In this article, part of a series featuring Toyota's research in non-automotive fields, Fuji erupts?!
A surprising lack of interest
Besides the local residents, the Suyama district is also dotted with vacation homes. This diverse population, along with the various potential lava flow lines, poses a challenge when figuring out evacuation methods.
Toyota’s researchers set out to grasp the situation on the ground by speaking with the community to assist data analysis—a genchi genbutsu approach. In doing so, however, they ran into an unexpected hurdle.
Kitahama
We went to the heads of the district and the volunteer disaster prevention team, excited to show them the traffic congestion simulations, but the response was underwhelming. (Laughs)
The things we thought were great made no impression. Instead, they pointed to another problem, that the emergency radio did not reach some places.
We realized that what the residents really want to know is not simulations for the entire city of Susono, but what will happen to the area where they live.
Rather than focusing on themselves, the team needed to adopt the “YOU perspective.”
Kota Sata, Group Manager, R-Frontier Division, Frontier Research Center
From there, we surveyed every household to learn about their individual circumstances.
This is because evacuation times would vary depending on the makeup of each family, such as if both parents are out working, or there are seniors and infants. The number of cars also differs between families.
We aggregated the data from all households and re-ran the simulation time and again, asking residents to review the results. Repeating this cycle improved our accuracy.
Highly accurate data about the places they live—now this sparked resident engagement.
Does an eruption mean the end?
Additional attitude surveys at seniors’ salons and junior high schools revealed a startling truth. The perception among elderly residents was that “Mt. Fuji would surely not erupt.” At the same time, if it did erupt, many were resigned to this being “the end.”
These findings led the team to change tack. The new strategy was to run disaster prevention classes for children in the hope that they would encourage grandparents to flee.
Naomi Akimoto, Assistant Manager, R-Frontier Division, Frontier Research Center
Many elementary and junior high students imagine Mt. Fuji blowing its top, but if an eruption occurred on the Yamanashi side, far from Shizuoka, the lava won’t flow this way.
In Susono alone, the lava can take 31 potential routes with rivers and valley channels being the fastest while other lines are slower. Although the city’s schools run disaster drills in preparation for an earthquake, even the teachers were not well informed about Fuji eruptions.
An eruption would not mean “the end.” Escape is possible.
Until now, the city was not aware that residents were resigned to their fate. This made joint public-private disaster prevention classes all the more important. Rather than trying to scare people, the aim is to explain volcanoes and lava in a fun way.
To spark interest among children, the eye-catching Colonel Magma is also joined by Susono City’s mascot, Susonon.
Currently, the city informs residents of evacuation methods for four main eruption patterns. Instead of going into excessive detail, the information makes it easy for individuals to visualize their evacuation steps.
Toyota places great value on acting for the benefit of “someone other than yourself,” and on being a “best-in-town” carmaker that focuses on individual communities rather than aiming for world #1.
The partnership with Susono City to improve safety for the local community certainly forms part of this approach. Moving forward, the ongoing joint research efforts will also incorporate fieldwork aimed at further boosting the region’s safety.