Disaster Preparedness at Yokohama’s Learning Center

On July 20, we took the school bus to Yokohama’s Disaster Risk Reduction Learning Center as part of our evacuation training.

When the fire station came into view, the children happily pointed out a fire engine in Japanese and English.

With a guide, we experienced fire simulation and evacuation, a disaster-training room, an earthquake simulator and an animated introduction to earthquake and tsunami evacuation.

At the fire simulator, we learned about extinguishers and watched a teacher practice. We then tried evacuating through simulated smoke, covering our noses and mouths as the teachers did. Some looked nervous beforehand but smiled with relief once safely out.

In the training room, we practiced protecting ourselves during an earthquake. Even when an alert sounded and the lights went out, the children followed instructions calmly and sheltered under the tables without crying. The guide praised their response.

On the earthquake simulator, the children experienced Japanese seismic intensities from 1 to lower 5 and looked surprised as the shaking increased. Teachers then experienced the stronger shaking up to intensity 7 while the children watched seriously through the glass.

After short animated films about earthquakes and tsunami, the children chose firefighter outfits and played in a display fire engine. During a spare moment, we also enjoyed nature in the park outside the station.

Facilities like this make our monthly drills more tangible. We want to keep finding ways to value direct experience in our preparation.