Whereas most schools in Japan are designated as "evacuation centers" in times of disaster, in reality, most are safe havens in name only and are poorly equipped and not designed for this function.
Whereas most schools in Japan are designated as "evacuation centers" in times of disaster, in reality, most are safe havens in name only and are poorly equipped and not designed for this function.
In light of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology plans to upgrade these evacuation centers to save and sustain lives in the next big emergency.
The ministry is considering stockpiling food in the schools and installing toilets and communication equipment that can be used in emergencies. In coastal areas, the ministry plans to move schools to higher locations, make the buildings taller and construct evacuation roads for escape in the event of a tsunami.
After the March 11 disaster, the ministry set up a task force of experts on disaster prevention and architecture to consider how to prepare and utilize schools in emergency situations.
According to the task force's report, schools are required to accommodate evacuees in the time of disasters, secure their safety and be able to house them for several weeks.
For that purpose, the schools should stockpile food, drinking water, fuel, blankets, stoves and other necessities, and have warehouses for these goods. The warehouses can be also used to keep assistance supplies for emergencies, it recommended.
To prepare for disasters in which the water supply is disrupted, the report proposes that pipes should be laid and pumps maintained so that swimming pool water can be utilized to flush toilets.
Water tanks should be also set up in school compounds to deal with sewage, it added.
Telephones lines that have priority over other lines should be laid to maintain contact with disaster headquarters in the time of emergencies. In addition, private electric generators should be installed, it said.
As for measures against tsunami, the report proposes that schools should be built on high ground so that the high waters cannot reach them. When they are built in low sites, construction of evacuation routes, including stairs to higher ground, is vital, it said.
The report also says that school buildings must be made higher so that students can flee to higher floors.
"Higher school buildings can also accommodate libraries or community halls," says an education ministry official.
Another recommendation is that schools be constructed along with local government offices and welfare facilities in the same compounds so that they can serve as a core facility in their local communities.
The education ministry plans to ask local governments in affected areas to use the proposals as reference material in their recovery efforts. It also hopes that other local governments take the proposals into consideration in their town planning.
The central government will offer budgetary support to local governments that adopt those proposals.
In cooperation with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the education ministry plans to earmark necessary funding in this fiscal year's supplementary budget or the next fiscal year's budget.
The proposals are based on lessons learned from the March 11 disaster.
At present, about 90 percent of public schools throughout the country are designated by the municipal governments as facilities that can be used as evacuation centers.
In the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, 622 schools were used as evacuation centers during peak times of need. At present, about 100 schools are still serving as evacuation centers.
Among the difficulties encountered in the evacuation centers, food, drinking water and stoves were in short supply as stocks were insufficient and a larger number of evacuees than expected showed up.
For example, about 1,000 people evacuated to a junior high school in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. However, the school had only two oil stoves for warmth. Because of that, on the night of March 11, evacuees took down all the curtains in the classrooms. Then, the evacuees were divided into groups of two or three, and each was given one curtain to keep themselves warm.
The water supply was also suspended in many schools. Because of that, toilets became unusable, causing hygiene problems.
At Shizugawa Junior High School in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, it took a month and a half to resume the water supply. In the days following the March 11 disaster, evacuees dug holes on school grounds and used them as toilets.
"The biggest problem for us was water. We have to make sufficient preparations (for possible future disasters)," said school Principal Sadayoshi Sugawara.
Communications and electricity supplies were also suspended for long periods in many schools.
Meanwhile, there were cases in which advance preparation saved lives.
For example, Okirai Elementary School in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, constructed late last year an emergency passage linking the second floor of the school building with a road on the top of a cliff.
At the time of the March 11 disaster, students evacuated through that passage and escaped the oncoming tsunami.
(This article was written by Yuichi Inoue and Hideyuki Miura.)