4:00 PM - 4:15 PM
[MIS11-03] Environment and Disaster Prevention Learning Program in Muroto UNESCO Global Geopark, Japan
Keywords:Disaster prevention, Geopark education, Education tour
While the people of Muroto benefit from the terrain formed by crustal deformation of subduction zone, they have frequently encountered Nankai Trough Earthquakes. We, Muroto UNESCO Global Geopark (MUGP, hereafter), conduct sustainable town development under the theme of "living in a mobile zone", by learning from past people who have coexisted with nature. As part of this effort, we have been conducting an educational tour program, the "Environment and Disaster Prevention Learning Program," since October 2020.
Until February 2022, a total of 1,038 children and students from 18 schools in Kochi, Hiroshima, Hyogo, and Osaka Prefectures (7 elementary schools, 8 junior high schools, and 2 high schools) had attended this educational program. In this program, they visit Muroto City by bus and visit three places, Cape of Muroto, Tunami Evacuation Shelter and Geopark center. We guide them by class (about 30 peoples), and each class goes around the course in half a day.
At Cape Muroto, they observe the outcrops of turbidite, the topography of marine terraces and emergent coast in order to understand the relationship between the earthquakes and crustal deformation. At the tsunami evacuation shelter, they learn to prepare for tsunami in Muroto City. At the Geopark Center, they take lecture from earth scientists of MUGP. Earth Scientists explain the relationship between disasters and the natural blessings, using earthquakes and land formation, river floods and plains as examples. After students return to school, they look at topographic and hazard maps to find out about local geology and geography, future disasters, and nearby evacuation sites and routes, using prints for reviewing to the lecture in MUGP.
The purpose of this educational program is to make children and students understand need for the coexistence of humans and nature. We believe that disaster prevention education is one of the social missions of Geoparks. From now, such educational programs will be more required.
Until February 2022, a total of 1,038 children and students from 18 schools in Kochi, Hiroshima, Hyogo, and Osaka Prefectures (7 elementary schools, 8 junior high schools, and 2 high schools) had attended this educational program. In this program, they visit Muroto City by bus and visit three places, Cape of Muroto, Tunami Evacuation Shelter and Geopark center. We guide them by class (about 30 peoples), and each class goes around the course in half a day.
At Cape Muroto, they observe the outcrops of turbidite, the topography of marine terraces and emergent coast in order to understand the relationship between the earthquakes and crustal deformation. At the tsunami evacuation shelter, they learn to prepare for tsunami in Muroto City. At the Geopark Center, they take lecture from earth scientists of MUGP. Earth Scientists explain the relationship between disasters and the natural blessings, using earthquakes and land formation, river floods and plains as examples. After students return to school, they look at topographic and hazard maps to find out about local geology and geography, future disasters, and nearby evacuation sites and routes, using prints for reviewing to the lecture in MUGP.
The purpose of this educational program is to make children and students understand need for the coexistence of humans and nature. We believe that disaster prevention education is one of the social missions of Geoparks. From now, such educational programs will be more required.