Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2018

Presentation information

[JJ] Oral

G (General (Education and Outreach)) » General (Education and Outreach)

[G-04] Geoscience Outreach

Sun. May 20, 2018 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM 104 (1F International Conference Hall, Makuhari Messe)

convener:Takeyuki Ueki(Faculty of Risk and Crisis Management, Chiba Institute of Science), Jiro Komori(Teikyo Heisei University), Naoko HASEGAWA(お茶の水女子大学, 共同), Satoko Oki(Faculty of Environment and information Studies), Chairperson:Oki Satoko, Hagiya Hiroshi

11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

[G04-08] The effects of "BOSAI Narratives" written by students of Shimizu Middle School in Kochi Prefecture

*Satoko Oki1, Tosei Nagamatsu2, Risako Tokoro3, Maho Yamamoto3 (1.Faculty of Environment and information Studies, Keio University, 2.Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, 3.Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University)

Keywords:BOSAI, disaster risk reduction, earthquake, education, narrative

We examined the effects of the “BOSAI Narratives” (written by students of Shimizu Middle School in Kochi prefecture) theoretically. The authors have conducted research on the disaster prevention education program of Shimizu Middle School for two academic years of 2016 and 2017. In 2012, the Japanese government announced that in the Nankai Trough Earthquake, the tsunami height estimation of the town in which the school is located can be as high as 34 meters. In reaction to this, some people began to give up in trying to survive the earthquake. However, the “BOSAI Narratives” seem to be changing this situation.

Each BOSAI Narrative is a short story written by individual students imagining their own situation in the event of the Nankai Trough Earthquake. They could write about anything that they imagine to be happening after the disaster, under the condition that they must end in hope. The stories not only brought upon changes to the students themselves, but also had an impact on teachers, parents, and the community.

This research reveals two major effects of the “BOSAI Narratives”. Firstly, they positively influenced students to achieve self-realization. Secondly, they led the students and their surrounding community to reach the ideal state of BOSAI.

A “BOSAI Narrative,” being a story narrated by an individual, is an implementation of the narrative approach to the field of BOSAI. By conducting analysis of Tosashimizu city’s situation through the narrative perspective, it can be said that the scenario of the Nankai Trough Earthquake announced by the government in 2012 is relevant to a dominant story. This causes difficulty in the production of all other narratives, and brings upon austerity. Considering that the “BOSAI Narrative” illustrates each individual’s actions in specific situations under the condition that they must end in hope, the narrative itself acts as an alternative story. This alternative story is what can serve as a solution to the effects of a dominant story.

Furthermore, when writing a “BOSAI Narrative,” the student illustrates their future living up to the earthquake. This implicates that the student is restricting their own actions and ways of spending time. The positive influences made upon their daily lives could be a result of such implication.

Yamori and Sugiyama (2015) introduce the Days-Before narrative (a story of what has already happened, but written as if nothing has happened yet) and the Days-After narrative (a story of what is yet to happen, written as if it has already happened). The “BOSAI Narrative” is categorized under the Days-After narrative.

Yamori and Sugiyama (2015) also describe the Days-Before narrative as something that brings readers to the realization of the importance of their lives at the moment (further described as consummatory). The “BOSAI Narrative” allows students to experience anything within their story—perhaps even their own death. This places them in the situation of a Days-Before narrative. Thus, the “BOSAI Narrative” is both a Days-After and Days-Before narrative.

Yamori and Sugiyama (2015) predict that a balance between the Days-Before narrative and Days-After narrative could effectively lead people to the instrumental (target oriented). This paper strongly suggests that the “BOSAI Narrative” is exactly what took this prediction into practice, and explains this by implementing findings of narrative research.