photo by Jorge Quinteros
From the metropolis Tokyo to the old capital Kyoto or Nara, from delicious Japanese food to pop culture. When you think of Japan, countless things come to mind. But apart from sightseeing spots and unique culture, there is another special characteristic of Japan – well, its natural disasters. Japan is a small island country, there are many factors location-wise and geographical, that make disasters relatively easy to happen. If you are a foreigner living in Japan, chances are that you will have to face one of these disasters one day. To prepare you for that state of emergency, the Japan Tourism Agency has released a free application with information on disasters called “Safety Tips”. This time, we will introduce the features of this application, which is available for both Android and iPhone.
Why are there so many disasters in Japan?
The size of Japan makes up a mere 0,25% of the world, but the number of earthquakes of more than magnitude 6 is 20%, the number of active volcanos is 7%, and disaster damage make up 18,3%, making Japan range among the world’s top ranks. The most common natural disasters in Japan are divided in three categories.
Typhoon, Heavy Rain- and Snowfalls
Japan’s climate is divided into four clear seasons. Each year’s season from spring to summer is characterised by heavy rainfalls, and from the end of summer until fall, typhoon’s approach from tropical areas – and when they hit the country, causing heavy downpours. In the northern regions, Tohoku and Hokkaido, heavy snow falls during the winter season. And if it is a year of El Nino, it will cause low atmospheric pressure in southern Japan, and heavy snow falls in the Kanto region as well.
Floods and Landslides
Only very small parts of Japan are plain regions – 70% of the country is characterized by mountains and hills. Rivers run alongside steep slopes, so when heavy rain makes the water level rise, they will food immediately. If areas with many slopes meet humid weather, it will cause landslides.
Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanos
Japan is located right on the border of an oceanic and a continental plate, making it a place where earthquakes can hanppeneasily due to activities and motions of these plates. Also, right on the Pacific volcanic belt, 108 volcanos are located in Japan, making 7% of the world’s volcanic activity happen here.
“Safety Tips” Main Features
The application released by the Japan Tourism Agency, “Safety Tips”, is designed to bring the latest news on disaster to its target users, foreigners living in Japan. It is also supposed to inform you immediately on how to deal with the disaster. It will notify you automatically about earthquake and tsunami warnings.
- Push notifications for earthquakes of a 4 and over intensity on the seismic scale and tsunami warnings as well as instructions on “what to do next”.
- Push notifications for weather warnings such as heavy rain, floods, storms, blizzards, have snow, high sea or high tide, including weather information on a glance and instructions on what to do.
- Information and warnings on volcanic eruptions in Japan, and details on the location. You can also check the current situation of volcanic activities.
*To use these features, you will need to activate the use of your current location.
How to use “Safety Tips” the right way
Safety Tips comes in four language – Japanese, English, Chinese (traditional and simplified characters) and Korean. For those who cannot speak Japanese, there is a feature called “Communication Cards”. You can ask for the name of your current location, or where the closest emergency shelter is. All questions will be displayed in five languages.
Also, there is an “Evacuation Flow Chart” informing you on necessary steps to take during a disaster, a list of embassies, and other convenient tools. Make sure to check out all the application’s features when downloading it!
Download “Safety Tips”
Summary
There are only four more years until the 2020 Olympics. More and more people visit Japan from abroad, and even move here. But depending on your home country’s location, you might have never experienced an earthquake before in your life. But not knowing what to do in a state in emergency, and panicking, will make everything much worse. If you are staying in Japan, make sure to download this application and prepare for the emergency.
