This research investigated the current disaster system at schools, roles of schools at the time of a major disaster, and coordination between schools and Disaster-Preventive Welfare Communities within the school districts through interviews with school principles at Kobe City public elementary and junior high schools. It further investigated the issues and problems of using the schools as evacuation centers for the communities. The research was conducted targeting six elementary schools and four junior high schools within the city of Kobe in August 2003. The results show that the schools acknowledge that their school disaster prevention measures are making progress to a certain extent through individually crafting a disaster prevention manual, establishing a disaster prevention system and receiving support from the government. This was a commonly shared framework among the researched schools. However, divergence in the view about the role of schools as evacuation centers is evident among the three parties - school, government and the disaster prevention community - creating challenges for cooperation. Work regulations of teachers and administrators are different between districts and schools, which make relatively small details such as how to use holidays, handle benefits and come up with the necessary expenses hinder daily local cooperation.
