It’s almost been a month since the Noto Peninsula earthquake. In the disaster-stricken areas, support and activities for recovery and reconstruction continue. Improving efficiency through digitalization using IT is also an important issue. In particular, the work of managing evacuation centers accounts for a large portion of local government work immediately after a disaster.
Movement range of disaster victims spreads over a wide area
In the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, disaster-affected people are expected to move from the primary evacuation center to the 1.5th or 2nd evacuation center, or start living outside the evacuation center (at a relative’s house or home in or outside of the prefecture, sleeping in a car, etc.). Opportunities for people to move across wider areas are increasing. The 1st and 5th evacuation shelters referred to here refer to temporary evacuation facilities outside the disaster area, and the 2nd evacuation shelters refer to hotels and inns within and outside the prefecture.
Due to the movement over a wide area, it is difficult to ascertain the whereabouts of individual disaster victims and the usage status of each evacuation center. It is difficult to properly understand the whereabouts and actions of each disaster victim, and the challenge is how to solve this problem.
In order to solve this problem, the Digital Agency and the Disaster Prevention DX Public-Private Co-Creation Council, in response to a request from Ishikawa Prefecture, worked together with East Japan Railway Company to develop a solution for grasping evacuee information using the transportation IC card Suica. Propose and implement.
Specifically, plastic Suica cards are distributed to evacuation center users, and upon receiving the card, users are asked to register four pieces of information about themselves (address, name, date of birth, gender), and then use the evacuation center. Each time you do so, have your Suica held up to a reader installed at the evacuation center. This allows us to understand the status of each user’s use of the evacuation center.
This data is aggregated at the Ishikawa Prefectural Office the next day, and while listening to the needs of the affected cities and towns, the prefecture uses it to understand the users of each evacuation center, improve the efficiency of supply support, and provide basic information for creating disaster victim registers created by cities and towns. It is said that it will be utilized.
Evacuation center entry/exit management using Suica
At the digital agency’s digital minister Taro Kono’s press conference held on January 26, the minister directly explained this initiative.
The minister stated that the range of movement of disaster victims has expanded over a wide area, making it difficult to grasp the situation, and that many people have been evacuated, including those living outside of evacuation centers and those staying at friends’ homes or sleeping in their cars. He explained that he decided to use Suica as a mechanism to understand the usage status of the place.
Normally, he should have used his My Number card, but he says he didn’t get it in time this time.
The Suica side system is “Suica smart lock” In addition, Palantir Technologies Japan was in charge of system development in cooperation with Sompo Holdings. Minister Kono says that by using this system, it will be possible to contribute to increasing the efficiency of material support. The time it took to make it a reality was quick, and we were able to implement the entire plan in a concrete form within a few days from the request from Ishikawa Prefecture.Currently, the Digital Agency is dispatching two employees to Ishikawa Prefecture, and the project will be completed next week. It is said that the operation will officially start.
This initiative was made possible after JR East offered to provide 18,000 Suica cards and 350 readers free of charge.
At this point, there are approximately 310 primary evacuation centers, housing 10,000 people. Victims move in a variety of ways, such as coming during the day to receive food and returning home at night. The prefecture’s request is to understand what kind of movements they are making.
Let’s increase the carrying rate instead of storing it in a drawer
Some people are asking why the My Number card is not used.
This time, the operation was made possible because JR East provided Suica and its reader free of charge, but since the reader provided is for Suica, that is, it is a FeliCa reader, it is Type B, that is, a type B card that uses NFC-B. It is said that the number card cannot be read. It’s a bit disappointing to think that the country doesn’t even have around 300 readers available.
I was offered a Suica card for free, and this time, as a result of the act, I had to manually link it to the 4 information. If the My Number card could be read, the 4 information could be entered automatically.
However, Minister Kono says it is important to be prepared in case of a disaster like this one, and we must do our best for the future as well. In any case, it is important to carry a My Number card during normal times, so the Digital Agency will strive to increase the ownership rate, but it is also necessary to look at the carrying rate at the same time.
Ideally, when using the evacuation center for the first time, there would be some kind of simple reader that would allow people to register using their My Number card. It would be desirable if the My Number card carrying rate was high.
By obtaining accurate information such as your actual gender and age, you should be able to determine the approximate number of items you need, and in some cases, you may also be able to include information such as food allergies and medication.
By the way, people who currently have their own Suica may be able to use the one they have, but since the Suica does not contain 4 information, it will be necessary to link it. Additionally, with this system, it is necessary to pre-register the cards that can be used for the card slot installed, and personally owned Suicas and mobile Suicas cannot be used.
There’s no need to worry if you’re prepared
The country has been thinking about how to respond to disasters through demonstration experiments and other activities. Just the other day, the Disaster Prevention Team of the Digital Agency’s Citizen Services Group summarized the results of a demonstration experiment conducted in October 2023 with the cooperation of Kanagawa Prefecture, and announced on December 15th last year, “Evacuate support for wide-area disasters.” We have just published a research study on improving digital business operations.Research on improving digital operations for evacuee support operations for wide-area disasters). A second experiment was scheduled to be conducted this February.
In the demonstration experiment, we verified how much the average procedure processing time differed from the current work for five patterns: use of My Number card, use of evacuee app, transportation IC + PC input, and use of tablets installed at evacuation centers. Compared to the traditional handwritten method, admission procedures were completed in 90.2% of the time, or one-tenth of the time, resulting in a reduction in workload.
It was planned that the results of the experiment would be made open, allowing third parties to utilize the knowledge, know-how, and program sources, facilitating implementation in each local government and app development by private businesses.
Ironically, this disaster occurred immediately after the results of the experiment were published.
In the experiment, it was possible to use transportation IC cards other than Suica. This experience might have turned out differently if the reader had also been able to read NFC-B.
I don’t know how things will progress in the future, but I would like to make it possible to do the same thing by pointing to a unique ID issued, such as a QR code, and linking it with the 4 information. You should also think about it.
In any case, rather than remembering to take your My Number card with you in the event of a disaster, it is better to carry it with you on a regular basis. Don’t keep it in your drawer, take it with you. The day will come when it will come in handy (actually, I’d rather that day never come).
2024-01-26 21:06:00
#Shohei #Yamadas #Reconfig.sysMy #Number #Card #dont #put #drawer #carry #handy
