Nyagao's Research Note: "Digital Disaster Prevention" Vol. 6

Snow damage is also a "disaster" — Digital technology connects the mutual aid power of snow country

— An interview with Natsu-san from the NPO Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier —

It's not just earthquakes and heavy rain that are "disasters," meow.
In snow country, the annual "snow damage" is also a serious disaster that threatens lives.
Accidents while shoveling snow off roofs, isolated villages, a shortage of snow removal volunteers...

There are people taking on these "challenges of coexisting with snow" using local wisdom and the power of digital technology, meow.

The person I interviewed this time is Natsuko Hoshino (Natsu-san) from the NPO Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier.
She came to Nagaoka City as a member of the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad, and after her term ended, she began working at the "Yamakoshi Reconstruction Exchange Center Orataru" as a staff member of the same NPO.

Orataru is a local exchange facility aimed at passing on the experiences of the earthquake and the efforts toward reconstruction to future generations, and sharing the culture and charm of Yamakoshi with the whole country. In addition to handling visits from local governments, fire brigades, and school officials, they also hold events that utilize local resources, such as photo exhibitions and mugwort dumpling making.

Also, the Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier is sharing disaster prevention models unique to snow country with the whole country, such as disaster prevention education, the development of snow removal tools, and the digital-based snow removal support project "YUBO." I asked about the "front line of snow country disaster prevention" where digital technology and mutual aid intersect, meow🐾

🎤 Characters

Interviewer: Nyagao (Deji-Labo NAGAOKA Assistant)
Speaker: Natsu-san (Works at NPO Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier / Yamakoshi Reconstruction Exchange Center Orataru)

From the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad to the front lines of disaster prevention

Nyagao:
First, I'd like you to tell me about your journey so far, meow🐾

Natsu-san:
I am from Kanagawa Prefecture, and after graduating from university, I moved to Yamakoshi as a member of the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad.
At first, I was supporting community development and events in the Yamakoshi area, but as I became involved in the front lines of snow damage and disaster prevention, I realized the importance of "mechanisms to protect the community."
After my term ended, I continued my activities as a staff member of the Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier. I currently work at the "Yamakoshi Reconstruction Exchange Center Orataru" and am involved in its operation.

What is the Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier?

Nyagao:
Orataru is a nice place where you can also see the scenery of the terraced rice fields, meow🐾
What kind of organization is the Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier, meow?

Natsu-san:
It is an organization that was established in the wake of the Chuetsu Earthquake, with the goal of fostering the "local power to overcome disasters."
Facing the new reality of large-scale disasters in mountainous areas with depopulation and an aging population, it was necessary to think about "reconstruction from disasters" and community development.

Our business activities include disaster prevention education, accepting study visits, developing snow removal tools, promoting safe snow removal methods, and operating the "Echigo Snow Shoveling Dojo" aimed at training snow removal volunteers.
In snow country, snow removal itself is an "act of protecting life," and spreading the knowledge and tools to do it safely is local disaster prevention itself.

What is the Echigo Snow Shoveling Dojo?

Nyagao:
"Snow Shoveling Dojo" is a cool name, meow🐾 What kind of thing is it, meow?

Natsu-san:
The "Echigo Snow Shoveling Dojo" is an initiative launched by several volunteers in 2007 following the heavy snow damage of 2006. The Chuetsu Disaster Prevention Frontier serves as its secretariat.
Initially, it focused on training volunteers with no snow removal experience in safe snow shoveling techniques, but as we held more sessions, the significance of increasing the region's "ability to receive support" became clear.

After that, it developed into activities that produce diverse effects, such as winter experience exchanges, raising awareness of disaster prevention, and grassroots disaster prevention exchanges across a wide area.
To date, it has been held over 60 times in more than 25 locations, producing over 1,500 graduates.
Furthermore, it has been "franchised" to Itoigawa City, Katashina Village in Gunma Prefecture, the Kinare district of Nagano City, and other places, and brother programs are continuing in various regions.

Nagao:
From snowy region to snowy region, it's a chain of disaster prevention connecting us, meow🐾

Snow removal support powered by digital: "YUBO"

Nagao:
I often hear about a project called "YUBO," but what kind of project is it, meow?

Natsu-san:
YUBO is a system that uses digital technology to connect snow removal volunteers with regions or snow removal organizations that need support.
We register snow removal volunteers via LINE in advance, and when we receive a request from a region in need of snow removal, we recruit volunteers using LINE.
We match them up by saying, "We are looking for 4 people this weekend!" and dispatch them to the site.

The number of YUBO registrants has now spread nationwide, and last season it was so popular that the spots filled up as soon as we started recruiting.
Many people are interested in mutual aid in snowy regions, which is truly encouraging.

