11. The Essence of Resilience Against Disaster: Requirements for Geographic Education

The importance of “resilience” has been emphasized in recent international discussions on disaster risk reduction. In order to create a resilient society, it is essential to enhance citizens’ resilience; therefore, it is necessary to improve disaster risk reduction education (DRRE). This paper discusses the essential elements of disaster resilience and the requisites for DRRE. For enhancing disaster resilience, we must strengthen our ability to (1) carefully observe the changing environment through an understanding of geography; (2) actively participate in society and take on individual responsibility to reduce disaster risks; and (3) have courage and make reasonable changes to society. The organization of DRRE is broken down into short-term and long-term goals and consists of “Practical DRRE” and “Basic DRRE.” The former DRRE is directly connected to specific, effective damage mitigation, while the latter raises disaster awareness and supports the motives of the former. Both parts should be implemented in a balanced manner in the new school curriculum in Japan.