1. Current State of Disaster and Accidents Involving Students
Many people,including children,lost their lives during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January1995,and this severe natural disaster left the country with the huge task of questioning the role of schools during calamities,disaster prevention systems for schools and boards of education,and disaster preventative and earthquake-proof school facilities and disaster prevention education(education conceming safety during disasters).In recent years the traffic enviromnent is in such a severe condition that it could even be called the"second traffic war."Although the number of deaths nationwide due to traffic accidents in1997was lower than10,000for the second consecutive year,the number of traffic accidents and the number of people injured in accidents have both increased,making the situation as severe as ever.
Traffic conditions are also serious for students,although the number of student deathscaused by traffic accidents has slightly decreased.In1997,102elementary school,51lower secondary school and309upper secondary school students were killed in traffic accidents( see Table2-4 ).
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