Raising your chances of surviving the next big one

January 17th, 2012By Category: Uncategorized

The probability of your being atop the summit of Mt Fuji at the moment the next major temblor strikes the Japanese archipelago is probably slim to none.

But Shukan Gendai (Jan 21) isn’t leaving anything to chance. The point is, when it happens, you want to survive it, no matter where you are. And the magazine emphasizes the word “when” rather than “if,” because this country is situated atop so many tectonic plates and faults that any unpredictable burp of our spinning planet can set one off.

“Resign yourself,” advises the headline, “that an M8 quake beneath Tokyo and an M9 quake in the Tokai region are imminent.” Shukan Gendai makes this assertion because the huge energy released by the Tohoku earthquake of last March 11 is believed to have caused buildup of tension on the Pacific Plate, which will inevitably cause what seismologists call an “outer rise earthquake.”

Now let’s say a whopper strikes Tokyo at the moment you’re dining in the observation platform of the Tokyo Sky Tree (due to open later this year). The magazine’s advice is: get away from the windows and head for the staircase close to the robustly constructed elevator shaft. Then grab a firm hold on the handrail and hang on.

It’s probably just as likely, however, that you’d be on the street beneath a high-rise structure at the moment a big quake hits. In this case, Professor Haruyuki Kitamura of the Tokyo University of Science suggests, “The best thing would be to run inside the building, as they are designed to withstand the shake. Then even if glass on the upper stories shatters and falls, you’ll be safe. Besides, the lower floors don’t shake that much. You’d be safer than in regular buildings.”

One of the worst places to be at the moment a quake hits the metropolis would be aboard the Shinkansen or a regular commuter train. “The accident on JR West Japan’s Fukuchiyama Line (in April 2005) is a good point of reference for derailment or overturning,” points out disaster consultant Takamasa Wada. “According to the accident report, most of the 107 fatalities were due to passengers being smothered or crushed to death; and most of these were in the two front cars.”

It seems that if a train derails before it can decelerate, the passengers are flung forward. “I always make it a point to ride in the rearmost cars of a train,” Wada adds.

Keep your fingers crossed that you won’t be on a commuter train if the quake hits during the morning rush hour. On the JR Yamanote Line, it’s common during peak times for cars designed to hold 160 passengers to carry twice that number.

“It’s not that easy to cause people to panic, but two conditions raise this possibility,” says Mafumi Usui, professor of clinical psychiatry at Niigata Seiryo University graduate school. “One is the strong feeling that ‘If I stay here, I’ll die.’ The other is ‘There’s a way out just in front of me.’ If people see fires breaking out or buildings toppling, they’d naturally pull the emergency lever to open the car’s doors. That could result in people toppling over like dominoes, with the likelihood of fatalities.”

And what if you’re on the summit of Mt Fuji? “While the shaking might not be that great, there’s a chance an observation platform might collapse,” says the proprietor of a cabin at the summit that serves climbers. “On the lower slopes, you’d need to watch out for avalanches. We figure we couldn’t expect much help from rescuers, who would have their hands full as conditions would be even more confused at the foot of the mountain. So we’d join up with other cabin operators and organize a descent.”

Okay then, but what if Fuji had a volcanic eruption? “That wouldn’t happen without advance warning, so we’d evacuate beforehand,” the cabin keeper says. “And besides, the eruption would be more likely to take place somewhere on the slopes, not the summit, so we’d know how to avoid any pyroclastic flow.”

Photo source: Wikipedia

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GaijinPot

GaijinPot is an online community for foreigners living in Japan, providing information on everything you need to know about enjoying life here, from finding a job and accommodation to having fun.

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