Progress of University Education in Disaster Prevention Using ICT for Achieving Regional Cooperation

We have to prepare for greater natural disasters due to global warming and the vulnerability of urbanized areas. In recent years, new ideas for disaster prevention have emerged wherein conventional evacuation shelters started by municipalities and other public facilities can accept victims of such disasters. Universities are also expected to make regional contributions to emergencies. This research reviews the activities of the Hamamatsu campus of Shizuoka University as case study, and confirms students’ recognition of disaster prevention measures using a questionnaire and interview survey. The risks and hazards of great earthquakes were assessed around Shizuoka by the Cabinet Office. In addition, Hamamatsu City experienced seven days of blackout in October 2018 caused by Typhoon No.24. Although the campus prevented disorder during this time, university rose to the occasion to provide regional cooperation with their robust buildings and spaces, electric power sources, and social resources, like student volunteers. Universities is expected to have constructive plannings against such situations. Regarding the students’ disaster preparedness, they tried to search for correct information on the Internet, and this could be a useful method in today’s times. However, they tend to avoid offering information by Information and Communication Tools (ICT) during the situation of a disaster. There is also an insufficient physical and real preparedness against disasters, such as, a lack of stockpile of water and food supplies at home, and lack of collaboration among local communities. In addition, spatial analysis using Geographical Information System (GIS) revealed that most students were unaware of their nearest evacuation shelter. Students are familiar with the university and tend to evacuate to the campus during, even if it is far from their residence, especially those who live alone and are away from their families. Shizuoka University has a variety of disaster prevention activities including evacuation exercises, annual short web seminars, small guidebooks for disaster prevention, evacuation maps, seminars for freshmen, and optional curricula with titles. Although these education programs could be evaluated positively, introducing affirmative activities are required. Our main suggestion is that the seminar should cover additional personal activities so that students act appropriately during disasters by checking and discussing adequate information about their personal situations, for example, nearest evacuation shelters, and routes to the shelter using WebGIS. We suggest that universities upgrade their present curriculum, and develop alternative teaching materials for disaster prevention using ICT and e-learning. As for regional cooperation, students are willing to help each other as volunteers, so it is desirable that universities and local communities use this opportunity to officially try to collaborate with each other. Universities and students could impart knowledge and further discuss about recent disaster prevention programs using progressive ICT methods, and in turn, local communities could accept students as contributing members. Nowadays, local communities adopt SNS for usual communication, and it has become easier for students to participate in local activities as compared to past decades. While it is admirable to see the self-motivated actions of students, the official constant assistance is required in this era in Japan.