SAKIGAKE管理人 Introduction
On May 16 and 17, 2026, SAKIGAKE JAPAN took part in the “TKB48 Evacuation Shelter Drill” held in Kumamoto City.
“TKB48” refers to the concept of improving evacuation shelter environments by securing “Toilets, Kitchens, and Beds” within 48 hours of a disaster. In addition to live demonstrations of the latest shelter equipment, the event featured a dialogue between Fukuoka City Mayor Takashima and Kumamoto City Mayor Onishi, as well as a talk session on shelter preparation and measures to prevent disaster-related deaths — making it two days packed with learning for those involved in disaster prevention.
Mayor Dialogue: Building a System That Makes Broad-Area Disaster Support “the Norm”
In the dialogue between the two mayors, the need to institutionalize broad-area collaborative disaster support — not as a special measure, but as a standard system — was strongly emphasized.
While the milestone of the 10th anniversary of the Kumamoto Earthquake made large-scale events possible through special budgets, securing ongoing funding and institutionalizing the framework was identified as a challenge going forward. Concerns were raised about the limits of relying solely on disaster-affected municipalities for initial response, and expectations were expressed for national leadership and a system in which the Disaster Management Agency can exercise unified command.
Discussion also turned to equipment procurement, with the realistic view that “a full set is ideal, but combinations suited to budget and scale are more practical.” Using Fukuoka City’s evacuation scenario of 140,000 people as an example, the need for phased development based on cost-effectiveness was shared.
Particularly impressive was the concrete example of private-sector collaboration. Fukuoka City has agreements with six food truck organizations, and a vision was presented to expand this into a mutual support network across wider areas such as between Kumamoto and Fukuoka. Both mayors were aligned in their recognition that there are limits to what government alone can handle, and that agreements and collaboration with the private sector are essential.
Given the summer timing of the event, hygiene challenges such as temperature control and food poisoning prevention were also raised — confirming the need for practical, situation-adaptive operating standards rather than a one-size-fits-all package.
Talk Session: Transforming Evacuation Shelters into “Community Hubs”
The talk session focused on the standardization of disaster response and the passing on of organizational memory.
Particularly striking was the observation that “disaster experience is lost within ten years.” It was emphasized that passing on the knowledge of experienced personnel to those without experience, and repeating reproducible drills,is essential for building a system in which anyone can make standardized judgments in an emergency. Developing community leaders was also cited as a key factor in maintaining disaster preparedness awareness across the region.
A further perspective was offered on the evolution from “individual self-help efforts” to “a broad-area collaborative system.” Rather than stockpiling supplies at the level of individual municipalities, the idea of sharing resources across a wider area to minimize costs while maximizing effectiveness was presented.
What we felt was most important was the discussion on the qualitative transformation of evacuation shelters. The shared view was that evacuation shelters should not be merely “a place to escape wind and rain,” but should serve as community hubs that maintain physical and mental health and support life reconstruction. The observation that “proper shelter management can reduce disaster-related deaths and emergency transports to zero” — and that good communication prevents evacuees from withdrawing into isolation and preserves their physical and mental health — struck us as a crucial insight for future shelter design.
Conclusion
Through this drill, we were strongly reminded that disaster prevention is in a period of transition — evolving from “the efforts of individual municipalities” toward “a standardized, broad-area system.”
As professionals in corporate disaster prevention consulting and disaster risk management, SAKIGAKE JAPAN will continue to incorporate the latest front-line knowledge as we do our utmost to support your disaster preparedness and BCP development.