Preparing for large-scale earthquake disasters at universities

Abstract

The Tokai region of Japan has experienced many disasters in the past and is also at risk of a Nankai Trough megathrust earthquake in the near future. As Japan's third largest metropolitan area with most important industrial agglomeration, a large-scale disaster in this region would have an enormous impact on domestic and international society. In addition to protecting human lives and averting risk, core universities in the region must continue to provide higher education and advanced research while securing research environments and achievements, and contributing to regional society. However, universities face risk factors during disasters because they are large-scale organizations with many students and faculty members, and also because they are densely populated, contain laboratory equipment and dangerous articles,and are active day and night. Furthermore, it is difficult to establish unified disaster measures in universities because departments are highly independent and tend to prioritize research and education result, and students and faculty members change every year. Considering such situation, this paper describes natural disaster response of universities based on a case study of Nagoya University by examining its disaster management from three perspectives: (1) systems, organizations, and regulations, (2) training, education, and awareness, and (3) buildings, equipment, and materials. As a result, it is indicated that safety and risk management play an important role in the large-scale organizations, and thus universities must construct logical frameworks for disaster response that correspond to their organizations, facilities, and risk situations. Agreement and awareness for disaster response strategy of the organization should be improved by repetition of disaster drills and preparation for disaster mitigation. Language: ja