The importance of disaster risk management at community level has been re-recognized after the Great East Japan Earthquake and many studies on disaster prevention workshop (WS) recently have been reported in a lot of communities. First, we as an expert held three WS discussions with residents at Yona district in Kunigami village, Okinawa, in 2013. Then we investigated and analyzed the dialogue and the behavior of residents at Yona after the discussions in order to clarify what effect the discussions have on the implementation for disaster prevention and mutual aid among residents. Discriminant analysis of the dialogue showed that the frequency of remarks by residents affected their action for disaster prevention. The results of dialogue showed the importance of mutual learning process between the experts and residents and the roles of diverse residents.

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 It is difficult to consider in advance the optimal response of disaster. Therefore, in order to minimize the damage, it is necessary to resourceful response in the event of disaster. In this study, we developed a practice system, which was mainly the evacuation guidance by municipal staff at the time of flood disasters. This system has been developed based on the simulator to express situation at the time of flood. Therefore, it is possible to experience the disaster response by various scenarios. Addition, this system can represent activity by multiple administrative agencies. Furthermore, this system is able to specifically evaluate the results of disaster response on a scale of casualty.

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 This paper proposes a method for evaluating flood risk at each community in a municipality to assist its disaster management personnel. The method is particularly designed for municipalities in mountain areas where information is not sufficiently accessible to carry out effective disaster management. Using this method, we conducted inundation analysis for multiple patterns of rainfall and discharge with a rainfall-runoff-inundation model, and estimated the maximum inundation depth and the inundation duration, and other relevant hydrological features. The estimation was then used to prepare a “flood chart” to evaluate flood risk for 19 communities, additionally considering other local characteristics such as aged population rate. Based on the flood charts, we identified flood characteristics of individual communities and proposed flood prevention measures specifically tailored for each community.

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 We defined hazard, exposure and vulnerability as the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters, the percentage of population that is exposed to natural disasters and the defects of society and economy to natural disasters, respectively. We evaluated them by weighted averaging of normalized data of past disaster records and statistics that are opened to public. We then calculated the integrated risk to five kinds of natural disasters including earthquake, tsunami, storm surge, sediment related disaster event, and volcanic activity by multiplying hazard, exposure and vulnerability. The results of disaster risk and vulnerability were presented in the prefectural scale in Japan and their tendency was discussed. We finally presented the way of applying the proposed risk index as a piece of scientific information for selecting highest priority measures for mitigation in a rational manner.

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 The Shonan coast located near the seismic center of the South Kanto earthquake is situated in the most risky belt among all belts in the metropolitan areas of Tokyo due to the high possibility of house collapse and the tsunami run-up. Thus, radical countermeasures are desirable for disaster mitigation as the particular attention should be paid. Kamakura city, important as a historical city located in the Shonan coast, has many tourists who are unfamiliar to the area. Therefore, when evacuating the city during the occurrence of a tsunami, there is a high probability of losing many human lives.
 Authors have developed social and geographical models using factors such as population density, wooden-house ratio, evacuation distance, and tsunami flooding depth to evaluate the distribution of life risk characteristics in the area. The obtained results can contribute to the society for preparing planning policies of disaster prevention measures or reconstruction after tsunami disasters. We will contribute again about the tsunami-disaster prevention-hills covered by pine forest, burying high standard road, evacuation center, and sightseeing parking lots in the hilly bank used as the seaside pine park in normal times for tourists and citizens.

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 Many researchers have repeatedly insisted on an importance of the concept of “Tsunami-tendenko,” a principle of action that dictated one to “run for your life to the top of the hill and never mind others or even your family when the tsunami comes.” At the same time, they has been also mentioned a certain fear that a superficial understanding of a literal meaning might invite criticism of this concept. Typical criticism is “this concept is too selfish and heartless.” The aim of this paper is to investigate how far the above fear could have a touch of real possibility. From the results of the investigation based on data collected through an internet research, the following conclusions were reached.
 Even an exact explanation of the literal meaning would not suffice for avoiding the fear. An appropriate interpretation of various backgrounds would play an important role in bringing a deep understanding of this principle.

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 The evacuation behavior of residents in times of earthquake and tsunami is influenced by many factors, including knowledge in disaster prevention, participation in disaster prevention activities, and sensory experience of earthquake shaking. Using survey questionnaire to investigate the evacuation behavior of residents in Iquique during the 2014 Iquique Earthquakes in Chile, this study found that the sensory experience of earthquake shaking is the main factor that prompted residents to evacuate. However it was difficult for elderly persons to evacuate due to shortage of disaster risk. Moreover, the study also found that the location, where the residents live, is an important factor for evacuation. On the other hand, hazard map was found to have little influence on decision of residents to evacuate.

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 It has been pointed out that there has been some delay in volcanic disaster measures compared to other measures, such as those for earthquakes. With a focus on the municipalities that border the Kyushu region of active volcanoes that frequently erupt, this study analyzed the effect that the experience of a volcanic eruption has on the measures in local disaster management plan with the purpose of providing information contribute to the improvement of volcanic disaster measures in local disaster management plan in the future.

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