Lectures for Foreign Students on Disaster Prevention:[What if an earthquake happens?]
Chapter 5
Chapter 5[Where to evacuate?]
You have to take refuge outside if houses and buildings get in danger at the time of disasters including an earthquake. But where should we evacuate? Administratively, we are advised to evacuate in the following procedure according to situation of damages.
(1) Temporary evacuation site(Temporary assembly point)
For the time being, take refuge to the nearest spacious places such as a local park or a schoolyard, and assess the situation. Temporary evacuation sites are likely to be designated by the local residents’ associations.
(2) Open evacuation area
If temporary evacuation sites seem dangerous, or you cannot reach the places, go and wait at a larger park or an open space. Open evacuation areas are designated by your city, ward, town, or village office.
(3) Evacuation shelter
Evacuation shelters are places for evacuees to live temporary when they lose their homes in a disaster. In general, local elementary and junior high schools are designated as evacuation shelters.
They illustrate the procedures of evacuation at their websiteTokyo Metropolitan Government's Disaster Prevention Information.
Where is the location of evacuation places?
It is advised to find out the locations of temporary evacuation sites, open evacuation areas, and evacuation shelters in your region. For residents of Tokyo city, they offer Tokyo Disaster Prevention MAP on which you can look up evacuation places of each region.
| Websites showing evacuation shelter maps of other municipalities | |
|---|---|
| City of Sapporo | where to evacuate? |
| City of Nagoya | Map of Shelters & Safe Areas |
| Osaka City | Map of disaster prevention in your region |
| Kobe City | Evacuation shelters at disaster |
| Fukuoka City | Disaster Prevention Map |
In addition, please do a computer search by the words of “
(your place of residence) evacuation shelter” to find out a list of evacuation sites on the website of your municipal office.
In the case of Bunkyo-ward in Tokyo, for example, the search word “Bunkyo-ward evacuation shelter” show the web page named “Evacuation areas at disasters,” in which they give the geographical lists of evacuation sites and shelters predetermined in the ward.
Make a visit.
More often than not, they just write down the addresses and maps of the evacuation places on their website or guidebooks they issue, and it is difficult to tell exactly where the places are unless you are very familiar with geographical circumstances and the names of schools and parks in your town. Only by the maps, we expect that you can not imagine accurately how far it is, how wide or narrow the streets are, nor what on earth the evacuation areas is like, especially when you are a foreign resident there.
Hence, it is recommended to make a visit on foot to the evacuation places in your place of residence and have a look at them before a real disaster takes place. By doing that you would realize things like, “it is further than I expected,” or “they have no pedestrian crossing here,” or maybe “that footbridge doesn’t seem very stable so we should not use in the event of disaster.” Please make a preliminary inspection of geographical circumstances in your town so as not to get upset in an emergency.
Again, it is also preferable to memorize the names and locations of districts, schools, and parks around. Emergency broadcasting from police or fire stations will inform you of which park you should take refuge at the time of disaster, but it won’t be any use unless you know its locations.
On evacuation.
As mentioned in the chapter 2, it is no need to take refuge outside except when insides the houses or buildings are not safe, or there appears danger of fires. The time to evacuate immediately is listed below;
when there is the outbreak of a fire beyond your control
when you can see the danger of building collapsing
if police or fire station instruct you to
Remember the following points concerning evacuation;
turn off circuit breaker and the gas main before leaving
put on well-sized and sturdy shoes
keep your possessions to a minimum
do not use a car nor bicycle to evacuate
take action in a group, together with your family, friends, neighbors when possible.