Emergency Preparedness Megathread

In light of the recent earthquake and the international media doing their best proverbial headless-chicken impression regarding the Nankai Trough megaquake advisory (Not “warning”. Advisory) the mod team thought it might be a good time to throw together a thread where people can ask questions about natural disasters in Japan and how to prepare for them.

So here you go. Got a question about emergencies or natural disasters in Japan? Ask away. Got a suggestion for emergency preparedness that you think might be helpful to people planning on moving to Japan? Let it rip.

As with all of our megathreads the subreddit rules apply as usual.

Rule 1 (Refrain from harassment and bigotry) will be heavily enforced in this particular thread. Just… Don’t be an ass, ok? Don’t even do something that could even remotely be considered “being an ass”. This is a topic that a lot of people are somewhat anxious about. They don’t need people jumping down their throats for not having researched literally every possible thing about their question.

Likewise with Rule 6 (Don't know? Don't post!). This is not the place for unsourced information, or conspiracy theories, or internet folklore.

by dalkyr82

9 comments
  1. I usually like to promote the Safety Tips app that was sponsored by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). It has alerts and information available in several languages. The only problem I have with it is that in the summer it “alarms” when JMA issues their daily “it’s dangerously hot today” warning at like 7am. It also “alarmed” for me a couple of times for volcanic eruptions in some extremely remote locations.

    Anyway, it’s a decent app with good info. It’s also free.
    https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/app.html

  2. A helpful app for emergency notifications is NERV: https://nerv.app/en/

    It does both registered address notifications and live location, so if you’re temporarily in an area effected by an alert it will inform you, while also *not* informing you if the alert doesn’t affect your area.

  3. Hi, I was in Tokyo on the 9 Aug and the alert system triggered all mobile phone with an alert of the 5.3 earthquake. Although I didn’t feel anything, and most people just looked around and deactivated their phone alerts and went on with business.

    Is that the normal reaction? This is the first time I experienced this and had no clue what to do and followed the flow….

    I am still in the mist of getting the apartment ready before planning more extended stays but I am not familiar with the procedures of these situations… I am reading [https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/app.html](https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/app.html) and are there things I need to prepare for these emergencies that I need to keep in the apartment?

    Thanks for any advice.

  4. What food is recommended for a “go bag”? I was thinking granola bars (light weight but with some nutrients/calories), but perhaps I’m living in a less hippy place, but I can’t seem to find any in the local supermarkets. Preferably something suitable for a toddler as well.

  5. Is there anywhere you can buy a premade go bag, or is it better to put your own together? Arriving in Japan soon and wondering where to start with it 🙂

  6. Japan’s Meteorological Agency closed its advisory on the Nankai Trough earthquake at 17:00 JST on August 15.

    Please continue to note that the Nankai Trough earthquake has a 70% to 80% probability of occurring within 30 years.

  7. I’m moving to Yokohama later this year and was discussing this subject with my wife the other day and suggested we get a ‘portable power station’, something like this:

    https://www.anker.com/uk/anker-solix/camping-series

    This was off the back of my wife saying that a major potential issue is a long term power outage during high summer temperatures. So even though you couldn’t run your A/C you could at least keep a fan or two running along with phones/radio, a small fridge maybe. Combined with solar charging you could potentially have a power source for as long as needed.

    Are these a thing in Japan? My wife hadn’t seen one before. We’ll be living with our year old daughter and 70 year old mother so excessive temperatures would be a concern.

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