Operationalizing Updated Tsunami Hazard Assumptions in School Evacuation Planning: Insights from Teacher Training and Implementation Challenges in Japan

This study analyzes the tsunami evacuation plan revision process through in-service teacher training in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, to empirically validate the effectiveness of the Risk-Informed Decision-Making (RIDM) Approach. Revising the maximum-class (Level 2) tsunami hazard assumptions in 2022 necessitated the review of evacuation plans for all municipal schools. Analyzing the 2022 training (baseline) revealed that despite exposure to new hazard information teachers demonstrated an institutional and psychological adherence to “familiar sites” (school facilities). To address this challenge, the RIDM Approach was developed for systematically enhancing teachers’ decision-making capacity and was subsequently validated during the 2023 training. This approach combines simulations using multi-hazard scenarios with instruction on a scientific, evidence-based decision protocol. The validation results revealed that this structured intervention led to a significant increase in the proportion of teachers recommending safe horizontal evacuation. This study demonstrates that the RIDM Approach provides an empirically effective solution to the structural challenge where teachers bear responsibility for disaster response but face institutional and psychological barriers to deviating from established plans. The findings establish the RIDM Approach as a replicable, systematic educational mechanism—not reliant on specialist knowledge—that offers a clear policy blueprint for school-level disaster risk reduction facing similar structural misalignments globally.