Japan is a country with frequent natural disasters, and earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and volcanic eruptions may occur at any time. Under this natural condition, Japan has formed a perfect disaster response system for a long time, with clear division of labor among governments and institutions at all levels, and citizens generally have a strong sense of crisis and emergency knowledge to deal with sudden disasters.
Sound mechanism
The Cabinet Office of Japan has a permanent organization called the Central Disaster Prevention Conference, which is chaired by the Prime Minister and composed of the Chairman of the National Public Security Committee, relevant ministers and relevant experts. The Central Disaster Prevention Conference is responsible for formulating basic disaster prevention plans and determining basic disaster prevention policies. Each prefecture has a local disaster prevention meeting, which is presided over by the governor and is responsible for formulating local disaster prevention plans. In addition, there are disaster prevention meetings in cities, towns and villages, which are responsible for implementing the disaster prevention plans of the central and local governments.
When a major disaster occurs, the Japanese government will set up an emergency disaster countermeasures headquarters within 30 minutes, with the Prime Minister personally in charge, and the deputy minister and assistant minister appointed by the Prime Minister will quickly determine the disaster countermeasures and direct relevant institutions to immediately put into rescue work. Local governments also set up disaster countermeasures headquarters when disasters occur or may occur, with the governor as the minister and reporting the situation to the Prime Minister immediately.
On June 23, 2004, a strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale occurred in the Sino-Vietnamese area of Niigata Prefecture, Japan, causing huge casualties and property losses. Disaster response mechanisms at all levels have played an important role in responding to this earthquake disaster.
Four minutes after the Niigata earthquake, the Japanese Prime Minister's official residence set up a "bureaucratic countermeasure room" to collect earthquake information and investigate the disaster situation. On the morning of 24th, according to the Basic Law on Disaster Countermeasures, the Japanese government established the "Extraordinary Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters" headed by Murata Yoshitaka, Minister of Disaster Prevention, and its members are composed of officials at the director level of relevant ministries and agencies, who are responsible for investigating the disaster situation and directing disaster relief. The "Extraordinary Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters" decided to use about 90,000 disaster relief grain reserves and transport them to the disaster area; The government also decided to compile the supplementary budget for 2004 and allocate funds for the reconstruction of Niigata earthquake-stricken area.
After the earthquake, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces quickly took action. Four minutes after the earthquake, the Defense Agency established the "Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters". After more than half an hour, the planes of Ground Self-Defense Force, Maritime Self-Defense Force and Air Self-Defense Force flew to the disaster area one after another. 1 hour later, the defense agency held a "disaster countermeasures meeting" and decided to collect the disaster situation quickly. Each station of the Ground Self-Defense Force has a 24-hour disaster relief force composed of 20 or 30 people, ready to go to the disaster area for rescue. In addition, there are 43,000 members of the Ground Self-Defense Forces and 180 planes on standby, ready to rush to the disaster area at any time. 65,438+068 vehicles of the Ground Self-Defense Force equipped with cookers also arrived in the disaster area on the 25th.
each attends to his own duties
Thanks to the sound disaster response mechanism, in a short time after the earthquake, governments and institutions at all levels were able to respond quickly, divide their work and cooperate, and put themselves into disaster relief work.
On July 16, 2007, a strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck central Japan, and Niigata Prefecture, which has not fully recovered from the 2004 earthquake, became the hardest hit again.
Half an hour after the earthquake, the Self-Defense Forces sent a rescue team to the disaster site. On the same day, the Self-Defense Forces dispatched 490 self-defense members, 190 rescue vehicles, 9 ships and 23 planes, supplied 42 tons of drinking water and distributed 3,600 food. Since then, the scale of rescue has been expanding. By the time the Self-Defense Forces withdrew after the disaster relief activities on August 29th, 92,400 self-defense members, 35 1000 vehicles, 95 ships and 1 184 aircraft had been put into rescue.
In the early days of disaster relief, the main tasks of the Self-Defense Forces were to inspect the scene, rescue the victims and care for the wounded. Later, they gradually turned to transporting relief materials, supplying water, distributing food and arranging for the victims to take a bath. After the supply of water, gas and food is restored, the main job of the Self-Defense Force is to distribute the box lunch provided by the local government to the victims in the shelter and those residents who can't ignite without repairing the gas pipe.
There are many shelters all over Japan, such as schools, parks and gymnasiums. And reserve food, drinking water and other materials. Staff in these places are also trained to act as organizers and commanders when people come to take refuge. In case of disaster, under their guidance, people can get temporary shelter in these places.
After the earthquake in central China, local primary and secondary schools were forced to suspend classes, and the school facilities were completed and turned into shelters. The worst-hit city, Kashiwazaki, has set up 74 shelters with nearly 65,438+2,000 people.
Because some non-victims from other places took the opportunity to join the relief team, sometimes the food supply in the shelter was insufficient, and the victims could not eat the box lunch, so the Self-Defense Force undertook the registration of box lunch distribution.
In addition to the Self-Defense Forces, the main force of disaster relief is a large-scale emergency rescue team set up by the police headquarters in prefectures and counties, with a total number of about 4,000 people. There are 22 10 rescue teams in the fire headquarters, fire brigades and disaster emergency rescue teams in various cities, towns and villages in Japan, with a total number of about 3 10 people.
Less than half an hour after the central earthquake, Niigata Prefecture sent an emergency rescue request to the Fire Department, and the fire department chief immediately issued an order to dispatch emergency fire rescue teams to Sendai, Tokyo, Toyama and Fukushima. In addition, the police department also issued emergency support orders to the police headquarters in Niigata Prefecture and the surrounding areas of Nagano Prefecture, requesting the dispatch of rescue teams to the earthquake site.