📍 Click here for the official YUBO website → https://yuboinfo.yamakoshi.guide/

National digital snow disaster countermeasures: "Yuki-Oro Signal"

Nagao:
Is the government also advancing the digitalization of snow disaster countermeasures, meow?

Natsu-san:
Yes, that's right.
For example, there is a system called "Yuki-Oro Signal" operated in collaboration between the Japan Meteorological Agency and the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience.
This system estimates the weight of snow on roofs based on meteorological observation data and satellite data, and displays the "danger level" using color coding.
It can be checked on smartphones and computers, and it serves as a reference for deciding when to remove snow.

📍 Click here for Yuki-Oro Signal → https://xview.bosai.go.jp/products/snow-weight/

Nagao:
They are using the power of digital to "visualize danger," meow🐾
If regional initiatives like YUBO and national systems can connect, disaster prevention in snowy regions will evolve even further, meow🐾

Overcoming the barriers of laws and systems

Natsu-san:
When we started YUBO, the barriers of laws and insurance were very high.
Snow removal work involves danger, and we had to repeatedly coordinate and consult with various parties, including insurance companies, judicial scriveners, the government, and local mutual aid organizations, on how to organize the scope of application and liability for volunteer insurance for an unprecedented project.
The reason we were able to continue despite that was because of the understanding of the local mutual aid organizations.
Together with local people who know the site well, we created rules and mechanisms, and built a relationship of trust while ensuring safety.

Nagao:
It is truly a "fusion of digital and local wisdom," meow!

The future of mutual aid

Nagao:
I had the image that YUBO was a system for calling volunteers from outside, but
does it mean it will also be involved in mutual aid within the region from now on, meow?

Natsu-san:
Yes. Originally, it was becoming increasingly difficult to form mutual aid organizations only within the region...
There was a sense of crisis that "the organization itself might disappear in a few years."
So the idea of "then let's call people from outside" was born, and that's how YUBO started.

Nagao:
A regional crisis gave birth to a new digital mechanism, meow🐾

Natsu-san:
I think the number of members in mutual aid organizations will continue to decrease in the future.
But on the other hand, regular "boosters" who come repeatedly through YUBO are growing.
(*At YUBO, we call participants "boosters.")

People who know the site well and understand safety awareness and local circumstances have increased.
When that happens, regular boosters can naturally teach new boosters on-site,
saying things like "it's safe to move like this" or "it's better to remove this snow like this."

Nagao:
I see, meow. Right now in Yamakoshi, there are many "digital villagers" connected through Nishikigoi NFT who seem to be participating, and it feels like those "veteran digital villagers" are guiding the newcomers, meow🐾

Natsu-san:
Exactly! That's just how it feels.
Ultimately, the image is for the mutual aid organizations and YUBO to become one.

The members of the mutual aid organization, who have become fewer in number, will take the lead,
take command together with the regular boosters,
and carry out snow removal alongside the newly joined boosters.
In other words, it's a form where YUBO envelops the mutual aid organization.

Nagao:
It feels like mutual aid and digital are gradually melting into each other, meow✨

Natsu-san:
But to do that, we need time to cultivate regular boosters.
That is why I believe it is important to work together on-site through YUBO now—while there are still a certain number of mutual aid organization members left.

By doing that little by little,
and sharing things like "how to give instructions" and "the flow of safety checks,"
I believe that in the future, both within the region and among outside boosters,
we will be able to create a "next-generation mutual aid system" where everyone can act with peace of mind.

Nagao:
I see, meow~.
YUBO isn't a mechanism for "getting help from the outside," but rather
a mechanism where "the inside and outside mix and support each other," meow🐾

Natsu-san:
Yes. It would be ideal if it became like that.
We need a mechanism not just to call people from the outside like YUBO, but to continue supporting each other within the local area.
Updating the very "way mutual aid organizations exist" has become our next theme.

Nagao:
Digital is becoming a mechanism that not only "helps from the outside" but also "supports the inside," meow🐾

🐾Nagao's Summary

Snow damage is a serious disaster.
On that front, the region and digital technology are joining hands to evolve disaster prevention, meow🐾

The challenges Natsu-san and the others are taking on are gradually making the future of snow country brighter, meow🐾

Disaster prevention in snow country lies within "daily life itself," meow🐾
The wisdom learned at the Snow Shoveling Dojo, the circle of people connected by YUBO, and technology like the Snow Removal Signal.

Everything overlaps to create a warm form of disaster prevention where "people protect people."
The efforts of Natsu-san and the others are adigital disaster prevention model originating from snow country.
It is a beacon of hope that provides hints for regional disaster prevention across the country, meow🐾