3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
[S23-P-04] The Educational Potential of an Earthquake Museum in Taiwan - from the Viewpoint of Disaster Preparedness Education -
September 21th, 1999, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit central Taiwan. More than 2400 people died and tens of thousands of houses had collapsed in the quake. It was called the Chi-Chi earthquake which was the largest earthquake and caused the most severe damage over the past ten years in Taiwan. Subsequently, in memory of the earthquake and for certain purposes, the Earthquake Museum of Taiwan was built. Located on the premises of the former Guangfu Junior High School in Taichung, which was seriously devastated by the earthquake. The museum is composed of 5 main exhibition areas, and many of the ruins and damages caused by the earthquake are preserved unchanged there. On the other hand, as new earthquakes occur one after another around the world, the dilemma of preserving or dismantling the ruins of an earthquake that might trigger sad memories has become an issue. Though the ruins seem to be a good material for people to learn about the disaster and that is one of the biggest reason they are preserved, how does it affect people's thinking in actual? This paper is going to take the Earthquake Museum of Taiwan as an example, to explore the educational possibility of the earthquake museum from the viewpoint of disaster preparedness education. It will include the chronicle of the museum from the time it was under planning, through the decision-making process till current operating situation. The customers' perspectives will be analyzed then. The customers here are random visitors who visit the museum within a certain period of time. The level of their satisfaction towards the exhibition will be investigated and a few questions will be designed to understand their backgrounds by a survey. As a result, from visitors' perceptions of the museum, which object or content has either potentially or visibly positive effects on disaster preparedness education will be clarified.