Descriptions:
(Continued from Part 1) The online course “Updating School Disaster Prevention Strategy” started in March 2021. Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki City and Kamaishi Higashi Junior High School in Iwate Prefecture. Teachers across the country will learn about “preventing school disasters that can save lives” using the example of two schools damaged by the earthquake. Wakuya Middle School is located in Wakuya City. Here is a teacher using what he learned in the course. “(Mr. Daichi Tsumori)It’s minus 10, so…” Mr. Daichi Tsumori (25) teaches mathematics. This is my third year as a teacher. I have been in charge of disaster prevention since 2021. At first, she said, “I was overcome with anxiety.” “(Professor Daiichi Tsumori) I am from Fukushima and came to Miyagi from a university, but since there are teachers who were actually affected by the disaster in Miyagi Prefecture 11 years ago, can I really be in charge of disaster prevention? I couldn’t figure out how I should act.” Mr. Tsumori learned that the “Updated Strategy for Disaster Prevention in Schools” had started and took the course in October 2021. Since then, I have been communicating with teachers across the country who have the same problems as me and continue to exchange information such as ideas for disaster prevention education. “(Mr. Tsumori at a seminar) We live between disasters, between disasters.” In early June, at Wakudani Middle School, at Mr. Tsumori’s initiative, high school students held a seminar for the first time to think about “What can we do?” The idea was to invite a former teacher who had real-life experience working in evacuation centers during the earthquake as a lecturer and create an opportunity for students, local residents, and teachers to learn the lessons of the earthquake together. “(Yukio Saito, former principal of Ishinomaki Nishi High School) I collected water (from the pool), placed a trash can in front of the toilet, filled it with water, and said, ‘Take 10 buckets to the third school.’ We couldn’t do things like clean the toilets without the young people at the evacuation center. High school students definitely have a role to play.” (Mr. Daichi Tsumori) I took the ‘Update on Disaster Prevention Strategy in Schools’ and learned what I could do. ‘Let’s start small.’ Recently, he has been able to actively talk about disaster prevention with the teachers around him. “(Mr. Daichi Tsumori) I changed the students’ inner shoes, and the teachers said, ‘Sandal-like shoes are dangerous,’ and then asked, ‘Why don’t you change them like this?’ As a result of what I did, I started thinking, ‘We should do something like this for teacher training,’ and we are actually implementing it.” (Senior Teacher) “(Senior Teacher) We were also inspired by how Mr. Tsumori works so hard. ‘I want to do our best together.’ (Student (First-Year)) Until now, I thought that having children in the evacuation center would be a nuisance, but we also had to bring water from the pool and bring food. I’m glad I learned that there are things I can do, like cooking.” “(Female Student (1st Year Female)) I don’t know when a disaster will happen, so I want to always be prepared.” “(Residents and Mr. Tsumori)Residents: After all, Tsumori. Because the teachers work hard, Mr. Tsumori: If we can study together…” Learn about “preventing school disasters to save lives” through the example of Okawa Elementary School and Kamaishi Higashi Middle School. It’s starting to move little by little.