Abstract
A “disaster-preparedness map” is a map that is marked with shelters, escape routes, danger spots, and the like. Disaster-preparedness maps and hazard maps have started to be drafted by the national and municipal governments toward increasing the disaster preparedness of residents.
However, past research has shown that these maps, which include instructions on what to do in the case of a disaster, do not necessarily improve the disaster awareness of residents, nor do they facilitate proper behavior during disasters (e. g., evacuation to designated zones). It has been found that the maps do not mitigate disaster damages.
In the present study, residents of Sendai who had made a disaster-preparedness map of that city were surveyed by questionnaire about whether the map facilitated proper behavior during disasters.
The responses indicate that the map was helpful in facilitating behaviors addressed in the instructions included on the map, and thus in mitigating damages. But they also indicate that the map facilitated only those behaviors, and not behaviors that were not addressed in the instruction included on the map.
To make a disaster-preparedness map more useful, it is necessary for residents to be involved in making it and not just in seeing it.
