The magnitude 7.5 earthquake that occurred off northeastern Japan recently highlights the need for Japan to provide safety tips and evacuation information to foreign nationals more effectively, particularly as the country witnesses an inbound tourism boom.
Locals and foreign visitors alike were asked to evacuate as the weather agency issued tsunami warnings for part of the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, as well as Aomori and Iwate prefectures, on Monday.
Among them, Jose San Juan, a tourist from the Philippines, who received a quake alert via his smartphone while staying at a hotel in Sapporo, said he was unable to evacuate because he did not know where to go.
“Information such as places to evacuate to is not properly delivered to foreigners with great urgency,” said Mayumi Sakamoto, a professor at the University of Hyogo’s Graduate School of Disaster Resilience and Governance.
A car parked outside a hotel in Mutsu, Aomori prefecture, is damaged by a signboard that fell after a strong earthquake on Monday. Photo: Kyodo/Reuters
Many of the guests at the JR Inn Hakodate in Hokkaido were from overseas when the area was rocked by the temblor measuring 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7, according to a hotel employee.
AloJapan.com