[Special Feature: Toward a Campus of Mutual Support] Satoko Oki: A Resilient Campus Co-created with People Requiring Assistance During Disasters

2023/03/06

I lift my face from the computer screen I had been staring at while talking and look around the large lecture hall. It is the third period, and students are starting to doze off. Just as I stop the slides to start a quiz to change the mood, several students suddenly look up. Immediately after, my entire body is tossed about by an incomprehensible shaking. "Earthquake! It's an earthquake!" I shout as I manage to crawl under the lectern. I desperately endure the shaking while hearing the sound of students' pencil cases falling, short screams, and the sound of my own head banging against the lectern.

It was an intense shaking unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life. In reality, it probably lasted about 10 seconds, but it felt like many minutes. Could this be the Tokyo Metropolitan Near-Field Earthquake...?

"Is everyone okay?" I manage to speak to the students in a high-pitched voice. Everyone is looking straight at me with eyes that seem to be pleading for help. What instructions should I give next? Even though I should be thinking desperately, I am overwhelmed by anxieties: Is my family safe? Can I go home today? Where is the field?

"Again!" Along with someone's voice, another strong tremor hits. It's an aftershock. This time, I hear creaking sounds from the school building. Am I going to die as it collapses...? Images of foreign buildings that collapsed without a trace flash through my mind. ...Has it stopped? No, again! The aftershocks continue almost without interruption.

"I can't take it anymore! I hate this!" Starting with a scream-like shout, the students no longer hide their agitation. "Everyone, stay calm." Just as I start to speak to the students in a thin voice that lacks any conviction, I see an international student running past the window shouting loudly. "Let's go outside!" At someone's call, students instantly rush toward the narrow exit at the back. In the corner of my eye, I see a student trip on a step and others falling on top of them, and a groan that doesn't sound human rises. "No! Stay calm! Don't run!" My pleading voice, however, is drowned out by the continuous aftershocks and screams, reaching no one—.

This is, of course, a fictional story. However, in a classroom where students and faculty do not know what to do if a disaster occurs during class, this kind of scenario could happen.

In Japan, about 600 earthquakes occur every day, including those not felt by the body. If any one of these approaches Magnitude (hereafter M) 7, it immediately becomes an earthquake that causes human casualties, like the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake or the Kumamoto Earthquake. A "Tokyo Metropolitan Near-Field Earthquake" is the name given when such an earthquake occurs in the Kanto Plain or its surroundings. Magnitude, which represents the scale of an earthquake, correlates with the area of damage, and M7 is a focal region large enough to completely cover the Shinanomachi, Mita, Hiyoshi, and Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC).

Most human casualties from earthquakes not accompanied by tsunamis are due to being crushed to death by collapsing buildings or falling furniture. Therefore, if a disaster occurs during class as in the opening story, whether that building is earthquake-resistant is the first factor that determines life or death.

Many Japanese students have been educated through drills up to high school to get under a desk when an earthquake occurs and then gather on the field led by a teacher. During a university class, they would expect the faculty member to give some instructions. On the other hand, university faculty members might not feel that this is their mission.

There are also issues with traditional evacuation drills that focus on simply going out to the field, and risks are involved when many people try to go outside. If an aftershock occurs while descending stairs, someone might trip, which could lead to a crowd crush. Similar risks would exist in a dark lecture hall during a power outage. Additionally, float glass (non-tempered glass) could break and scatter, and in bad weather such as heavy rain or snow, or under the scorching summer sun, gathering outside itself could then cause health damage.

Many international students may have never experienced an earthquake itself. Alternatively, in many earthquake-prone countries other than Japan, "rushing outside immediately" is taught as the correct disaster prevention behavior. Such cultural differences could potentially expand the damage. Therefore, in this article, I would like to consider the theme of this issue, "A Campus Where No One Is Left Behind," from the perspective of disasters and disaster preparedness using international students as an example, and describe the importance of creating a better campus together not "for disaster prevention" but "through disaster prevention."

