disaster prevention

mia && the pamphlet from the disaster preventer center

akp took us to the disaster prevention center this afternoon. what an interesting experience to say the least. i pretended to hang out with my friends in a simulation room when an earthquake "struck". the room literally started to shake violently as we dove under the kitchen table. then when the shaking was at a minimum, we mocked the steps we would take if a real one were to occur. at another station, my friends and i were hit with "winds" at 32 meters/second to simulate a typhoon. some other things we did: attack fires on a huge sensitive screen with real extinguishers, sit in an unlit room to experience the severity of a mudslide through headphones, and escape a burning "hotel" through winding hallways filled with smoke. [unfortunately, none of the above-mentioned activities are shown on that particular page of the pamphlet] anyway, it seems that disaster prevention is really taken seriously in japan.

during middle school in the united states, i learned to hide under my desk or run to a corner of the classroom should anything happen. 

hmm....