Hideyuki Mori
Chief Instructor at the Boarding House
attached to Miyagi Prefectural Onagawa Special Education High School

Yayoi Kitamura
Nagano University of Health and Medicine;
previously worked for
the Research Institute of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

Miyagi Prefectural Onagawa Special Education High School opened in April 2016 and is named after the location where the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake severely damaged. The school is committed to vocational education for students with mild intellectual disabilities and offers practical training in local businesses to help them achieve independence. The school is unique in that it is a three-year boarding school, which no other school has. From the very beginning, the school has been aiming to provide practical disaster management training by taking advantage of the boarding system and working with the local community.

Thinking out of the box

"Can you plan an evacuation drill by yourselves?"

When the school opened, the students' answer to this question was not "Yes/No" but "Sounds interesting." So, there was no reason not to do it. As most students return to their hometowns after graduation from the boarding school, the school established a "Student Self-Governing Association" that also serves as a voluntary disaster management organization in order to simulate local self-help and mutual cooperation  practices in boarding school life. The names of the teams within the organization, such as "Food and Water Supply Team" and "First Aid Team," were chosen based on the terms actually used in several neighborhood associations in the prefecture, which would be familiar to the students in the future. The goal was to create an environment where each student has a role to play and works on disaster preparedness by planning regular disaster management drills.

Comprehensive disaster management drill

Since 2017, we have been implementing a comprehensive disaster management drill every year in September, which is to experience mutual cooperation after a disaster has occurred. This is planned and managed by the Student Self-Governing Association. For example, the First Aid Team runs the first aid drill, evacuation shelter management drills by the General Affairs Team, and food service drills by the Food and Water Supply Team. In preparation for the drill, each team looks into the information relating to disaster management, examines what they want the other students to learn, and discusses the drill procedures. On the day of the drill, students and faculty, other than the drill team members, play the role of disaster victims, making this an experience-based training exercise.

For the evacuation shelter management drill, among other things, we referred to an evacuation shelter management game as HUG and discussed the procedures. To begin with, we obtained information about HUG, emergency supplies, and helpful apps from knowledgeable researchers introduced by school councilors. Since 2018, the drill has been attended by representatives of the local social welfare council and neighborhood associations, and heads of administrative districts.

Fortunately, the drill has been widely introduced through presentations at a conference held by the Japanese Association of Special Education. Demonstrations of these drills at training programs for representatives of special needs education schools nationwide have been organized by the Special Needs Education Division of the Thai Ministry of Education. Demonstrations are also given by our students at a community activity training course in Tokyo.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, there were concerns about implementing the Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill in 2020. However, cosultation with third-year students prompted the school to adopt a crisis management drill. They had been participating in the drill since they entered the school and asked, "Can we do the drill this year?" With this being said, the school decided to hold the drill.

Even in a pandemic, disasters can happen. So, the students started preparing for the Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill with the theme, "Let's think about disaster management activities for a new era!" In particular, how we should prepare for disasters under the COVID-19 crisis or what we should keep in mind given the catastrophes brought about by the frequent torrential rains in recent years. Moreover, each team set out their respective sub-theme, namely, what risks you will face when moving during flooding【Environmental Improvement Team】, What you have to note in the management of evacuation centers in the time of COVID-19【General Affairs Team and First Aid Team】 How you will distribute food to reduce the risk of infection 【Food and Water Supply Team】 How you disseminate information to the community【Public Relations Team】

Photo: Students are experiencing difficulty walking in adverse conditions.

Students, mainly third-year students from each team, recognized the challenges of this drill and made preparations in advance, taking thorough measures against infectious diseases such as wearing masks, hand hygiene, and ventilation. We also prepared alternative plans for the spread of contagious diseases and mental instability before the day of the drill. Unfortunately, due to local safety concerns, we decided not to invite local people to this drill. However, to maintain and build new relationships with the community, we prepared and distributed a brochure introducing the school's efforts to the community. That was an unprecedented perspective in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summary

These efforts led to the awarding of the 2020 Grand Prix in the "1.17 Disaster Reduction Future Prize BOSAI Koshien" (sponsored by Hyogo Prefecture, the Mainichi Newspapers, etc.), after being unsuccessful in 2017 and 2018, and winning the Encouragement Prize in the special needs school category in 2019. This results from our continued efforts since the school's opening, with each student being aware of their role, consulting with someone, and striving to share experience and knowledge. Because of that, we hope that they will turn their experiences during their time at the school into confidence. Furthermore, we expect them to protect themselves in times of disaster, play a role in helping others, and live with an awareness of being a local community member.

[1] In order to pass on the experiences and lessons learned from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 17th January 1995 to the future, this project honors children and students involved in disaster management education and activities in their schools and communities.