[S23-2] Geoscience and society II

[S23-2-05] Consideration of the challenges of residents with special needs in tsunami prone area in Japan through implementing indoor tsunami evacuation drills

^○Takashi Sugiyama, Katsuya Yamori (Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan)

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the needs of Tsunami evacuation drills have been increasing, and various ways of tsunami evacuation drills were developed. Moreover, almost all of the drills developed were implemented outdoor, which train people to move to evacuation sites safety. Survivors needed about 17 to 19 minutes for indoor preparation before evacuation when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. However, there were limited numbers of tsunami evacuation drills carried out indoor. The indoor tsunami evacuation is defined as the drills implemented for people to evacuate safely inside their home, such as moving from a bedroom to an entrance where is safer and easier to escape when needed. Therefore, this research examines the indoor tsunami evacuation drills to verify effects of the drills in Kuroshio town, Kochi prefecture, Japan. Participants were selected in the area. This research focused on elderly residents who were reported to have fewer opportunities to participate in general evacuation drills carried out in the area. As a result, the participants were able to arrive at the entrance within two minutes. However, it was characteristic that the speed of moving from one place to another varied by participants and it was observed that some participants needed more time to get up from a chair or bed before moving. This study proved the limit of top-down approach in disaster risk communication due to various needs of participants in disaster situation. Gathering information such as participants' residential environment or individual needs in disaster beforehand enables more effective disaster communication during the evacuation drills. Especially, this bottom-up approach used in this research was observed to be meaningful to motivate elderly residents to prepare for disaster, as the approach is interactive and more inclusive. After the evacuation drills, the participants were observed to have better ownership in disaster risk reduction.