Earthquake Drill for Effective Emergency Response and Quick Collection of Damage Information by Collaboration between Local Government and Residents

An earthquake drill for collecting quickly earthquake damage information and conducting effective emergency response was developed and carried out by collaboration between a local government and residents. The methodology for the drill consists of two stages; at the first stage, workshops by local communities' associations and government officers are held to make disaster prevention maps, which indicate strong and weak points of the local area, such as the locations of fire distinguishers, fire hydrants, storages of rescue equipments, weak walls and buildings, open spaces, and so on. During the workshop, the participants also discuss about what happens during a large earthquake, and how to cope with the disaster. At second stage, an emergency drill is carried out by collaboration between the local government and the community residents, as follows. First, the panels are suspended at electric poles just before the drill, which show the information about earthquake damage, such as a fire breaking, a collapsed building, and a blocked road, starts. Second, when the drill starts under the assumption of the occurrence of a large earthquake, the local residents check the area to collect the damage information, and to conduct emergency response. For example, when a resident finds a panel of fire breaking, he/she is expected to gather people, fire distinguishers, and buckets with water as many as possible within 10 minutes. Third, the residents get together at the local evacuation center, and make a map indicating the locations of the damage and their information. Local government officials at the evacuation center collect those damage maps, and immediately sent them to the emergency operation center of the government. Fourth, the operation center gathers and analyzes all the data, and informs the residents about important information, such as the evacuation order from the local center to other safe areas due to a possible massive fire. The proposed methodology was applied to the earthquake drill in Toyohashi City in 2006, and confirmed its validity and effectiveness.