On October 7th, employees of Mitsubishi Estate Community Co., Ltd. visited Minamisanriku Town as part of their new employee training and took part in a "Simple Workshop to Take Home One Disaster Prevention Action You Can Start Putting Into Practice Today – Utilizing a Case Study from Minamisanriku."
This was the first time that training had been conducted in a rural area such as Minamisanriku Town, and for many participants it was their first visit to Tohoku.
The company's main business is managing buildings such as condominiums and buildings, and it has been focusing on disaster prevention for some time now. The participants this time also said that their job is often to appeal to local management associations and residents about disaster prevention.
The reason why Minamisanriku Town was chosen as the training site this time was because, "Although there are manuals on the subject, we want the students to be able to properly explain things in their own words." In order to achieve this, they thought it was necessary to experience and learn on-site, and so they planned this training.
In the morning, they visited the actual disaster sites, such as the former Togura Junior High School and Isuzu Shrine, and then attended this workshop in the afternoon.
When a natural disaster occurs, you may find yourself in situations that are unthinkable in everyday life, such as not being able to use your cell phone or your home being damaged and unable to return. After imagining these situations, participants will watch a video of testimonials from residents who experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake. This is a workshop program in which participants will share ideas and decide on disaster prevention actions that they and their families can put into practice starting today, and take them home with them.
The first part of the workshop involves writing down your current preparations. During this time, participants write down what they are currently preparing, such as what they have prepared at home, what they have discussed with their families, and manuals for their workplaces.
Participants will then move on to watching the main testimony video, but before that the facilitator will explain the characteristics of natural disasters that have occurred since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the issues that have become apparent during these disasters.
Explanations such as how the frequent floods that have occurred in the past do not necessarily occur near rivers or other natural disasters, and how infrastructure issues have been highlighted, lead people to imagine that "perhaps I could be affected by the same disaster."
This will be used as a "tips to making natural disasters your own" when interpreting the testimony video and deciding on your first disaster prevention action.
After watching the testimony video, participants will write down "new preparations they would like to try" based on what they noticed and discovered from the video, and share these with the group.
The employees who participated this time came from a variety of backgrounds and worked in a variety of locations. Even during group discussions, we heard many responses such as "I see," and "I see, that's right," perhaps because each region has its own characteristics and concerns.
Finally, each participant decided on one disaster prevention action to take home and put into practice, and then gave a presentation to the entire group before the workshop came to a close.
After the workshop, we asked participants for their impressions.
A woman who works in Tokyo decided on one disaster prevention action: "Check with her family to find evacuation locations."
"What made an impression on me at the workshop was that we had to decide where to meet up with our families. If a disaster strikes while I'm at work, my family will have to evacuate separately. If our cell phones don't work, we won't know where each other is, so I want to know the evacuation shelters so we can still meet up, and discuss where to meet up."
Another woman said that she remembered an episode from her visit to Isuzu Shrine in the Tokura district of Minamisanriku Town in the morning. She also decided to "check evacuation routes and evacuation shelters" as her first disaster prevention action.
"Even if I am affected by a disaster while at work and I am worried about my family, I cannot leave work. Even in such cases, if I discuss and confirm things properly in advance, I think it will be reassuring and will help to ease my anxiety. Also, I have pets at home, so I would like to know where I can evacuate to with them."
During the work session to decide on one disaster prevention action, the facilitator said, "It doesn't matter how small it is. The key is whether you can actually carry it out."
I hope that the participants will not just finish their training, but take actual action when they return to the areas where they currently live. No matter how small it may be, taking action and making an effort over and over again will lead to protecting their lives and the things that are important to them.
The Minamisanriku 311 Memorial is offering this workshop with this wish in mind.
I hope that you will be able to utilize what you learned in this training to improve your own disaster preparedness in your future work and life. Thank you to everyone at Mitsubishi Jisho Community Co., Ltd. for attending.