In the wake of “The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake”, many reviews of regional disaster prevention planning and education programs have been carried out in various regions across Japan. It is desirable that an educational program for disaster prevention should be carried out seamlessly as a routine component of the school education system. Essential to its implementation will be the cooperation not only experts in disaster prevention, but also of teachers, parents, and other members of the local community. It is crucial to educate children not only about direct disaster coping measures, but also to give them accurate knowledge of natural phenomena as a basis for competent decision-making. For children to understand the mechanisms of nature will not only assist them in times of catastrophe, but will also lead to the cultivation of future researchers.

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) reminded us of the harsh realities of the natural environment in the Japanese archipelago. Following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) re-examined school disaster safety, produced supplementary materials on natural disasters and disaster prevention education, and conducted teacher training courses.

Between the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the 2011 GEJET, there were seven earthquakes named by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Furthermore, a large number of weather-related disasters named by JMA have occurred. Moreover, in 2014, the Cabinet Office Central Disaster Prevention Council set up a working group on landslide damage following the landslides that occurred in Hiroshima Prefecture that year. The working group reported its findings the following year, pointing out the importance of disaster prevention training in schools as well as in traditional areas.

Because of differences among the departments responsible for education for disaster prevention, from the Ministry of Education to the boards of education in Japan’s administrative districts, each of these activities is independently treated. These problems are specifically considered in an investigation of the school curricula.

The significance of what can be learned from the duality of the natural world, which provides the blessings of the natural environment as well as terrible natural disasters, is something that education should engage with and something that Japan can communicate to the international community. If disaster prevention education is ignored, a sustainable society cannot be built. The ESD perspective is that integrated efforts in numerous connected fields are required to achieve the construction of a sustainable society.

Five lectures on disaster prevention were given to the general public during 2014 and 2015. Lectures focused mainly on risk and crisis management as well as geomorphic history and stratigraphy in Quaternary science to facilitate literacy of disaster prevention of the general public. Questionnaire surveys revealed that participants highly evaluated the lectures and their disaster prevention literacy was increased.

Quaternary research can provide much useful information to prevent natural disasters by evaluating site hazards because it treats the phenomena of earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and mass movement. It can also evaluate the magnitude of such phenomana, and can propose concrete assumptions for disaster prevention. Based on the above, we can expect various contributions for the education of disaster prevention from Quaternary research. In the promotion of the Geopark, it helps to understand the relationship between natural disasters and human activities. In school education, information on Quaternary research contributes to recognizing the risks in each area and helps to plan actions for evacuation against an unexpected situation. In education for citizens, if the local residents understand the characteristic of geomorphology, geology, and history in each area, it will improve the potential for local disaster mitigation.