Children

Emergencies
Disaster and Emergency
Earthquakes
Emergency Services
Fires
Emergency Japanese
Snow
Typhoons

Free Time

Government

Home

Health / Medical

Information

Transportation

Work

While living abroad or travelling, it is wise to keep a duplicate copy of all personal and emergency information. This includes copies of your:

• Passport (including disembarkation card, work visa, re-entry permits, issue dates, authority)
• Alien Registration Card (front and back)
• Life Insurance policies (including current contact information of next of kin or beneficiaries)
• Japanese National Health Card
• Bank book
• National and International Driving Permits

These duplicate copies should be kept somewhere outside of your apartment. The best place is probably at your school or office. You may also want to alert someone of their whereabouts so that this information is readily accessible in cases of emergency. You may also want to designate someone as an emergency contact person. This person should be available 24 hours a day and trusted to have access to your personal information.

You should keep an emergency kit in your house at all times.
A sample kit might contain:

• First aid kit and medications


• Water (3-day supply)
• Plastic sheet
• Food
• Copy of passport/alien registration card
• Flashlight, batteries
• Money
• Portable radio, batteries
• Extra clothes, winter wear (hats, mitts, scarves)
• Candles, matches
• Pencil, paper
• Towels
• Umbrella

Japan is a very earthquake-prone country, so it is important to know what precautions to take and what to do in the event of one.

Preparations:

• Ask someone in your neighbourhood to explain what to do in the case of a disaster. Discuss a plan of action with your family (including meeting place and contact). Evacuation drills are often held on Sept. 1st (anniversary of Kanto Earthquake of 1923).
• Know the emergency evacuation site which is the closest to your house or office.
• Prepare an emergency kit as detailed above.
• Make sure there isn't a lot of things that might fall off shelves while you are sleeping.
• Secure furniture to walls to prevent overturning or sliding.

In the event of an earthquake:

• Turn off your gas and heaters
• Protect yourself under a study table, desk or door frame.
• Guard your head with a cushion.
• Open doors to keep them from jamming.
• Wear shoes to protect your feet from broken glass.
• If you are outside, watch for falling glass, wires, signs, walls, etc. Stay away from walls, embankments, and alleyways.
• If you are in a crowded area such as a department store, listen for instructions and follow the rest of the crowd.
• Do not use elevators.
• If you are driving, do to the side of the road near an open area and stop until the shaking subsides. Leave your car key in the ignition.
• If possible turn on the TV or radio after the initial quake, and pay attention to aftershock - yoshin and tidal wave - tsunami warnings.

NHK will air information and instructions in English over all of its TV and radio channels in the case of a natural disaster. For a bilingual broadcast, tune to television channel 1, satellite channel 1 or 2.

You can also listen to:

• NHK 1 AM 1161 KHz
• NHK 2 AM 1539 KHz
• NHK FM 85.9 MHz

The Japanese classification for earthquakes is different from the Richter scale.

For more information please refer to the following Earthquake Survival Manual created by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

http://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.jp/index3files/survivalmanual.pdf

JMA (Japanese Meterological Agency) Seismic Intensity Scale:

1 = slight tremor, some people feel it
2 = light tremor, most people feel it
3 = weak quake, houses shake lightly
4 = medium quake, houses shake a lot
5 = strong quake, walls crack
6 = violent quake, less than 30% of buildings fall down
7 = destructive quake, more than 30% of buildings fall down

How to make an emergency call:

Ambulance : Dial 119 to call an ambulance. You will be automatically connected with the fire department so please say "Kyukyu desu" to ask for an ambulance. Ambulances are free in Japan.

Fire Department : Dial 119 for the Fire Department. Please say "Kaji desu".

Police : Dial 110 for the Police. Report theft, crime, or a traffic accidents. Calls get forwarded to the main switchboard in Fukushima City, where the details are taken down and relayed to the local police station.

If you are calling from a public telephone, you must first press the red emergency button, located on the front of the telephone, and then dial 110 or 119.

The main police station in Aizu Wakamtsu is located in Ikki-machi - 0242-22-5454. Go to the main station to report a burglary, lost articles, traffic accidents, to get your Japanese drivers' license renewed, or to ask for directions. There is an officer stationed here whose responsibility is foreign residents. There are also several police boxes (koban) and small branch police stations where the police live with their families (chuzai-sho). They are there to help in emergencies and to give directions when you are lost.

Fukushima Prefectural Police Headquarters supports various programmes for helping to relieve the mental anguish of crime victims or survivors of disasters. They have implemented a system under which English speaking female officers counsel and advise victims of sexual crimes. Call 0245-23-2110 to make use of this service

Be aware of these precautions for preventing a fire in your home.

• Never leave a heater unattended. Turn off all heaters when you leave the house and when you go to bed. Only use a timer if you are 100% certain that you will be in the house when the heater turns on.
• Make sure all family members know where the fire extinguisher is kept and how to use it.
• Fire extinguisher basics: pull out the pin, direct the nozzle to the base of the fire, squeeze the lever.
• Make sure everyone in the family knows the word KAJI (fire) so that they can yell to alert the neighbours.
• Also make sure that everyone knows that 119 is the number for the fire department/ambulance. After calling 119, give the operator as many details as possible and have someone go outside to direct the fire truck/ambulance.

Ambulance, please... = kyukyusha onegai shimasu

Fire Engine, please... = shoubousha onegai shimasu

Police, please... = keisatsu onegai shimasu
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Please help me... = Tasukete kudasai

Please come quickly... = Hayaku kite kudasai

Fire = Kaji desu

Injury = Kega desu

Accident = Jiko desu

Robbery = Dorobo desu

Explosion = Bakuhatsu desu

Giving the location = Basho wa ____________ desu