Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
20.4
Emergency Responses by Geography Education-
Related Associations and Organizations
Considerable support came from many people and organizations immediately
after the earthquake. Japanese geographers belonging to the AJG, geography
education-related associations and organizations and academic societies quickly
organized various support activities.
On 14 March 2011, the Disaster Response Headquarters was led by the chairper-
son of the AJG. This headquarters coordinated rapid dissemination of information,
including publicity with geographical disaster information to other academic societ-
ies and mass media. For example, instead of canceling the general AJG conference
planned for 29-31 March in Tokyo, the head offi ce held an emergency opening
conference “Restoration from the Great East Japan Disaster and Geography” on 28
May. This initiated many disaster related plans for the AJG.
2
During this time, news of a shortage of geography teaching resources in devastated
schools reached members of the AJG Commission of Geographical Education (CGE).
In response, authorized textbooks and atlases were sent to all elementary and junior
high school students for free as they are vital learning resources for students. This
relief effort was aided by the government, who supplied textbooks via local editorial
boards and schools. Since the school atlas is used only from the fourth through sev-
enth grade, this caused confusion at some local educational boards and schools regard-
ing the allocation of free atlases. Other shortages included damaged geography
teaching materials such as world globes, wall maps and photographic collections.
In response, the CGE put forward an “Emergency Proposal for Equipment of
Geography Resources in Order to Reopen Geography/Social Studies School
Lessons”. This proposal, in two parts, was published by the AJG executive commit-
tee on 11 April 2011. The fi rst component was a request to the government, local
educational boards and schools that atlases should be re-supplied to all affected
students, in the same manner as other types of textbooks. The second component
proposed that key geography teaching materials be supplied to all. For the latter
request, the AJG started a fundraising campaign called “Fundraising for Geography
Education Restoration after the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Geography
Teaching Resources for Affected Schools” in cooperation with the Geographic
Education Society of Japan (GESJ) and Japan Association of Geographical Space
(JAGS). This fundraising was supported not only by members of these organiza-
tions, but also from overseas through the Commission on Geographical Education
(CGE) of the International Geographical Union (IGU). The donations allowed the
AJG to grant 5,000,000 JPY (approximately $50,000 USD) to 45 affected schools
for geography education support.
3
Furthermore, the Japan Map Center (JMS) visited
affected schools and supplied maps for instruction.
2
The Disaster Response Headquarters was closed at the end of March 2012, but the outcomes are
shown on the AJG website:
http://www.ajg.or.jp/disaster/201103_Tohoku-eq.html
.
3
As stated in Sect.
20.3
, outcomes from our program granted by TGS were used to select these
schools.
