The Cabinet Office has decided on the recipients of the 2017 Prime Minister's Commendation for Disaster Prevention.
The Prime Minister's Commendation for Disaster Prevention Distinguished Service is based on "Disaster Prevention Day" and "Disaster Prevention Week". Awards are given to individuals or groups who have contributed in terms of their achievements and whose achievements are recognized to be particularly remarkable. In 2017, 7 individuals and 38 groups were commended from all over the country.
The following 7 people were individually commended.
・ Naoshi Hirata, Director and Professor, Earthquake Prediction Research Center, Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo
・ Professor Emeritus, Iwate University Tokumi Saito
・ Mr. Hiroyuki Fujiwara, Director, Social Disaster Prevention System Research Division, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention
・ Professor Takashi Nakagawa, Aichi Medical University
・ Professor Noriichi Shimizu, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Yamaguchi University
・ Professor Emeritus of Tokushima University, Hitoshi Murakami
・ Mr. Etsuro Shimokawa, Specially Appointed Professor, Center for Regional Disaster Prevention Education and Research, Kagoshima University
Professor Hirata, Director of the Earthquake Prediction Research Center, Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, was in charge of estimating the seismic intensity distribution, tsunami, etc. in the event of an earthquake directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area, and formulating an approach policy for strategic promotion of research and research on disaster prevention measures. It was highly praised for his great contribution to the development of the disaster prevention system, such as making many useful proposals from a wide range of knowledge.
Professor Emeritus Saito of Iwate University has been working on the construction of a volcanic disaster prevention system since 1998 when the volcanic activity of Mt. Based on the lessons learned from the 2016 Typhoon No. 10 disaster that caused enormous damage to Iwate Prefecture, in addition to disaster prevention education for disaster prevention staff and fire brigades, we will make efforts to establish the "Iwate Prefecture Wind and Flood Damage Countermeasure Support Team". It was highly evaluated for its contribution to the development of the disaster prevention system in the region.
Professor Nakagawa of Aichi Medical University entered the disaster area from the day after the disaster as a general DMAT (disaster medical assistance team) in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 and the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and spearheaded the operation of doctor helicopters nationwide. He carried out medical relief activities by smooth air transportation.Also, in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, as the Aichi Prefecture Disaster Medical Coordinator, he was engaged in the command of DMAT dispatching to the disaster area and medical support activities in the disaster area.Efforts to improve the disaster prevention system over many years were highly evaluated.