In addition, 20 minutes after the central earthquake, the Ministry of Health and Welfare mobilized medical staff from about 240 hospitals across the country to form a "disaster dispatch medical team" of about 300 people, ready to stand by. By 8: 30 pm on the day of the earthquake, 24 medical teams had rushed to the earthquake-stricken areas from 9 counties and cities to carry out rescue activities.
Restore the foundation
In addition to government departments, Japan's electric power, gas, water supply companies, communications, transportation and other basic departments have their own disaster prevention mechanisms. In the event of a disaster, they will not only fight the disaster independently, but also act in unison under the organization and coordination of industry associations.
In the central earthquake of July 16, 2007, the gas supply of 34,000 households in Kashiwazaki City was interrupted due to serious damage to the gas pipeline. As an enterprise legal person, Japan Gas Association set up a countermeasure headquarters immediately after the earthquake, and sent eight members of the investigation advance team into the earthquake zone that night.
Two days later, with Niigata Prefecture and kanto region as the center, the Association transferred 1024 technicians from the national gas system to form a support force and sent them to the site quickly.
Due to the special terrain in Kashiwazaki City, it is difficult to repair the pipeline. The Japan Gas Association immediately dispatched 100 personnel from Osaka Gas Company, Dong Bang Gas Company and Western Gas Company, equipped with special machinery and equipment, to form the second batch of support troops. At the same time, as a temporary emergency measure, 20 mobile gas stoves and 4300 box stoves were distributed.
After efforts, by August 12, 90.3% of households affected by pipeline damage had resumed gas supply. The rest were all repaired on August 27th, and the countermeasures headquarters of Japan Gas Association was dissolved on the same day.
National reconstruction
In less than three years, two earthquakes measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale occurred in Niigata Prefecture, killing 83 people, injuring more than 7,000 people and damaging more than 6,543,800+6,000 houses to varying degrees. The reconstruction work is undoubtedly a difficult and long journey for Niigata Prefecture.
Since the Niigata earthquake in 2004, the Niigata Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters, Niigata Branch of the Japanese Red Cross Society and other relevant parties have received donations of 3,765,438+500 million yen (about 360 million US dollars) and water, food, clothing and daily necessities for 495 vehicles (10 ton trucks).
Niigata Prefecture has successively invested 5 billion yen (US$ 48.49 million) and 3 billion yen (US$ 29.09 million) to set up the Niigata Earthquake Recovery Fund and the Central Earthquake Recovery Fund, which are responsible for implementing post-disaster reconstruction projects, helping the victims to stabilize their lives and rebuild their homes, assisting small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture, forestry and fisheries practitioners to resume their operations and production, and supporting the reconstruction of private schools.
The two funds have published detailed projects on their respective websites, involving residents' living, housing renovation, employment promotion, production resumption, tourism, education and cultural revitalization. , for individuals, organizations, trade associations, legal persons, small and medium-sized enterprises, cities, towns and villages, or provide subsidies or low-interest loans. The amount and intensity of funding vary from project to project, ranging from one or two years to 10. Victims can apply for subsidies in various execution windows published on the website.
Among these funded projects, "spiritual care" is particularly worth mentioning. This project is specially designed for the mental health of the affected people, and the subsidy object is to hold an exchange meeting to promote mental health and a "home visit" by psychologists. "Volunteer Activities Support Project" funds related activities of volunteer groups and non-profit organizations engaged in reconstruction.
Take preventive measures
Because all kinds of natural disasters can happen, the Japanese are also "always ready" to deal with them.
In May 2003, Japan's Central Disaster Prevention Conference issued the Outline of Countermeasures for the East China Sea Earthquake, which made preliminary preparations for the prevention of the East China Sea earthquake. Earthquakes in the East China Sea are periodic, and occurred once in history from 100 to 150 years. The earthquake source is located in the area of Suruga Bay, and the magnitude is above 8 on the Richter scale. Now it has reached a period that may happen at any time. The purpose of this outline is to try to limit the losses caused by the earthquake to a minimum under unpredictable circumstances.
Of course, there is another most important aspect of nip in the bud, and that is to build a strong ideological defense line. Japanese people have been educated in disaster prevention and relief since childhood. The school specializes in teaching emergency knowledge such as how to act when disasters come, and there are often some special exhibitions and permanent institutions for disaster prevention and relief in the society, so that citizens can really experience the feelings of disasters and practice how to escape and save themselves.
The Disaster Prevention Museum of Tokyo Fire Department, located in Motian District, Tokyo, is such a facility. There is an earthquake simulation room in the Disaster Prevention Museum, which can realistically simulate the crumbling scene of the house when the earthquake comes, so that people can "practice" common sense such as how to turn off the fire source and what position to take refuge. There is also a simulated fire scene. You can not only operate the fire extinguisher yourself, but also practice the correct posture and route to escape from the fire. There are also people who teach the correct first aid methods, such as cardiopulmonary massage and artificial respiration. The Disaster Prevention Museum of our hospital is open to the public free of charge, and anyone can experience disasters and learn disaster prevention knowledge here.
In addition, the government, enterprises, schools, hospitals and other institutions will also hold regular disaster prevention training. September 1 day is Japan's disaster prevention day. On this day, all parts of the country will participate in large-scale disaster prevention exercises organized by the government to practice how to participate in and organize disaster relief when a strong earthquake occurs in a metropolis like Tokyo.
After baptism, the Japanese people are basically calm in the face of general disasters and take correct self-help measures to lay a good foundation for disaster relief work.