Many educational activities and disaster drills are conducted for the purpose of developing disaster prevention consciousness. It is necessary to develop a standardized psychological scale to measure disaster prevention consciousness; this would help evaluate the effect of activities that improve disaster prevention consciousness. To do this, a qualitative study using a Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach was conducted. First, elements of disaster prevention consciousness were explored through one-hour interviews with a total of ten disaster prevention professionals. They responded to six questions on the characteristics and behaviors of a person who seemed to possess high disaster prevention consciousness. The study yielded six elements in knowledge (ex. “Reality of disaster”), eight elements in behavior (ex. “Preparation for disaster”), and ten psychological elements (ex. “Over-reliance on one measure against disasters,” “Prediction and analysis of situations,” and “Taking a comprehensive view”). A new anti-disaster consciousness model was developed based on these elements.

In this study, an education program for heavy rainfall risk management was developed using the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) model of instructional design (ID) to enhance the disaster response capabilities of schoolchildren to encourage them to think and act responsibly to protect themselves during a disaster following heavy rainfall. The program’s effectiveness was evaluated by its implementation at Nagaoka Municipal Senju Elementary School in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, which was devastated by the heavy rainfall caused by 2019 Typhoon No.19. The learning effect was confirmed throughout the program. Furthermore, the program has improved because of its implementation and evaluation.

Introduction:The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan have suggested local governments establish Health, Medical, and Welfare Coordination Headquarters at the time of disaster. Gathering and processing information is one of the key functions of the headquarters. The study aims to clarify the required functions of information for the headquarters.Method:A series of interview surveys and observations were conducted, including for local governments and experts in disaster response. The contents were analyzed and required standard functions and procedures had been extracted.Results:The most important aspect of information gathering is its use in decision-making in matching needs and demands with resources. Needs and demands are based on damage and situation of the casualties. Resources can be categorized into human, material, financial, and informational. Because the headquarters have to process much information, it is important to clarify the objective and strategy of disaster response. The headquarters gather various quantitative and qualitative information using information and communication technology, telephone, meeting and other methods. Qualitative information can be categorized as: expected, surprising (unexpected), and unusual (rare) contents. For expected contents, quantification or estimation of needs from information in normal time or limited information immediately after the disaster and displaying or further analyzing by geographic information systems is useful. By surprising contents or case reports, additional responses or strategies will need to be reviewed.Conclusion:The procedure, including information gathering and decision-making, follows the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop. According to our mail survey of all 47 prefectural local governments in 2019, 89% were planning to establish the headquarters. However, only 36% had prepared a manual. Using the results of this study, a standard strategic manual for the operations of the headquarters is being developed and brushed up.

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In this study, we structured the disaster risk communication method that assists disaster prevention activities in the local community and applied the method to the earthquake disaster prevention activities in the elementary school district to verify its effectiveness in improving the capability of the local community to respond to disasters. As a result, with the disaster risk communication among a variety of concerned parties in the community, we confirmed that the viable disaster prevention system that utilizes diversified social resources accumulated in the local community was restructured.