It has been pointed out that in the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the mortality rate for foreigners was higher than for Japanese (Cabinet Office, "Collection of Lessons from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake"). People in positions who fall into more difficult situations during a disaster are called "people requiring assistance during disasters." More precisely, the Cabinet Office defines them as follows (Cabinet Office, 2006): So-called "people requiring assistance during disasters" refers to people who require support to grasp necessary information quickly and accurately and to take a series of actions during a disaster, such as evacuating to a safe place to protect themselves. Generally, this includes the elderly, people with disabilities, foreigners, infants, and pregnant women. Because those requiring assistance have insufficient ability to adapt to new environments, they face difficulties in responding to changes in the living environment caused by disasters, evacuation actions, and life in evacuation centers. However, if they can receive necessary support appropriately when needed, it is possible for them to lead independent lives.

In fact, in the 2018 Northern Osaka Earthquake (M6.1), although there were no casualties at universities including international students, 130 international students and their families rushed to an elementary school that served as an evacuation center near the campus, and foreigners accounted for 90% of the evacuees (Takarada et al., 2020). Rather than gathering immediately after the disaster, they reportedly rushed out of their homes surprised by the aftershocks that continued until night and went straight to the evacuation center because they were afraid to return indoors. The evacuation center was busy preparing halal food and prayer rooms. Furthermore, after the decision was made to close the evacuation center, the university ended up opening its gymnasium to set up a nighttime consultation center.

With the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake as one of the catalysts, regional disaster prevention policies for a multicultural society have been developed in Japan, and multilingual support after disasters and disaster preparedness for foreigners have been promoted. You may have seen "Tsunami" and "Nigete" (Run away) displayed on television in "Easy Japanese" when tsunami information is announced. Information is broadcast in even more languages on the radio. In terms of disaster preparedness, an increasing number of local governments are providing hazard maps, disaster prevention awareness pamphlets, and disaster prevention apps written in English and other languages.

At Keio University, I believe some campuses are reviewing disaster drills that had been scaled back during the COVID-19 pandemic and are planning disaster prevention lectures for international students. At the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), where I belong, we send emails in English before international students enter the country about the importance of choosing earthquake-resistant apartments and the criteria for doing so. Additionally, as disaster prevention guidance after entry, we have created videos in Japanese and English on how to read hazard maps to prepare for wind and flood damage, how to prepare for earthquakes, and what to do if an earthquake occurs on campus, making them available for viewing at any time.

Support for foreigners during disasters often takes the form of multilingual information provision in this way. Certainly, in situations where events are occurring, such as heavy rain or the ground shaking, but information on "what exactly is happening right now" is unavailable, anxiety increases. On the other hand, if that information is obtained, will people really take disaster prevention actions and protect their lives? Humans are creatures that do not easily pay the precious time and economic costs they have now to prepare for uncertain, ominous future events that may or may not happen. In fact, it is far from the case that every Japanese person, for whom information is available in their native language, is taking disaster prevention measures.

This means that a "campus that does not leave international students behind during disasters" is a problem that cannot be realized through multilingual information provision alone.

Regarding this issue, Kikuchi (2023) presents a clue to the solution based on his own experience with multilingual information provision during the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent extensive research. That is, we must move beyond the perspective of "how to help foreigners during a disaster" and build a network of mutual assistance for "how to help each other with foreigners during a disaster." He points out that this is formed through the creation of places for activities and exchange where foreigners can participate as proactive actors (rather than as guests) during normal times.

To rephrase this in line with the challenges on campus, rather than holding disaster prevention courses for international students, it is more important to address disaster prevention within various international exchange activities between Japanese and international students and build relationships where both parties collaborate toward a better campus. To go a step further, universities in the future will be required to have an attitude of co-creating the nature of the campus together with its users, rather than the perspective of simply providing a comfortable campus for international students.

This elevates the position of foreigners, who have traditionally been hailed as "beings who live together in the local community," to "beings who create the local community together," while also serving as an opportunity to raise the disaster prevention capabilities of the participating Japanese people. A society co-created from diverse perspectives will ultimately become a disaster-resilient community for everyone, including Japanese people. I sincerely hope that each campus of Keio University can form such a community ahead of any other region in Japan.

・ Cabinet Office, Guidelines for Evacuation Support for People Requiring Assistance During Disasters, 2006

・ Reiko Takarada, Hikaru Okishio, Wenjie Wang, Shiori Yamamoto, Co-creation of Disaster Volunteers in the Northern Osaka Earthquake, Mirai Kyoso No. 7, 2020

・ Tetsuya Kikuchi, Research on Regional Disaster Prevention Policy in a Multicultural Society—From the Perspective of Policy and Media Studies, Doctoral Dissertation, Graduate School of Media and Governance, 2023