We Took Part in Nishinomiya City’s Disaster Preparedness Drill and Tried Out All Kinds of Activities

On Tuesday, November 5, we went to observe the Nishinomiya City Comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Drill held at Koshienhama.

Many companies were taking part, and we tried out all kinds of hands-on activities at their booths.

Experiencing Earthquake Damage in VR

At the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience booth, we tried “experiencing earthquake damage in VR.”

When you bring your eyes close to the box, a room appears inside, and when you turn your head left and right, it feels like you can look around the whole room. The furniture was shaking from the earthquake. Since your body doesn’t actually shake, it feels kind of strange…

I felt like I might get a little motion sick, so I think it’s better to watch while staying still instead of turning your head side to side.

Recording & Playing Back a Message on the 171 Disaster Emergency Message Dial

We actually tried using the disaster emergency message dial.

I called 171 and recorded, “This is Niko. I’m okay. I’m at Koshienhama 3-chome. Please contact me.”

But I had no idea how loud it would be when played back,

so I didn’t have the courage to press the playback button.

Fire Extinguisher Experience

At the Nishinomiya Citizens’ Mutual Aid Cooperative booth, we got to try using a fire extinguisher.

Listening seriously to the instructions.

Pull out the yellow pin, remove the hose, and hold the nozzle.

Grip the lever tightly and spray!!

Air came out with incredible force!!(Since it was just for practice, it was set up to release air.)

I had never used a fire extinguisher before, so it was a really good experience.

AED Experience

This was also my first time using an AED.

The machine gives instructions automatically, so I listened carefully and waited for the prompts.

Chest compressions.

The setup was designed so that a button on the side lights up when you’re doing the compressions correctly, but unless you really put your body weight into it and press hard, the button wouldn’t light up at all.

I was so bad at it that everyone was laughing, lol.

We were doing it on a platform, so I wasn’t tall enough and it was hard to put my weight into it.

Keeping that up for several minutes would be tough!

So, we switched players.

Mama, who had experience, was really good at it, and the button kept lighting up.

Debris Flow Simulation Experiment

At the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Rokko Sabo Office booth, they created heavy rain to trigger a debris flow.

When there is a sabo dam~(I can’t help saying it like the 551 commercial.)

And when there isn’t a sabo dam~ That was the experiment they showed.

When there is no sabo dam

rocks, mud, and driftwood rushed down with incredible force, and the town was covered by the debris flow in an instant.

This was the experiment showing what happens when there is a sabo dam.

Although sediment and driftwood still flowed down, they moved much more slowly, keeping the damage to a minimum.

It was a simulation that made the role and importance of sabo dams very easy to understand.

A little boy watching the experiment with us asked, “Did you collect lots of pretty stones?” and it was so cute!

If you’d like to learn more, please read “The Role of Sabo Dams” on the Rokko SABO website.

Finally

The Nishinomiya City Comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Drill gave us so many hands-on experiences. It was fun to learn, everything was useful, and I felt grateful that the city holds such a large-scale disaster preparedness drill.

Many organizations were participating, and there were lots of people involved, but it felt like there weren’t many general visitors. Since it’s such a useful drill, I really hope more and more people will take part.