Questioning ‘integrated’ disaster risk reduction and ‘all of society’ engagement: can ‘preparedness pedagogy’ help?

Abstract

AbstractThis paper contributes to the conceptual and empirical development of ‘preparedness pedagogy’. Preparedness involves learning, thus disaster risk reduction (DRR) should be discussed more in the field of education, particularly its sub-discipline of public pedagogy. Disaster risk reduction education should have an element of a pedagogy in the interest of publicness, which is an experimental pedagogy in which citizens act in togetherness to develop their own preparedness. The paper pays attention to the two phrases utilised in the recent DRR discourse – ‘integrated’ DRR and ‘participation by all’ – and examines the case of Japan, applying whole-system thinking. It is suggested that ‘the mesosystem’ of the DRR system yields relationships and learning, and thus enables collaboration, change and ‘participation by all’. Preparedness pedagogy has a role to play in this. The mesosystem functions as the confluence between state-led and community-based DRR to truly integrate the system.

Keywords:

• Preparedness pedagogy
• public pedagogy
• community-based DRR
• DRR education
• social ecosystem thinking

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my very great appreciation to Professor Katsuya Yamori and his research team for allowing me to access their research fields. My gratitude also goes to the Center for International Collaboration of Kochi University for permitting me to participate in the JICA programme. I would also like to thank staff and community members in Kuroshio Town for enabling me to interview them and observe their preparedness activities.

Notes

1. The term was introduced by the UNISDR, which was established in 1999 as a dedicated secretariat to facilitate the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in the United Nations.

2. Kuroshio Town has a population of 11,559 (as of March 2017) of which about 41% is age 65 or over. Its geography is a combination of a long and complex coastline and inland mountains. Fishery and agriculture are the major industries.

3. ‘Ecology’ can be used in ‘a neutral sense to describe a set of inter-dependent relationships regardless of their condition’; ‘ecosystem’ denotes ‘a positive, self-sustaining and improving dynamic at different levels or scales that is contrasted to the negative condition of “static equilibrium”’ (Spours and Hodgson 2016, 12–13).

4. Preston et al. (2015) studied differentiating patterns of community’s response in post-disaster contexts. They suggested that community learning can be understood as operating on different levels, from small, incremental changes to large, and paradigm shifts, as ‘navigation’, ‘organisation’ and ‘reframing’. This application of the term ‘ecological’ corresponds to Stage 3 of the SET framework. The work focused on community’s learning in post-disaster contexts, taking a macro approach examining national policies and histories, whereas this paper seeks examine how communities prepare for forthcoming disasters in a pre-disaster context, analysing the micro-level empirical data and, at the same time, to broaden discussion considering the relevance of DRR and PP in shaping the future.

5. Bronfenbrenner later accepted biological impact on human development.

6. The research team comprises Professor Katsuya Yamori and his researchers from the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University.

7. They run a series of courses targeting developing countries. In this particular course, representatives from 15 countries travelled across Japan to learn about community-based DRR.

8. Over the seismic intensity 6 earthquakes were in 2004 and 2007 in Niigata, in 2008 in Iwate, in 2011 in Nagano and Shizuoka after a series of tremors in the Tohoku region, in 2016, several in Kumamoto Prefectures (Japan Meteorological Agency 2017a).

9. The government has implemented an initiative to support communities, offering subsidies and expertise in creating a plan. As of February 2017, there are in total 44 communities across Japan have been recruited for the initiative (Cabinet Office 2017).

10. So far, 32 out of 61 communities are in the middle of creating their plans (Town official 1).

11. Except the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and the staff members in the Disaster Prevention Unit (Town official 1).