The government has started to promote the use of “tsunami flags,” which are flags that visually notify people with hearing disabilities when tsunami warnings or advisories are issued at beaches.
The legislation will also expand measures to help the elderly and the disabled to evacuate. The government aims to have it take effect from this year’s rainy season in early summer.
The NET119 Emergency Report System for people with hearing and speaking disabilities has been introduced in some fire departments in the central Japan prefecture of Niigata. It enables people to make emergency reports via the internet using smartphones or other devices and their location information is instantly sent to fire stations, leading to quick dispatches.
Disabled people accounted for 24.6 percent of total “disaster-related deaths” in the northeastern prefectures of Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi, far above their 7 percent representation among the population as a whole estimated by the health ministry.
Around 60 percent of local government buildings across Japan were not equipped with emergency power supplies lasting 72 hours, a crucial time frame in saving human lives during times of disaster, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Thursday.
“It is not unusual to find emergency shelters equipped only with traditional squat toilets, which can be difficult to impossible to use for disabled people and elderly evacuees with leg and hip problems.”
“The designation is made for extraordinary and very severe disasters that destroy or damage a great number of houses and disrupt transport and vital services in wide areas so that impacts on afflicted individuals and businesses are minimized.”
“The Deputy Director of the Tokyo Fire Department, Hirofumi Shimizu apologized, saying, “I ’m sorry. I ’ll confirm the cause and try to prevent recurrence and restore trust.”
“Chiba City has opened a “welfare evacuation room” for the disabled and elderly in the City Harmony Plaza (Chibaji-cho, Chuo-ku).”
“The government’s earthquake research headquarters has redesigned the national earthquake prediction map in attempt to make it easier for people with color blindness; a condition that affects approximately three million people in Japan, to understand.”
Barrier Free Japan