Involving the Community to Manage Natural Disasters: A Study of Japanese Disaster Risk Reduction Practices

Abstract

AbstractEffective implementation of disaster risk reduction requires the initiative and participation of local residents. This chapter describes how to build and implement a local disaster prevention system that enables residents to proactively participate in disaster prevention, based on a Japanese case study. Specifically, the section discusses the development of disaster prevention information for local residents, institutions, human resource development, and networking to mitigate damage caused by natural disasters. The need for effective dissemination and communication of information is also examined. Disaster prevention information for local residents includes disaster prevention weather information, evacuation information, and hazard maps using Web-GIS. Efforts taken to develop human resources and networks at community levels are also presented in this chapter. Although this chapter focuses on Japan, the basic ideas or strategies could be applicable to other countries as well.KeywordsLocal communityNetworkingHuman developmentCollaborationInformation utilization