15/05 MUSINGS - 編集手帳 - 災後を生き抜く力を、子供たちに身につけてもらいたい

May 15, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's May 15 issue.

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"Wouldn't you like to have some of this, sweetheart?" A mother hopes that by placing some sweets that her fourth-grade daughter loved at the gate of her primary school, the missing girl might come back. Every time she comes to look for her, working through piles of debris and mud, the mother places a piece of cake or some juice at the gate.

During the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 70 percent of the pupils at the municipal Okawa Primary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, died or went missing. Even today, parents are still looking for their loved ones in their own way.

The massive tsunami caused the nearby Kitakamigawa river to rise above the rooftop of the two-story school building and engulf the lines of pupils who were trying to make their way to safety. The school building was destroyed.

The March 11 disaster affected about 6,200 schools, from kindergartens to high schools. More than 200 schools must be either completely rebuilt or undergo major repairs.

If schools are rebuilt based on lessons learned in the latest disaster, the ideal school would be a building at least several stories high constructed solidly enough to also serve as an emergency relief center during a disaster.

Schools should be at least equipped with independent power-generation facilities, emergency toilets and a simple septic tank for sewage. They should also keep emergency stocks of food and blankets, so they can also function as evacuation centers.

If there are public facilities nearby such as hospitals or facilities for the elderly, the school buildings could also become community centers.

Another crucial need is upgrading disaster-management education, which should be geared to each district hit by the recent disaster.

I hope children will acquire not only basic knowledge of how to secure their physical safety during a natural disaster but also the strength to live through the days following one.

(May. 19, 2011)

５月１５日付　

　「食べにきてくれないかな」。大好きなお菓子を校門に置いておけば、きっと小学４年の娘は帰ってくる。そう信じ、毎回ケーキやジュースを欠かさず、がれきの間や沼地を捜し回る母がいる◆全校児童の７割が死亡・行方不明となった宮城県石巻市立大川小学校。今も父母たちは独自にわが子の捜索を続けている。当時、近くの北上川からあふれ出た津波は２階建て校舎の屋根を越え、避難途中の児童の列をのみこんだ。校舎は廃虚と化した◆幼稚園から高校まで、この震災では約６２００校が被災した。建て替えや大規模復旧工事が必要な学校は２００以上。その再建に教訓を生かすなら、目指す学校像は「防災拠点」にもなりうる堅牢けんろうな中高層ビルかもしれぬ◆自家発電施設や仮設トイレ、簡易浄化槽などを備え、食料・毛布を備蓄して避難所の機能を併せ持ちたい。公共施設や病院、高齢者施設なども近接させれば「コミュニティ拠点」にもなる◆そこで充実させるべきは被災地ならではの「防災教育」であろう。災害から身を守る知識だけでなく、災後を生き抜く力を、子供たちに身につけてもらいたい。

（2011年5月15日01時11分 読売新聞）