Letter:
Geotourism and Disaster Storytelling: Lessons from 2013 Izu-Oshima Island Debris Flow Disaster
Kana Nishitani*1, Kazuyuki Nakagawa*2, and Shingo Nagamatsu*3,*4,
*1Global Nature Club
1-74 Aza Kitano, Motomachi, Osima, Tokyo 100-0101, Japan
*2Jiji Press Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
*3Faculty of Societal Safety Sciences, Kansai University, Osaka, Japan
*4National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Ibaraki, Japan
Corresponding author
This report supports geotourism as an effective method of disaster storytelling, based on the lessons learned during and after the 2013 Izu-Oshima Island Debris Flow Disaster. Geotourism can provide a geological explanation to visitors as to why the disaster occurred in Izu-Oshima island, while also allowing a vital opportunity to help local people impacted by the disaster make sense of their catastrophic experiences. By doing so, individuals involved in geotourism can share a reverence and respect for the living Earth, which enables us to move forward even after experiencing a catastrophic disaster. This function is very similar to what Disaster Storytelling has.
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