It is important to understand why one school succeeded in evacuating children during the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET), where another
school failed. The reasons could lie beyond pure school policy, in other areas
such as school buildings or shelters constructed to withstand earthquakes but
not tsunamis, parents picking their children up from school in spite of
teacher’s warnings, and people getting stuck in traffic.
The ministry of education of Japan has conducted a survey to determine how
students died and what types of evacuation plans were used [1].
It was found that 50.3% of the schools in the three most affected prefectures
had evacuation plans, and most students died after being sent home. Some policy
changes to school disaster plans afterwards include not sending students home
with parents, or discussing with parents beforehand whether or not to take
students home.
The survey also showed differences in student responses during the
disaster. The results are that “among primary schools that had
conducted evacuation drills, 11.4 percent said students panicked due to fear
and anxiety (…) Among primary schools that had not conducted such drills, 28.6
percent said students panicked.” This means that performing drills at primary
schools can lead to a decrease of panic of 60%, thus showing the important of
drills even for young children.
Obviously, having an evacuation plan and practicing the plan regularly
will prepare students for disasters. However, drills, evacuation plans, hazard
maps and shelters are not enough to guarantee lived are saved. Looking at the
example of the Kamaishi East School [2],
the disaster plan was that teachers gather students to count them and
afterwards evacuate together. The microphones at the school to instruct the
students had become unusable due to power failure, but the students started to gather
and evacuate by themselves. A neighboring elementary school had followed their own
disaster plan and had evacuated all the students to the third floor of their
building. After seeing the students from Kamaishi East School flee, they
decided to follow them. Both of these school buildings were completely
destroyed in the tsunami. Upon reaching a first and second evacuation site
uphill, students fled higher both times, as the sites were judged to not be
safe enough. The water reportedly stopped a few meter away from the second
evacuation site.
This ability to apply flexible thinking and to judge the situation at
hand is what saved their lives. While it is certainly beneficent to have
disaster drills and plans, or to decide whether to send children home or not
beforehand, it is not enough. Every disaster is different and the best way to
be prepared for this is to be trained to think adaptively. An effective
education policy treats children not as merely as a potentially vulnerable
group of people that require protection and should be moved to safety, but
instructs them and teaches them strategies to be more capable, self-reliant and
protect themselves. The example of Kamaishi shows that children are perfectly
capable of saving themselves if they are taught the necessary skills. This way,
even if the situation is unexpected or the disaster plan, shelters or
evacuation sites prove inadequate, children will have the sense of mind to make
a good decision to act on behalf of their own protection.
Aside
from lessons increasing self-reliance, other areas also require attention. It
has become evident that a backup system of schools, teachers and administration
can greatly assist response and recovery after a disaster. Backup lists
available elsewhere with all the students and staff names, ages, home addresses
and pictures could greatly assist in locating missing people and identifying
victims. Emergency schools or substitute teachers could assist in recreating a
sense of belonging and continuation of education after a disaster. If it is
already known beforehand how to arrange these backup systems, a more speedy
response and recovery is possible.
