convener:Hitoshi Nakai(Kobuchisawa Research Institute for Nature and Education), Jiro Komori(Teikyo Heisei University), Shintaro Hayashi(Akita University Graduate School of Education)

Each time a serious disaster occurs, there are calls for better disaster prevention education in and around the stricken area, and such education is actually implemented. However, it is not extended to other parts of the nation. Although disaster prevention education really is needed across Japan, it tends to be implemented only in the directly affected locality of a catastrophic disaster. Moreover, even in affected areas, when 10 to 20 years have elapsed from a major event, with a decline in the number of survivors, there is less motivation to pass experiences and learning on to the next generation, despite the potential for such disasters to recur, tens or hundreds of years into the future. It is not easy to maintain conversations about disaster experiences through several generations. Consequently, effective disaster prevention education is provided only in the region stricken by a particular event, and it is practiced only for up to 20 years following the last disaster. As a result, provision of disaster prevention education has become less effective in many areas of Japan. This session focuses on the following two questions: (1) What kind of disaster prevention education can be practiced continuously nationwide? (2) How can such disaster prevention education be implemented in schools and educational sessions? We encourage anyone who wishes to help develop new disaster prevention education based on awareness of these issues to make a presentation in this session. Participation is not restricted to geoscientists; any person or group engaged in any domain of disaster prevention is welcome to submit a paper.