Ever since I arrived at the CITYNET Secretariat, I have been curious about a small pile of pastel yellow plastic hats in the corner of the office. They are shaped like children’s bike hats, although sized for adults, and seem incongruent in an office environment surrounded by brochures and electronics.
Then today, at around 3:00PM, the International Organizations building, where the CITYNET offices are located, held one of their regular disaster drills. A calm and pleasant voice piped in over our loudspeaker system and politely asked us to locate an emergency exit and assemble outside the building, although we had to make sure to exit as far away from the shore of Yokohama Bay as possible in order to avoid tsunamis. But before we did any of that, we got to put on our hats.
After filing downstairs, the entire building practiced using fire extinguishers, crawling through a fake smoke filled tunnel, and staying (somewhat) upright in the earthquake simulator truck. Despite the serious nature of the drill, it was strangely fun!
Growing up in America, our emergency drills were focused on fires and terrorist attacks, rarely earthquakes. Watching people bounce around inside the earthquake simulator truck reminded me of how important it is for people in the Asia Pacific to take part in these drills. I was glad that after having been part of CITYNET for two months, I was finally able to practice some of the Disaster Risk Reduction techniques that we promote throughout the region. And that I was able to figure out the meaning of those mysterious hats.
by Brenna Foster
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