Earthquake survivors with firsthand experience are
the true earthquake specialists.
  • 災害発生前
  • デザイン
  • Bunpei Yorifuji
  • Art Director
  • NPO Plus Arts
  • Jishin ITSUMO project

The JISHIN ITSUMO website was launched on March 2011

See an earthquake not from a
specialists’ perspective, but through survivor testimonies

The first edition of Jishin Itsumo Note, which was edited by NPO Plus Arts and illustrated by Bunpei Yorifuji, was published in 2007. Although many books related to earthquakes have been published since the Great East Japan Earthquake, Jishin Itsumo Note differs from other books in that it focuses on the feelings of actual disaster survivors and their original ideas, rather than the perspectives of specialists on earthquakes. It is based on interviews with 167 survivors of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

The book depicts the harrowing reality of an earthquake, using information gained by talking to earthquake survivors. For instance, people could not move at all when the big earthquake hit; they could not hear people crying out for help because their cries ware muffed by the sound of the helicopters used by the news media; and jacks and crowbars were very helpful when rescuing people from collapsed houses.

Since the Iza! Kaeru Caravan! program was developed, NPO Plus Arts has continued to take the approach that it should convey lessons learned from research on the voices of disaster survivors to other people. Information that has been obtained through research forms the basis of the future activities of the “Always Prepare” project.

 

  • Oyako no Tame no Jishin Itsumo Note , a book on earthquakes edited so that parents and children can read together, was published in August 2011

Make information compiled with help from corporations accessible to the public



At the end of March 2011, Bunpei Yorifuji and NPO Plus Arts created the “Jishin Itsumo.com” website, an open source website for information related to disaster preparedness for disaster survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The contents of the chapters, Jishin to Sono Chokugo, and Hinan Seikatsu in Jishin Itsumo Note and information on knowledge and skills concerning disaster preparedness are re-edited in A4 format and offered on the site. They can be downloaded from the site for free. The information provided there is the same as NPO Plus Arts issued in the SAVE YOURSELF project, an educational project for disaster preparedness, which has been conducted for employees of Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. in cooperation with the company, since 2007.

In the project, NPO Plus Arts and Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. conducted research, including interviews with specialists, over a six-year period based on information from Jishin Itsumo Note. Therefore, the information from the SAVE YOURSELF project is practical and easily understandable from reliable information sources, while covering a wide range of areas: earthquake resistance, furniture fall prevention, first-aid treatment, disaster preparation supplies, emergency contacts and information gathering, and evacuation.

  • As many as 33 printable manuals can be downloaded from the Jishin Itsumo. com website

Use friendly and engaging illustrations to spread its social activities

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, more and more companies have released information on disaster preparedness as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities and to elevate their brand value, as a result of a rise in the awareness of disaster preparedness in society. In collaboration with Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. and six other companies, NPO Plus Arts is creating educational tools for disaster preparedness for clients of individual companies and offers disaster prevention courses for their employees and clients, while arranging information presented in Jishin Itsumo in accordance with the needs of individual companies.

The companies, with which NPO Plus Arts works in collaboration, include an infrastructure provider, a real-estate company, and various other companies working in diverse industries.

Hirokazu Nagata, Chairman of NPO Plus Arts, says that due to the illustrations drawn by Bunpei Yorifuji, the “Always Prepare” project arouses great interest from companies.

His illustrations have a great power of communication, which makes disaster preparedness activities, which are unfamiliar to people and difficult to root in their daily lives, more familiar and understandable. With his illustrations at its core, the Always Prepare project is reaching more and more people than ever before, while at the same time sharing knowledge and skills concerning disaster preparedness with other companies and enhancing disaster preparedness capabilities of individual stakeholders.

  • Manual of Disaster Preparedness & Guidebook for Emergency
    Contacts in Disaster Situations available in various companies
  • Cooperating in planning for the disaster promotion by MUJI, “Itsumo Moshimo ”
  • “Always Prepare in Bangkok” held in Bangkok, Thailand from September 2012 to January 2013