Yamaguchi first learned how frightening earthquakes can be when she was in elementary school. Back then, she had no interest in disaster prevention, but growing up in Akashi City in Hyogo Prefecture, she had many opportunities to learn about the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in her classes. The high school she attended was located near a park built to preserve the Nojima Fault, the fault that caused the earthquake, and she says this naturally increased her awareness of disaster prevention.

Along with this increased awareness of disaster prevention, she also developed a keen interest in developing countries that are strongly affected by climate change and other global natural disasters. This spawned her dream of joining the Japan Disaster Relief Team, so in her third year of high school, she studied abroad in Fiji. In Fiji, she was often perplexed by linguistic and cultural differences, as well as the weakness of the lifelines that form the basis of daily life, like electricity and water, which are taken for granted in Japan. On the other hand, she learned a lot from her time in Fiji, a country that values human connections. In Fiji, where the risk of tsunami is as high as it is in Japan, the local communities played a major role in disaster management. Her Fiji experience was a turning point in that she realized the need to strengthen community disaster management in Japan, where human ties are becoming increasingly tenuous.

After entering Ritsumeikan University, Yamaguchi joined a volunteer fire brigade near where she lived in Kyoto City to deepen her involvement in community disaster prevention. In the fire brigade, she made friends with a student from another university who told her about the Kyoto Student Fire and Safety Team. Kyoto Student FAST, which is officially recognized by Kyoto Prefecture, is a network of several university student-led disaster prevention organizations. In addition to the activities that are jointly carried out by the 13 member universities, including Ritsumeikan University, each university undertakes its own initiatives, so Yamaguchi immediately decided to join Ritsumeikan FAST.

When she did, however, she found that the club had no track record of activities and was in danger of being disbanded. Nevertheless, she was determined to keep Ritsumeikan FAST and its history alive, so she began pursuing disaster prevention activities on her own accord. She patrolled the Kinugasa school district calling out “be careful with fire.” She diligently carried out these kinds of regular activities all by herself. Although she joined the club with a strong desire to promote community disaster prevention, her enthusiasm for the club's activities gradually waned.

This was precisely at this time that the Noto Peninsula earthquake occurred. When Yamaguchi heard about the earthquake on TV, she decided to use what she had learned as a member of a disaster prevention club and a volunteer fire brigade to help the affected area. She found out that Citizens Toward Overseas Disaster Recovery (CODE), a group that was established after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, was looking for disaster relief volunteers, so she applied. She formed a Footbath Team with several students from other universities, and they headed to the affected area on February 16.

Since electricity and gas had not been restored yet, they brought in clean water by car and prepared footbaths by heating the water with canisters of gas. The team maintained a dialogue and developed close ties with the locals by massaging their hands while they soaked in the footbaths.

“One person told us about the anxiety of living in an evacuation shelter and said they had not been able to sleep peacefully due to the continuing aftershocks. We recorded each person's words on cards, and we reviewed these together to consider how we could be more helpful,” explains Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi joined the first cohort of the Footbath Team, and its activities continue to this day (May 2024), with the 13th cohort now working in the area.

Disaster volunteerism rekindles a passion for community disaster prevention

After returning from Ishikawa Prefecture, Yamaguchi felt a strong desire to recruit as many members as she could to Ritsumeikan FAST and to expand the scope of the club’s activities. She started publishing a monthly newspaper called “Ritsu Hi no Yojin” and actively recruiting new members, and club membership has since grown to 20.

“You never know when a disaster will strike. Parents and children could have a fight in the morning, rush out of the house without saying goodbye to each other, and then end up parting ways forever. So, I think that part of disaster prevention is to avoid using hurtful words in your everyday life and to use kind words to develop strong lines of communication with those around you. Individual connections create a community, this can become a great strength. I was able to work hard even when I was the only member of Ritsumeikan FAST because the local people encouraged me and the members of the fire brigade helped me out. I am very grateful for the support they gave me,” says Yamaguchi.”

Yamaguchi says she wants Ritsumeikan FAST to become an organization that reminds people in the community to be mindful of disaster prevention. Let’s cheer her on as she continues to work toward her goal.