How can I survive disasters in Japan?

Mission, surviving disasters in Nara (Japan) (researched 19th Oct 2013)

 

You are advised to ask "the Nara prefectural foreign resident support centre" regarding the issue.

Address 2F Silkia Nara, 8-1sanjyo, Nara city 630-8122

PH 0742-81-3320V

FAX 0742-81-3321

E-mail nara-icsc@office.pref.nara.lg.jp

 

There are several types of disasters in Nara.

1, earth quakes (地震) "jishin"

2, floods (洪水) "kozui"

3, land slides (地滑り) "jisuberi"

4, sever winds, storm (暴風) "bohuu"

5, sever rains, storm (豪雨) "gou"

How ever, except the earth quakes, they are able to practically forecast when and where the disasters come because those disasters are caused of typhoon (台風), tornados(竜巻) and other abnormal weathers.

 

What you should do to prepare yourself for those preventable disasters

1,  regularly gather information, check waters around you, check your evacuation routes, store water and food for a few days.

2, keep good communication with your neighborhood, exchanging greetings is essential. If you get to know each other, ask 'em about the issue.

3, designate a meeting spot for your family members and friends.

4, identify things you take to run with, such as passport, banking books, banking cards, credit cards and so on.

5, watch and listen to the radio ,TV and the inter net. There are many information sauce is on offer. I personally watch the NHK (ch2, ch12) in case of emergency.

There 4 more major channels are on TV (the Kansai area) 4ch, 6ch, 8ch, 10ch.

Generally, the radio stations (FM) have more multi lingual information

1, FM Osaka, 85.1

2, FM 802, 80.2

3, FM CO CO LO, 76.5

4, NHK FM, 87.4 (奈良市 Nara city)

5,Alpha- station, 89.4

 

The NHK Nara FM has the local frequencies   

東生駒 Higashiikoma 83.4MHz / 3W

宇陀 Uda 88.5MHz / 100W

栃原 Tochihara 83.7MHz / 30W

西吉野 Nishiyoshino 89.0MHz / 10W

山添 Yamazoe 82.3MHz / 10W

川上東川(うのがわ) Unogawa 83.3MHz / 10W

下北山 Shimokitayama83.4MHz / 10W

十津川小原 Totsukawaohara84.7MHz / 10W

御杖土屋原 Mitsuetsuchiyahara 84.8MHz / 10W

天川川合 Tenkawakawai  89.6MHz / 10W

Personally, I recommend you FM CO CO LO, 76.5 to listen to the multi lingual information.

How ever, you should watch the weather forcast regularly to see what happens in the sky.

What you should do in case of the floods or tsunami. (not in Nara)

1,Running up to higher ground (高台 takadai) and get away from the coast ASAP.

2,Stay upstairs, if you are in a building 

3,try to find the nearest evacuation centre

 

On the other hand the earth quakes are still unpredictable. They only critically deriver you warnings through mobile phones, TVs and other devices on line.

The Chinese characters which you will see with those warnings are listed below.

1, 地震 (jishin) earthquake

2, 震源 (shingen) epicentre

3, 震度 (shindo) scale of an earthquake

4, 余震 (yoshin) aftershock

5, 警報 (keiho) warning

6, 注意報 (chuiho) advisory warning

7, 津波 (tsunami) tsunami

8, 避難 (hinan) evacuation

9, 到達 (totatsu) arrival

10, 時間 (jikan) time

 

When those Chinese characters appear on the screens with unfamiliar buzzer,

you must take actions.

The types of actions are listed below.

1, try to stay under a table or some solid item to protect yourself against falling things.

2, try to stay away from the unstable things, for instance a wardrobe, a refrigerator and so on.

3, turn off the gas or stove to avoid causing a fire

4, make an escape route, open the doors to prevent 'em locked by accident

5, don't panic and run out the house, check the surroundings carefully and make sure your shoes are safe to put on. (be careful of broken glass)

Turn off the circuit breaker and gas before leaving the house.

 

In case you are outside

Watch falling things such as signs and pieces of broken glass, avoid walls.

 

In case you are driving a car

1, carefully stop the car on the left side to leave some room for ambulances or fire trucks.

2, leaving the car key in side, and evacuate with out the doors locking.

 

In case you are near the coast

1, run up to higher grounds and get away from the coast ASAP . (you must run from tsunami)

 

Japanese language you will see at an evacuation centre are listed below.

1, 避難 (hinan) evacuation

2, 避難所 (hinannjyo) evacuation centre

3, 受付 (uketsuke) reception

4, 登録 (toroku) registration

5, 被災者 (hisaisya) disaster victim

6, ライフライン (raihu rain) essential utilities

7, 給水 (kyusui) water supply

8, 安否確認 (anpikakunin) safety confirmation

9, 非常食 (hijiosyoku) emergency food

10, 炊き出し (takidashi) food provision

11, 配給 (haikyu) distribution

12, 救援物資 (kyuenbussi) relief supplies

13, 備蓄品 (bichikuhin) stockpile

You might face the cultural gap at an evacuation centre. The people may occasionally be aggressive. All you need to do is that "be cool," "treat the others as you want to be treated.

 

Over all

To manage emergencies, you have to get through the initial disorder on your own. Don't estimate to be saved by someone else, store supplies, drill evacuation procedures.

 

Conclsion

It was worth attending the lecture. I had given ideas to talk about the issue on my blog.

How ever, there are 2 million foreign residents in the nation. (11 thousand foreign residents in Nara pref )

On the other hand, a variety of disarstors have been happening across the nation every year.

What we (the interpreters  and the translaters) need to do is more attending the international exchange activities to help people understanding the protection against disasters and the other culturers.