Open AccessDisaster Prevention Activities of Japanese Fire Companies
Author(s) -
Atsushi Sakuma,
Ichiro Matsuo,
Shin Ito,
Shigeyoshi Tanaka,
Tsugio Nakaseko
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of disaster research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.332
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1883-8030
pISSN - 1881-2473
DOI - 10.20965/jdr.2015.p0929
Subject(s) - natural disaster , emergency management , business , environmental planning , scale (ratio) , order (exchange) , firefighting , environmental resource management , geography , political science , finance , environmental science , meteorology , cartography , law
Many lives were saved due to local disaster prevention activities such as evacuation guidance during the Great East Japan Earthquake. On the other hand, those involved in local disaster prevention activities were negatively affected in many cases. Therefore, local disaster prevention activities and safety-ensuring measures during large-scale disasters are being reviewed. This paper focuses on fire companies that are expected to develop and implement the core of local disaster prevention activities. In order to study the effectiveness of safety measures in areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters, disaster prevention activities focusing on water and wind disasters in particular were studied in Kiho Town in Mie Prefecture following the Great East Japan Earthquake. As a result, information communication measures, equipment, and manuals proved to be effective in areas that are at risk of disasters other than earthquakes. In addition, the importance of sharing manuals in organizations was also shown, because disaster measures in fire companies tend to be performed based on individual experience. Furthermore, the importance of cooperation with other organizations in the region was also demonstrated.