Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A typical organization of self-fire-fighting in Japan is called “Shobodan” (volunteer fire corps). During Kobe earthquake in 1995 the fire authorities noticed many limitations in the fire fighting capability. After the Kobe Earthquake community-based organizations were integrated in D.P.W.C (The Disaster Prevention Welfare Community) and the Shobodan’s activities are done at a wider scale comparing with before 1995. Some educational activities such as holding disaster drills by experts and teaching residents about firefighting have been added to the current Shobodan’s responsibilities. The main objective of D.P.W.C is disaster prevention including fire-fighting, crime prevention and improving welfare. The integration of disaster prevention and welfare is a new approach in an aging society such as Japan and has an important meaning.