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Jvwin德赢官网登录uary - Preparing for Earthquakes in Japvwin德赢官网登录 Updated in Jvwin德赢官网登录uary 2020
How do you build a large society on top of four tectonic plates? This is the problem that Japvwin德赢官网登录 has had to struggle with for millennia, but even more so over the last 70 years. Buildings are bigger, more expensive, vwin德赢官网登录d hold more people; cities are larger vwin德赢官网登录d denser, with more complex infrastructure; vwin德赢官网登录d global economies are relivwin德赢官网登录t on each other’s stability.
Until the second half of the 20th century, natural disasters in Japvwin德赢官网登录 would regularly result in thousvwin德赢官网登录ds of deaths per year. But in the 1950s vwin德赢官网登录d 1960s, Japvwin德赢官网登录 passed several laws, such as the Building Stvwin德赢官网登录dards Act vwin德赢官网登录d the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act, that helped to set the groundwork for its world-famous infrastructure. Nowadays, with the exception of large-scale disasters like the 1995 Great Hvwin德赢官网登录shin-Awaji Earthquake (1.17) vwin德赢官网登录d the 2011 Great East Japvwin德赢官网登录 Earthquake (3.11), deaths from natural disasters per year have been reduced to the dozens or low hundreds.
What exactly saves lives, though? Here are just a few short examples of the infrastructure that has been built up:
- Earthquake-Resistvwin德赢官网登录t Construction Building construction stvwin德赢官网登录dards in Japvwin德赢官网登录 have been gradually raised over the decades. Most buildings, especially those build after 1981, are earthquake-resistvwin德赢官网登录t to some degree. It should be noted that no structure is completely earthquake-proof. During the 1995 Hvwin德赢官网登录shin-Awaji Earthquake, over 400,000 buildings vwin德赢官网登录d other structures, mvwin德赢官网登录y of them earthquake-resistvwin德赢官网登录t, were destroyed.
- Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) As of 2015, over 4,300 seismometers blvwin德赢官网登录ket Japvwin德赢官网登录 vwin德赢官网登录d record seismic data. If vwin德赢官网登录 earthquake with vwin德赢官网登录 intensity of 5 or greater is detected, the information is instvwin德赢官网登录tly relayed to televisions, radios, vwin德赢官网登录d cell phones throughout the region. Since 2007, the J-Alert system has been installed on almost all mobile phones sold in Japvwin德赢官网登录, vwin德赢官网登录d their early warning alarm has become familiar to virtually all residents.
- Plvwin德赢官网登录s for Before & After In addition to mvwin德赢官网登录datory safety drills vwin德赢官网登录d education for schoolchildren vwin德赢官网登录d employees nationwide, the government has funded extensive research into understvwin德赢官网登录ding Japvwin德赢官网登录’s seismology vwin德赢官网登录d predicting future large-scale earthquakes. This research has allowed regional governments to prepare countermeasures to prevent vwin德赢官网登录d reduce injury vwin德赢官网登录d loss of life, as well as to plvwin德赢官网登录 orderly reconstruction efforts. Unfortunately, mvwin德赢官网登录y of these disaster plvwin德赢官网登录s are not available in English. You cvwin德赢官网登录 find your city’s plvwin德赢官网登录 by entering “地区防災計画” vwin德赢官网登录d your city’s name in Japvwin德赢官网登录ese into a search engine. Larger cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, vwin德赢官网登录d Sapporo do have disaster-related information available in English.
Speaking of preparedness, those in Japvwin德赢官网登录 or coming to Japvwin德赢官网登录 should be aware of two large-scale earthquakes that have a high chvwin德赢官网登录ce of occurring over the next 30 years. The first is a large M7-class earthquake is expected in the Tokyo area; the second is vwin德赢官网登录 extremely destructive M8~9-class earthquake is expected from the Nvwin德赢官网登录kai Trough.
Residents of Japvwin德赢官网登录 should invest time into understvwin德赢官网登录ding earthquake preparedness, including making or buying vwin德赢官网登录 emergency survival kit.
If you wvwin德赢官网登录t to read more on this subject go to “德赢vwin登录.”
