Do you think you can meet up with your family, smoothly, in an emergency?
“It’s OK! We have cellphones. We will use them.”
“Our school does drills constantly, so I’ll just pick up my kids when we have a real emergency.”
“My parents’ house has a phone landline phone, but they don’t have a computer or internet.”
“The office is 45 minutes away from home, by car. But on foot? I have no idea how long it would take me to get home…”
What do you think? Many people plan to get in contact with their family in an emergency, assuming their cellphone will work. I always worry about how to find my kids in an emergency, without a cellphone. Our schools think it’s a given that everybody has a cellphone. Our school plans most things, even emergency response, as if having cellphone is a matter of course. That scares me.
If you have a cellphone and you can use it during an emergency, you’ll be extremely lucky. In reality, it will be difficult to make contact with anyone using a cellphone. For example, in Japan, we have learned that cellphones often fail in the midst of major disasters. I tried calling my family after the 3/11 earthquake to make sure they were OK, but I couldn’t get through until an entire day later. Of course, everybody tried calling their families, right away, just like me, all at the same time. Of course, the phones and the internet were overloaded. If a situation is localized, only at the school for example, they will be able to call me easily. But what if the situation is more widespread, across the whole city or country, say?
If the cellphone networks go down, I will go pick up my kids, immediately. I don’t want to wait for the school to call me to pick up my kids.
It’s tough to get in touch with anyone in emergencies because everyone is in the same boat. And everybody has the same or similar needs. I am thankful that our school runs frequent practice drills, but I have never personally participated in any simulated crises or tried picking up my kids from school as part of a drill. If our school were to have a real emergency, would they be able to keep my kids safe and help them return home, without making some kind of mistake? Does our teacher really know my face?? I know teachers are human. They will be panicking just like me. Will they be able to make a decision — the right decision — right away and under pressure?
The tragedy of Okawa Elementary School was an event that deeply scarred the education sector in Japan. It occurred during the Tohoku Earthquake, in 2011. Okawa Elementary School in Miyagi Prefecture was swallowed by a tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. 84 of the 108 students, and 11 of 13 teachers died or remain missing. Despite the authorities properly receiving several warnings of an impending tsunami, the school kept students in the schoolyard until it was too late. They struggled to make judgements regarding shelter and evacuation. Three minutes after the earthquake, authorities warned that a tsunami was sweeping toward the coast. The school, 4 kilometers from the coast, kept the students in the schoolyard for 50 minutes. Finally, the teachers decided to seek higher ground, but by the time they began to move to a slightly higher spot next to a river, it was too late. A wall of water came crashing down upon them. People knew this was a massive earthquake, but nobody believed a tsunami would come so far inland. It had never happened before.
Ever since hearing about this tragedy of Okawa Elementary school, I have tended to stay close to my kids. That way, if something major goes down, I can pick them up from school as quickly as possible. Some of the Okawa Elementary students survived the tsunami because their parents picked them up and ran away with them. If I were the teacher, in that situation, I would not be able to make the correct decision, right away; I know that. I’m sure I would panic. I understand that the school is responsible for the lives of many students, and it is not easy to make the correct decision, under pressure, without hesitation. It’s not always (if ever) clear which course of action is best, and some scenarios may not have any good options. I am lucky because I could get my husband to understanding my feelings, and I try to work close to home, as much as possible. Or when my husband is working from home, then I allow myself to work farther away. If the cellphone networks go down, I will go pick up my kids, immediately. I don’t want to wait for the school to call me to pick up my kids. One possible scenario I worry about is the phones and internet going out and me not noticing. I’m not sure how to handle that situation. I picture going about my business, trusting that the school will call me to pick up the kids when it’s necessary…
In Japan, we run “pick up” drills, at least once a year. Some parents think it’s a pain in the neck, but it’s very important. And while there is life, there is hope. In Japan, we always try to prepare for the worst. Please do me a favor. Would you please talk with your family about the tragedy of Okawa Elementary School? And then try to make your own emergency communication plan.
I will talk more about family emergency communication plans in my next post.
See you next time.