(Though this blog post is uploaded by my - Lorraine's - profile, this comes from Andrew Chen)
Since lots of posts here tend to talk about disaster prevention and funds, I would like to introduce Japan's Disaster Prevention System, which is titled as the best disaster prevention system around the globe.
Due to its vulnerability to natural disasters, Japan has successfully developed the world’s best disaster prevention system. The Earthquake Early Warning is invented to alert people through television or radios early enough before the earthquake actually taken place. When the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has detected P-wave (shown in figure 1) from more than two seismometers installed throughout the country. After JMA receive earthquake warnings from those seismometers, they would analyze and predict the rough area that the earthquake might affect, an alert would be sent out to the general public through televisions, radios and cell phone messages.
Japan learned its lesson during the Kobe earthquake of 1995 that killed more than 6,000 people and destroyed most of the transportation/residence infrastructure. After the disaster, the government decided to push out a reassessment of the building regulations for both residential offices and transport infrastructure: Buildings now are made mostly (lots of traditional wooden buildings survived through the Kobe Earthquake) in timber that could bear the tremor better than other materials.
The most important factor that Japan could prevent huge loss during the strike of natural disasters is education among the general public. Huge loss could be prevented when every part of the society knows how to response. Every individuals in Japan has been prepared for earthquakes due to the fact that schools, companies and government agencies must held earthquake drills from time to time by the law. Most Japanese have been prepared through numerous amounts of drills and education received from schools when they grow up.
When I visited Japan last year I had experienced more than ten times of mild earthquakes in one month and the locals there told me tons of information regarding how to react/response/do/not do after an earthquake. During my stay, sometimes I feel bad for them because the reason why they are so knowledgeable and prepared is the simple fact that they live on an island that is truly vulnerable, but there is no doubt that when a disaster strikes, they could manage to survive and look out for each other.
Sources and additional readings:
Author: Andrew Chen
Word Count: 337
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