In this report, two evacuation drills were conducted for Vietnamese technical intern trainees in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, under the assumption of an earthquake. As a result, it is highly likely that the method based on this training will be effective for other foreign technical intern trainees to participate in evacuation drills. In addition, this method may be used more effectively in evacuation drills if 3 hours of advance education on“easy Japanese”is provided to evacuation guide staff, English and illustrations (pictograms) are used on “flipboards”, the size of the “flipboard” is A2, and the font size is 100 points or larger.

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The present study examines new issues in disaster recovery in the age of “inter-disastersaikan-”, when it is assumed that the community will be affected again in the future, based on the disaster response of Saka town, Hiroshima Prefecture, which was hit by the 2018 western Japan heavy rains, from the viewpoint of how residents' organizations should be organized. What we learned from the fieldwork was that traditional residents'organizations functioned beyond their existing functions in Saka, and that newly established NPO, stimulated by the activities of outside supporters, played an active role. In disaster recovery in inter-disaster period, through utilization of local resources, including traditional residents' organizations, and new collaboration between local residents and the local administration are considered important.

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In the field of disaster risk reduction research, there have not been many studies that have collected quantitative data and analyzed the issues related to commissioned welfare volunteers, who are positioned as one of the entities involved in disaster response according to the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law. Therefore, in this study, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, to clarify the actual situation regarding the response behavior and awareness of commissioned welfare volunteers in urban areas during disasters. The results showed that there was a bias in the attributes of the commissioned welfare volunteers, and that about 10 to 30% of them were not able to respond immediately to earthquakes and typhoons in 2018. In addition, many of them do not know the number of persons requiring special attention in their areas of responsibility, and about 70% of them answered “unknown” (or did not respond) regarding patients with intractable diseases. Furthermore, less than 20% of the respondents were positive that they would be able to provide support for people with special needs in the event of a huge Nankai Trough earthquake. Based on these results, this paper discusses how the functions of commissioned welfare volunteers should be enhanced in the future from the perspective of an inclusive society.

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On August 3-4, 2022, torrential rain caused by a linear stationary rainband mid to downstream of the Arakawa River caused 161 mm/h precipitation at Kamiseki in Sekikawa Village and 508 mm/6h precipitation at Sakamachi in Murakami City. In the area of Koiwauchi in Murakami City, debris flow caused by the collapse of solidified weathering granite upstream of the Osawa River, which runs through the alluvial fan, partly or completely destroyed houses. However, only one person was injured, likely because all households were evacuated to a public hall before the destruction. In the region of Yusawa Onsen in Sekikawa Village, debris flowed into the hot spring resort, and approximately 150 cm floodwaters caused significant damage, albeit not as much as the 193 cm waters during the Uetsu flood disaster in 1967. Surrounding the JR Sakamachi Station in Arakawa District of Murakami City, inland waters swollen from torrential rain and the muddy stream of the Osawa River were flooded, and the maximum immersion depth at 168 cm.

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Volcanic eruptions are currently occurring frequently in many parts of the world. There are 111 active volcanoes in Japan, and countermeasures against eruptions are urgently needed in Japan. In this study, we performed predictive calculations of ash distribution for Mt. Fuji, which once caused extensive damage due to the Hoei eruption (1707) during the Edo period. We use the WRF-FALL3D model to simulate an explosion on the scale of the Hoei eruption. Based on the results of the ash distribution forecasting calculations, the time and resources required for highway restoration were quantitatively examined. As a result, we found the seasonal characteristics of ash fall distribution at the eruption of Mt. Fuji. In particular, when an eruption occurs in autumn, the ashfall axis extends toward the northeast, and the expressway connecting Nagoya and Tokyo is found to be significantly affected.

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