of some flying objects. ・Check
the water level of the river. ・Cooperate
with your neighbors and help one another. Group 3
Situation
After the Earthquake: Police Department
The Great Hanshin Earthquake brought confusion to many people. The police officers, fire fighters, and the medical staff like doctors and nurses didn’t know what to do since it was so sudden. One of the problems was that many people couldn’t get connected. At first, they tried to use the Hyogo Police Office as headquarters, but the first floor was completely destroyed. Next, the police headquarters in Port Island was also filled with mud water and it was also useless. They finally moved the headquarters to the Ikuta Police Department. It took them four hours to decide the location of the headquarters. They didn’t know who and where to rescue first. Few days later police officers gathered from all over Japan to help Kobe. Kobe’s police officers couldn’t contact with each other so they should have other ways. They wasted lots of time because they couldn’t get information. They could have saved more people if they had better means of communication. They had no plans about what to do in this situation so they should have thought of what to do before the earthquake came. Group
Members’ Impressions Chiaki
Hayashi I understand that many policemen were in a great confusion because the Hanshin- Awaji earthquake came so sudden, but I think they could have saved more people if they did not waste their time. I know that they tried their best, but if they had more preparation, they could have done a better job. We must always be prepared because we can’t always predict the earthquake. Maria Nogami When I learned about what happened to the police after the earthquake, I thought that no one knows what would happen to you, and you should prepare for any disasters even if there is little possibility to happen. If they expected the earthquake which was strong and thought more deeply about it, I think things must have been better then. However I think they did their best at that time and we should thank them. Eri
Maruyama I didn’t know that police were in such situation before we watched the video and learned about them. The police officers had to help the victims, but they were also victims. Police officers from other places couldn't help much because information was not enough and their base was not stable. I hope that police and people help each other and more people can be helped if next natural disaster occurs. Kaori
Sugiura When the Great Hanshin Earthquake happened, we weren’t prepared for big earthquake. We have to keep these words in our mind, “Lay something for a rainy day.” and hope failure teaches success and we don’t have to do same mistakes again. Saho
Maeda I was so surprised that one of the countries famous for earthquakes did not prepare for this disaster beforehand. Earthquake is a disaster that happens suddenly and everybody knows that so we should prepare for it. I know the police department did their best and I know that I should not say anything bad, but when I think of the people who died because of the late preparation, I cannot stop feeling “Why didn’t they prepare beforehand?” And at the same time I think that all of the people should not forget this day and when a disaster happens, we should use our experience to get over it and not to make the same mistakes again. Volcanic Eruption
What
is a volcanic eruption?
A
volcanic eruption is a natural outpouring of hot rock or fluids from the
earth. Some scientists
restrict the use of the term “volcanic eruptions” to mean only the
outpouring of molten rock. Other
definition includes vigorous hydro thermal activity, such as geyser, a
natural spring of hot water which from time to time rise suddenly into
the air from the earth. Why
do volcanic eruptions happen? It is caused by the activity of magma (hot melted rock below the surface of the earth). Deep inside the earth, between the molten iron core and the thin crust at the surface, there is a solid body of rock from which the mantle (the part of the earth around the central CORE) melts, moves to the surface through the crust and releases pent-up gases. This causes the volcano to erupt. What
can we do to prepare for volcanic eruption? *We should check the location of the shelters. *Have disaster supplies on hand (helmet, goggles, mask, gloves, flash light, radio, standing medicine, raincoat and umbrella, clothes to protect against the cold, spare undergarment, towel, tissue, emergency food, water to drink, valuable article, and cash.) *Learn about your community warning systems. *Make evacuation plans. *Develop an emergency communication plan. *Ask an out-of-town relative or friend to serve as the “family contact” *Provide goggles and breathing mask for each member of the household. *Contact your local emergency management office. *Make rescue teams. *Educate yourself about volcanic eruption. *Don’t panic!! Group
4 Situation After the
Earthquake: Government Offices
The government had many problems when the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred. First, government officers, who were supposed to be engaged in disasters measures, were victims too. Therefore, only 40% of them could come to the government offices. Because of shortage of workers, their work such as delivering relief supplies to victims became so hard that many officers dropped from exhaustion. Second, relief supplies couldn’t come to Kobe smoothly because of traffic jam. For example, Hanshin highway which was the most important highway in Kobe fell down and many other roads were damaged by the earthquake. Moreover, many people who tried to go out of Kobe, and people from other place such as Osaka or Kyoto used cars. Also people from other cities didn’t know exactly what the situation was. Third, the government couldn’t locate where the evacuees were because most of them evacuated not only in official evacuation centers, but also in unofficial evacuation centers (for example parks etc.). Last, even though many people were killed, the government couldn’t find that places for the dead bodies. The reason why they couldn’t was that almost all big places were already used as evacuation centers. In addition, many people were unwilling to give the places because mortuaries smelled bad. Group
Members’ Impressions Noriaki
Tani I
think that the government’s measures against earthquakes weren’t
good enough to work. The main reason why they couldn’t work is that the
government assumed the earthquake to be small.
