UN Sasakawa Award Nomination
Supporting Documents
Tsunami Disaster Risk Reduction Education
in Kamaishi City, Japan
~ Saving Lives of Children ~
釜石市子供たちを守る津波防災教育
City of Kamaishi, Japan
Contacts:
Saeko Sasaki
Board of Education
City of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
+ 81 193 228 833
Email: center@edu-kamaishi.jp
Please describe in less than 800 words the initiative that is being nominated to reduce the impact of
disasters and build disaster resilience, what the results are to date, who are involved, and the level
of outreach. State the challenges you are confronting and the solution you have proposed.
Kamaishi City is a small coastal town located in Iwate Prefecture, Tohoku Region,
which was hit by 9.0 magnitude earthquake followed by a massive Tsunami,
submerging 3 story buildings, including three public schools located along the coastline.
In Kamaishi City alone, over 1,100 people are reported dead and missing. However,
almost ALL the elementary and junior high school children in Kamaishi managed to
survive the Tsunami.
In 2004, Kamaishi City responded positively to a call by Professor Katada, for working
together to provide increased disaster risk reduction education. Since then
partnerships were forged amongst the elementary and junior high schools, Gunma
University and local communities and the Tsunami Disaster Risk Reduction Education
program began at the pilot schools in Kamaishi City.
These initiatives were more systematically developed and consolidated when Kamaishi
City joined the Education for Disaster Risk Reduction Programme supported by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology from April 2008-March
2010.
The objective was to increase disaster risk awareness, provide people with the
knowledge of how to react during a disaster and ultimately teach them how to react to
an impending tsunami. At the same time, the Programme was designed to increase a
sense of belongings to the local communities and to address the issue of false sense of
safety from the infrastructures.
Kamaishi and the community including following activities as per the Teachers
Manual : (http://www.ce.gunma-u.ac.jp/kamaishi_tool/doc/manual_full.pdf)


Students participating in disaster reaction drills jointly with community members
as well as the parents.
Tsunami education is part of other subjects and through all grades.
-


eg. Tsunami education in maths – students calculate height of tsunami, time it
takes to reach their houses, etc.
Special disaster education classes include.
- Discussions over video of Indian Ocean Tsunami.
- Dynamic Tsunami simulation.
- Preparation of hazard mapping.
- Inviting speakers to share their person experience of surviving a tsunami.
Quick evacuation points.
-
Local residents were asked to set their houses as tsunami evacuation houses
and if children are not with an adult at the time of an earthquake, they can go
to the nearest tsunami evacuation house and escape with an adult.
Results
Though the disaster awareness education and training system has been in place for a
relatively short time, it has been put to the test and there were some positive results.

Of the children who were attending schools taking part in the disaster training, the
survival rate was 99.8%.

Of the parents of the children attending said schools, the survival rate was higher
than that of the general population.
The disaster preparedness program has been recognised in many articles in
Japanese publications for further replication.

The success of this program isn’t just limited to school children. School children share
what they learn with their parents. School children eventually become parents
themselves and take this knowledge with them. Through schools and children, the
greater community can be reached.
Lessons learnt and Best practices
 Targeting children was the most effective way to spread the message to parents and
the wider community.
 Infrastructure, while effective, fostered a false sense of safety and people forgot
about risks.
 Co-operation and partnership of relevant organisations brought greater results.
Main partners
Partnerships were critical for this initiative to become effective and gain sustainable
impact, and the main partners are:
- Kamaishi City Hall Disaster Reduction Section
- Kamaishi City Board of Education
- Teachers
- School children
- PTA and parents
- Community members
- Gunma University Faculty of Disaster Social Engineering
-
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Sustainability
By including tsunami awareness education in other subjects, students can learn about
the dangers of tsunami and the need for a swift reaction without additional class time
needed. With just a few hours a year dedicated to earthquake and tsunami evacuation
drills, reactions can become instinctual and all students know the quickest routes to
designated evacuation areas. They will become adults that will then pass on their
knowledge onto future generation.
Transferability and Upscaling
City to City
Since the Tsunami on March 11, many of the schools and local governments
vulnerable to tsunami through-out Japan as well as some experts from Indonesia have
visited Kamaishi City and have requested the Teachers’ Manual for Tsunami Education.
Due to the systematic application of this disaster education program, it would be very
easy to replicate in other cities and countries. The programme does not require large
financial resources.
Other Materials Recognition of the initiative
1. An award was given to Kamaishi Higashi Junior High for their East Rescue
Programme
2. Media attentions before and after 3.11.
Please describe in less than 400 words, the financial implications of the initiative that has been
nominated.
If feasible, describe what level of funding has been invested so far and how you plan to use the
award money to support the initiative, if you are the successful candidate. If you do not intend to
use the award money for this purpose, state how you plan to use it.
If successful, the award fund will be utilised to translate the Teachers Manual into
English and further share and outreach with other coastal cities in Japan and in the
World that vulnerable to the Tsunami to contribute to resilient cities campaign.