Disaster Mitigation Education Program [Japan]
On 11th February, a hybrid event on the theme “Disaster Mitigation Education Forum – Ninth AXA and UNESCO Association’s Teacher Training for Disaster Mitigation Education Program: Make disaster education community-wide and future-bound” was held in Tokyo and online. This event was hosted by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan, in partnership with AXA Life Insurance Co.,Ltd., and supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. More than 217 people participated in the event.
This forum was open to educators, not-for-profit and NGOs, and citizens who are interested in disaster risk reduction and mitigation education. Similar fora have been organized during the last nine years. The fora’s aims are: to promote disaster mitigation education, and to further deepen the learning and exchange among practitioners by cascading the experience and lessons learned in Kesennuma through its implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and disaster recovery/reduction education after the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
SEEDS Asia has been a partner of this program, taking part in the dispatch of lecturers for its training sessions. SEEDS Asia’s board member Dr. Yukihiko Oikawa (also Associate Professor at Nara University of Education) is in charge of the overall coordination and direction of the program, and presented the rationale, lecture and conclusion in this particular forum. Also taking the stage were SEEDS Asia’s Technical Advisor Dr. Yasutaka Ueda (also Associate Professor at Niigata University) as a lecturer, and Executive Director Ms. Mitsuko Otsuyama as a panelist.
It has been consistently recognized among the presenters and participants since the beginning of this program that disaster risk reduction/mitigation education is essential in sustainable development, and effective when carried out as a part of ESD. A narrow definition of disaster education can be limited to learning to just survive or about theoretical procedures in response to disasters, but disaster education should be comprehensive to encourage learners to have broader perspectives, to proactively engage in problem-solving, and to be responsible for their community and society. These issues define the program objectives, and has also guided SEEDS Asia’s approach.
The keynote lecture was delivered by Mr. Masanori Yasuda, a former superintendent of Omuta City Board of Education and a board member of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan. The theme of his lecture was “Omuta city’s lessons from the 2020 Kyushu Floods: Disaster risk reduction/mitigation education based on ESD and towards sustainable development.” The city witnessed the largest amount of daytime rainfall per day, which exceeded the regular rainfall per month in 2020. His presentation described how the education sector responded, from initial responses of ensuring the safety of students to restoration towards the resumption of school curricula. This experience is fully utilized in the making of the strategy for a “Sustainable City Omuta.”
The forum was an open venue for all participants to meet their fellow disaster risk reduction practitioners, share outputs and challenges, and start looking at respective steps forward. Mr. Yasuda commented: “To prove one’s learning is to change something.”
SEEDS Asia is privileged to have been given the opportunity to be part of this forum and meet practitioners from all over Japan. We sincerely thank the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan, AXA Life Insurance Co. Ltd., and the participating schools. We look forward to expanding our networks, and creating further learning opportunities.