. >> reporter: shimosaka's school is only 50 meters from the ocean in soki.re are fears that an earthquake could trigger a tsunami. >> reporter: after participating in the program, shimosaka decided to have a second look at her school's measures. she started with the manual, which recommended evacuatining the school's third floor. >> translator: if there is a hugege tsunami a and you're on third floooor, there's nowhere run. the manual only recommended locations within the grounds. >> reporter: shimosaka looked for other places to designate for evacuation. but she found that the high ground nearby would only fit a third of her students and would also be used by residents. >> translator: preschool students would also evacuate here, so we'd only be able to fit the first and second graders. >> reporter: a bigger patch of high ground is a 20-minute walk away, raising questions of whether there would be enough time to reach it. when shimosaka returned to her school, she asked her disaster management team to rethink evacuation procedures. >> reporter: after careful

. >> shimosaka looked for other places to designate for evacuation, but she found that the high ground nearby would only fit a third of her students and would also be used by residents. >> translator: preschool students would also evacuate here, so we'd only be able to fit the first and second graders. >> a bigger patch of high ground is a 20-minute walk away raising questions of whether there would be enough time to reach it. when shimosaka returned to her school she asked her disaster management team to rethink disaster procedures. after careful consideration they decided that children in the lower grades would go to the nearby evacuation area. children in higher grades would go to the site farther away because they can move faster. the school now plans to continue reviewing and updating the manual to secure measures that will save lives. >> translator: my personal opinion is that all facululty members need to be beyond prepared to save students' lives and that means preparation so thorough that teachers can think on their feet and take instant acaction. so that will require us t to