Linking Experience, Education, Perception, and Earthquake Preparedness

To understand the impact of earthquake experience and education on awareness, a survey was conducted with 1,065 high school first grade students from five prefectures of Japan. Results showed that earthquake experience is not the prime factor to enhance awareness. Education, when it is confined to school education, can provide useful information as the knowledge base for earthquake. However, in the gradual path of knowing, realizing, deepening, decision and action, family, community, and self education are found to be more prominent. While self education is important for realizing and deepening, family and community education play the most vital role for decision and actions. In school education, more active ways of disaster education through conversation, experiencing, and visual aids are found to be more effective. It is believed that school education, coupled with self, family, and community education, can help a student to develop a "culture of disaster preparedness," which, in turn, will urge them to make the right decisions and actions as an adult.