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�ƒ2008/02�„

�¡�@Evacuation drill around Shinjuku Station

�@What would you do if you have big earthquake when you are enjoying window-shopping in Shinjuku?

�@On 25th/Jan, the large evacuation drill was conducted to get ready for surprises when the big earthquake comes. Our 250 students and staffs also participated in this drill. Japan is called as �gearthquake-prone country�h, and it is said that there is 70 percents chances of big earthquake hits Tokyo within coming 30 years. Do you remember the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995? If we have such a big earthquake in Tokyo, it could be catastrophic.

�@The purpose of this drill was as following. �gWhen the earthquake occurs, the transportation system will be breakdown and a lot of people will strand around the station. Under these circumstances, the second accident could be happen. To avoid this situation, we need to do large-sized simulation combined with drill.�h Many students from colleges, universities and language schools and workers from organizations around Shinjuku Station, in total about 1,400 people participated in this drill. Antecedent�@to this, similar drill was held around Kitasenju Station. These two drills were the first of its kind in Japan.

�@We were broke into separate groups, and I went to a movie theater with students and waited for �gthe time�h.After a short time, we could hear the earthquake alarm. (Actually, the alarm was indiscernible.) And then we followed the staff and evacuated the movie theater. We walked slowly to refuge area �gShinjuku Gyoen�h through Kabuki-cho, one of the busy places in Shinjuku. The helicopters were hovering above us and told that it�fs undergoing drill, but it was lax atmosphere.�@But it was good chance for me, because I could talk with students about classes and what they want to do after graduation while walking. After we went to �gShinjuku Gyoen�h for safety, we moved to �gKousei Nenkin Kaikan�h, it is a big hall with roof. The north wind was blowing, it was freezing cold. But it was kind of interesting to walk with perfect strangers sharing the same goal. I remembered Riku Onda(a Japanese writer)�fs �gYoru no Picnic�h(a novel).

�@We entered into the hall at Kousei Nenkin Kaikan and we found there were shelter goods on every seat. We took seats and got the shelter goods and the certificates of participation. Wow, there are chocolates, rice-cracker, a bottle of mineral water and supplements inside the bag! It could be a great expense in total. We see a short film about earthquake, and then the director of Shinjuku Ward made a speech. Did you know the director is woman? �cI�fm ashamed to say it, but I didn�ft know that.

�@This drill took about 2hours and a half. I think this kind of large-scale simulation is very useful. It was good chance for students as well because they could take part in this drill as a field trip participatory. But it's regret that some students ate the distributed emergency food inside the hall and left their leftovers on the sheets. Hmm�cdrills are also important, but what I want students to learn first is good manners.

There is a crowd of people in front of ALTA.	TV crew also came to Shinjuku Gyoen.	SNG bag for emergency

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SHINJUKU JAPANESE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE 2-9-7 Takadanobaba Shinjuku-ku Tokyo, 169-0075. Japan Tel : 81-3-5273-0044 Fax : 81-3-5273-0018