They thought that Kobe was safe and big earthquake would never
come. Therefore, many
problems occurred during
the
Great Hanshin Earthquake.
We could find the fact that
the government thought that officers would not be victims.
I think that the biggest lesson from the Great Hanshin Earthquake
is that the importance of government’s measures.
They must make realistic measures which can work in serious
cases. Sakamoto
Kento We
had a great earthquake in 1995 and many people were killed by it.
A reason why there were victims so increased is government’s
way of handling the situation. We
researched about how they cope and found some facts. Japanese government tends to take the matter easily. In case of the Hansin Earthquake, the same things can be said. Public officers always behind started working after the matters happened. Therefore local governments and contingents also could not move smoothly. Second, the fire services and the emergency services could not move because roads and phones were broken by earthquake. They couldn’t go the spot and couldn’t catch the correct information. That is to say, some misfortunes piled up and multiplied the damage from earthquake. But I’ m unsatisfied about government’s coping. It was too sloppy. They always say that life is the most important thing. But in fact, they always can’t realistic coping and increase victims idly. So I want government to rouse and do against trouble speedily/ Naoko
Koyama The Great Hanshin Earthquake taught us many important things. We had never experienced any earthquakes in such a great magnitude, so the rules which the government made before it happened didn’t work well. Therefore, I think we should make a new rules. Suppose an earthquake happens. Perhaps the government of the city cannot work enough, so the governments from other cities and other prefectures need to help them. Also, we need to prepare hover planes to supply foods and water in the case of traffic jam and destroyed roads. I believe cooperation of prefectures and cities are the most important thing when an earthquake happens so people can act immediately. Shizuka
Taniguchi When the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred, the staff members were also victims so government didn’t function. I think it is difficult to work when they get into difficulties. But people need help. They have to set up the main office as early as possible. So I think they should prepare for the contingency all the time. For example they make a manual or make a connection with other prefectures which can relieve them. I hope that an earthquake like the Great Hanshin Earthquake never happens again. Mitsue
Ono We had never had such a terrible earthquake in Japan, so we couldn’t manage various problems but we learned many things from the Great Hanshin Earthquake. For example, we need help from other prefectures that didn’t have damage, because we couldn’t survive without it. I think we should look at the good things and the bad things that we did after the earthquake over again and make a guideline. Then we will be able to manage problems better than that time. Flood
What
is flood? Flood is a great overflow of water to a place that is usually dry. Why
do floods happen? Because of heavy rains and inadequacy of flood prevention devices. What
can we do to prepare for floods? - Plant trees in the mountains. - Don’t make river banks straight to reduce the speed of water flow. - Make dams to prevent mudslide. - Make bypasses for river water to flow when blocked. - Make paths from small rivers to large rivers. - Don’t destroy rivers. - Move to high places. - Maintain sewers. Watch overloading of sewage systems during periods of high rainfall. - Build embankments along rivers. -
Don't undermine the natural ability of land and rivers to absorb
excess rain water.
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