Earthquake warning confuses foreign residents in northern Japan

Sendai – The first disaster warning issued by the central government under a new warning system has caused confusion among foreign residents and even Japanese citizens.

It was issued after the December 8 earthquake off Aomori Prefecture under the name: “Earthquake warning off the coast of Hokkaido and Sanriku after the earthquake.”

The warning called for increased vigilance against possible subsequent earthquakes for a week until midnight on December 16. But he also urged people in the targeted area to reaffirm their preparations and prepare an evacuation system.

Since it was the first warning issued under the disaster regime introduced in December 2022, many Japanese were surprised by the long content.

For foreign residents, many of whom are not fluent in Japanese, this warning has added to their stress.

The Sendai Tourism, Convention and International Association (SenTIA), which supports foreigners living in Sendai, simplified the warning in a social media post on December 9: “Atokara kuru jishin ni, ki o tsukete kudasai” (Please be careful of aftershocks).

The message included translations in five languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Nepali.

About 18,000 foreign nationals live in the capital of Miyagi Prefecture.

The government report is based on past events in the area off the coast of Sanriku and the Pacific side of Hokkaido. In those cases, a larger earthquake occurred after a magnitude 7 earthquake.

SenTIA staff believed that if government information was transmitted only in Japanese, foreign nationals would have difficulty understanding it.

Task force members chose to use a model created several years ago that calls for “caution about aftershocks.” They thought this was the most appropriate and simplistic message.

“We were not prepared for the subsequent earthquake warning,” a SenTIA representative said. He added: “We were not able to provide a message regarding reaffirming preparations and preparing an evacuation system.”

In the future, the organization will consult with government officials, including the city's crisis management office, to determine what information should be disseminated in the event of a disaster and prepare a new model.

This advice was confusing even for long-time foreign residents of Japan.

“I saw the advice, but I didn’t understand the specific preparations,” said Chen Xingxia, who is from China and has lived in Japan for nearly 30 years. “Newcomers may have difficulty understanding any of the consultation content.”

Shetty Magfra, a Tohoku University graduate student from Indonesia, used her experience surviving a major earthquake in her homeland to offer advice after the Dec. 8 quake.

She posted information on social media in English and Indonesian for her friends who don't have much experience dealing with earthquakes.

“The news and tsunami warnings were all in Japanese,” she said. “People who are not used to Japanese cannot understand them.”

She said she wished the full text of tsunami warnings sent to mobile phones were available in English.

Dawadi Bhawani from Nepal noted the difficulty of urging caution among foreign residents.

After being exposed to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, she was registered as a “Resident Foreign Leader of Sendai Disaster Prevention,” which calls on foreigners to prepare for disasters.

After the December 8 earthquake, she shared SenTIA's post and called on foreign residents to take necessary precautions.

But she said the majority did not understand what they should actually prepare for.

Although she was anxious during the 2011 disaster, she remembers feeling safe during her evacuation surrounded by Japanese people.

“During a disaster, everyone should feel the same anxiety,” she said. “I want Japanese and foreigners to help each other.”

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