A study on perspectives of designs and operations for US&R infrastructure

-Considerations from a survey on Disaster City® training facility-

Abstract

Establishing a national response system for Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) is now on the way in Japan. This paper reports the results of a survey on Disaster City®, a world-renowned comprehensive US&R training facility by TEEX (Texas Engineering Extension Service), and discuss what it suggests for Japan. First, problems in establishing national US&R response system in Japan are listed to draw viewpoints for the survey. Then, the survey is conducted and the results are shown. Discussions are made on perspectives of strategies for building training facility, designs to suit training needs, and ways of operating the facility to make the most of it. Finally, suggestions are made for the future.