Study on Conducting Tabletop Exercise to Respond a Major Tsunami Disaster for Local Governments

Abstract

After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the tsunami evacuation drill for residents and the disaster mitigation training are continuously conducted by the local government or the prefecture, because it is important for tsunami disaster mitigation to train about the tsunami disaster that is low frequency disaster. However, there are few opportunities for the local government in charge of disaster prevention to conduct the practical disaster exercise, because they do not have much knowledge and budget, information and experience of tsunami disaster. Therefore, we study on the conducting method of the tabletop exercise to respond a major tsunami disaster for the local governments in charge of disaster prevention. First, we ran a workshop to verify the disaster response issues in four municipalities. Second, we summarized the essential points of scenario creation about tsunami disaster and how to conduct four tabletop exercises. Third, we conducted four times tabletop exercises for disaster prevention staff in municipalities, following the scenario and the implementation method. In addition, the local government staff in charge of disaster prevention in Kamogawa City applied the scenario and the implementation method to their disaster mitigation training. Finally, we examined the scenario creation and the implementation method, and confirmed new issues of disaster response through the tabletop exercise.