Research on awareness of the population about disaster preparation in an area affected by disasters

On 1 January 2024, the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred in Japan, and also information released by the JMA in August 2023 indicated that the risk of a Nankai trough earthquake occurring within the next 30 years is 70-80 %. Awareness of this threat of disaster has led to plans being made at the citizen level, and in Akashi City, a plan has been formulated to enhance local disaster prevention schemes by educating and preparing the residents. This study shows the results of a questionnaire survey designed to measure public awareness of the need for strategies to mitigate and recover from the effects of a disaster. The study is significant in that it was conducted in an affected area approximately 19 years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and approximately three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and targets an area where the threat of a Nankai trough earthquake is imminent. The aim is to identify differences in disaster preparation between communities 19 years after a disaster, as well as attitudes towards vulnerable people with high mortality rates compared to healthy people, and also how local people react to being introduced with the feedback of the results. These results indicate that 19 years after the disaster, awareness of those who have experienced a disaster is higher than the national average immediately after the disaster, while awareness of those who have not experienced a disaster declines over time. In addition, the results show that the presidents of citizens’ associations and members of associations for promotion of regional development feel the results of the disaster prevention consciousness questionnaire survey to be meaningful and believe that it has potential for use as a resource for formulating future disaster prevention measures.