Exploring innovations in disaster education in Kesennuma 1

Kesennuma City in Miyagi Prefecture was one of the coastal cities in the Northeast Tohoku Region which was heavily affected by the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (EJET) that took lives of over 1,200 people, affected 80.8% of the business and deprived 83.5% of the population from their jobs. However, the city was not entirely unprepared to disasters, as the city has already been conducting disaster education for more than 10 years before the disaster. Kesennuma is also one of the champion cities for promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which has common elements that are essential in implementing effective disaster education.

This knowledge note sheds light on the process of exploring innovations in disaster education through the activities of Education Researchers that consists of elementary and junior high school teachers, in developing new methods for disaster education that incorporate the lessons learned from EJET and linking the concepts of ESD. This is the mid-term review of the project, jointly implemented by Kesennuma Board of Education, Kyoto University and SEEDS Asia.