Many lives were lost in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and it is reported that approximately 160 million people are affected and approximately 100,000 people killed by natural disasters each year worldwide. Both the number of such disasters and the number of victims have tripled over the past decade. Not only are natural disasters occurring on a larger scale and with greater frequency than in the past but they are also becoming a more “immediate” problem. This means that non-traditional approaches are also required with respect to disaster preparation education, disaster time response, and disaster area support.
    Citizens, creators and government authorities in countries around the world are addressing this issue by taking a “+creative” approach that involves introducing free and innovative ideas. Although these approaches are aimed at addressing natural disasters facing people in their own counties, the processes and methods they employ to reach consensus can be highly valuable to other countries too. For instance, there have been cases of Japanese disaster preparation education programs being adopted in Indonesia and Thailand and taking root there.
    Accordingly, in the present project, we are proposing to establish a platform that will allow creators, ordinary citizens, NPOs and administrative authorities around the world to share, cooperate on, and mutually study information. This information will be obtained by selecting excellent case examples from various countries and gathering information about their background, process flow, the implementing side’s thinking, achievements, challenges, etc., and then building an archive for this information centered on a website.

As a means to introduce exemplary support activities being carried out by various organizations (e.g. NPOs and creators) in the area of disaster prevention, preparation and response, an ‘Earth Manual Project’ (EMP) was launched in Kobe, Japan, during 2013. Then, in order to archive all the exemplary cases profiled and to serve as a manpower expertise resource - as well as to promote sharing, connecting and mutual learning - a website platform “http://www.earthmanual.org” was established in July 2014.
    Furthermore, activities for promoting the site were held, an English language version of the EMP manual translated, publicity tools produced, and talk events held in Thailand and Indonesia.
    As for the EMP Exhibition, a traveling version began at the Ayala Museum in the Philippines in November 2014. There are now plans to hold the exhibition at two more venues in the Philippines as well as in Thailand, India and other destinations. To maximize the possibilities afforded by this traveling exhibition, the EMP would like to build new relationships with creators and further enhance the archive website.
    The linkage between the EMP Exhibition, the archive website, their mutual promotion, together with the associated network of creators around the world, are giving birth to new projects that contribute to disaster preparation education and promotion beyond national borders, inspirational projects being implemented in a variety of different places.