Great East Japan Earthquake: Ando District, Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture Developing a Disaster Management Plan by Accumulating Lessons of Disaster in a Bottom-Up Manner, and Repeatedly Verifying the Plan by Conducting Drills

• In order to improve the disaster management ability of the district, residents were interviewed in detail on the damages caused by the earthquake and tsunami at the time of Great East Japan Earthquake, as well as on their evacuation behaviors. By reflecting lessons learned from the earthquake, a disaster management plan for the district was developed.

 • Furthermore, based on the district disaster management plan, a comprehensive disaster management drill is voluntarily conducted. By repeatedly conducting drills and verifying the plan, efforts are made to refine the plan and to prevent people from forgetting the lessons learned. Iwate Prefecture and Otsuchi Town are also cooperating for the drill. In particular, Iwate Prefecture supports the Ando District in verifying the district disaster management plan, by mobilizing helicopters for drills.