1- 1Chiba Univerisity, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage, Chiba, Chiba, Japan (sakaue@chiba-u.jp)
- 2Hiroshima University, 1-1-1 Kagamiyama, Hihashihiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan (yyui@hiroshima-u.ac.jp)
Background:
How should we address the natural hazards? This question has been a longstanding issue in Japanese society. After the Great East Earthquake in 2011, Education for Disaster Prevention (EDP) has been especially positioned in various school subjects and has become one of the important learning themes for Social Studies including geography, history and civics areas, aiming to build a sustainable society and its citizens. At the same time, a lot of symposiums or teacher education programmes regarding natural hazards and EDP have been held in geographical societies in Japan.
Purpose:
This research examines the characteristics of EDP in primary and secondary Social Studies in Japan, and the outreach for supporting EDP in school education by geography societies.
Methods:
This research analyses the contents of the Course of Study for primary and secondary Social Studies revised in 2017/2018, and outreach by geography societies.
Results & Discussion:
‘Self-help,’ ‘mutual assistance’ and ‘public support’ are the important ideas for disaster prevention in Japan, these ideas are positioned in the primary and secondary Social Studies curriculum. For example, students read a (hazard)map in their local area and make a decision on how they should evacuate in the hazardous events, to develop the idea‘self-help.’ Lessons such as this are well-seen in the primary and secondary geography classes. On the other hand, lessons introducing the idea ‘public support’ are often positioned in civics. Lessons of this type tend to help students understand the various levels of government’s roles in natural hazards and develop their competency to propose disaster prevention measures for local society as citizens.
In Japanese geography societies, research on natural hazards and EDP has been conducted for a long time. Its outcomes have been opened to the public, such as workshops for teachers and public symposiums, etc. In addition, fieldwork programmes in disaster areas are conducted by some geography societies.
How to cite: Sakaue, H. and Yui, Y.: Characteristics of Education for Disaster Prevention in Social Studies in Japan, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11911, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11911, 2026.
