Collaborative Approaches to Disaster Education - Japan

The WHO CC UTS acknowledges use of key language from The WHO Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (2021–2025).

Japan is often described as the most earthquake-and-tsunami-ready nation in the world [1]. The nation learnt a lot from the devastation of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake in 1995, and they now run awareness on disaster education for school children, have emergency updates on smart phones, earthquake resistant buildings and earthquake-ready shinkansen or bullet trains (which sense the earth shuddering and automatically stop)[2]. 

Misako Miyazaki was a graduate nurse when she was dispatched for one week to work on the devastating Hyogo earthquake, a disaster which struck Japan in 1995, killing over 6400 people [3].  More than 20 years later, in 2007, she went to the coastal area of Niigata to help the nurse leader deal with the aftermath of yet another earthquake, which killed ten and injured more than 1300 people [1]. 

Then in 2011, she was back in the thick of it again, helping public health nurses deal with the Great Eastern earthquake, the most powerful one to have ever been recorded in Japan. It triggered a tsunami and caused the Fukushima Daichi nuclear accident. Over 15,000 people died [1].  Misako later interviewed a number of nurses about their difficult experiences during this terrible disaster and this later fed into her course development materials looking at community resilience.

With such a background, it is fitting that Misako was recently appointed Professor of Disaster Nursing at Chiba University.  In her new roles, she has developed an innovative new course teaching public health nurse across five institutions in eastern and western areas in Chiba, and in an eastern part of Tokyo. This collaborative approach will build community resilience, health literacy and leadership. 

Misako’s work is an example of innovations taking place to tackle disasters before they happen. Misako has devoted her life to nursing. She was a public health nurse for six years, studied and then became a nursing teacher. She has worked at Chiba University for 17 years.  Aside from her role in disaster nursing, she is Professor of Community Health Nursing. The professor is also a keen collaborator, doing research with scientists, geologists, weather experts, horticulturalists and government officials.

Japan has suffered from some catastrophic disasters in recent years and Misako sees a number of challenges for nurses. First, there is a lack of training, especially in leadership roles. Second, when disasters strike, nurses play an important role but are greatly impacted by them. She also believes that the quality of nurses’ activities in peace time will help with community preparedness. That said, she also says that public health nurses need to be able to better facilitate and influence policy at a regional and higher level.

 

1. Oskin, B., Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. Live Science 2017.

2. nippon.com. 25 Years after Disaster: Looking Back on the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. 2020; Available from: https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00629/25-years-after-disaster-looking-back-on-the-great-hanshin-awaji-earthquake.html.

3. Oskin, B., What Caused The Deadly China Earthquake? Live Science, 2013.