Developments of tools to survive the disasters – Civil empowerment of “Zest for living in disaster” –

This paper introduces practical efforts to reduce local disasters in the “Project on civil empowerment for ‘zest for life during a disaster”’ undertaken by the authors and the three projects that have been developed and implemented thus far: “Pocket Notebook and Handbook for Family’s Disaster Resilience (MINNANO- BOSAI TECHO),” “Pocket Notebook and Handbook for Boys and Girls Disaster Resilience (BOKUNO- WATASHI-NO-BOSAI TECHO),” and “SENDAI CAMP (BOSAI CAMP).” These activities were reported on a public forum in the third UN World Congress on Disaster Reduction, where the importance of involving all citizens in disaster reduction and prevention through projects was recognized in a comprehensive discussion.