How Japan Deals with Earthquakes (and why It’s the safest country in the Ring of Fire)

Photo by Stephens Tee

I was just waking up from a rather peculiar dream about the color yellow when the shaking started. The straw tatami mats below me were moving side to side, and in my half-awake state I let out a surprised yell. It was my first earthquake.

After 10 seconds, the shaking stopped, and everything was back to normal. No cups had fallen, and not even a crack appeared in the wall — what a way to wake up.

The earthquake was strong enough to make standing difficult, but there was very little damage overall. The Japanese are experts when it comes to earthquakes — automatic fail safes negate the worst of the damage and efficient emergency services take care of the rest.

The Details of the Earthquake

The earthquake hit at 8am in the middle of rush hour. Rated by the Japan Meteorology Agency as a 6 (lower), it would have been difficult to remain standing on solid ground. As of the 19th of June (2018), four people have been found dead, and 214 people were injured as a direct result of the earthquake. A nine-year-old girl and two old men were crushed or trapped by falling walls and heavy objects.

Various emergency services dealt with the consequences, putting out fires, fixing burst pipes and supporting broken walls. Trains halted, and flights were canceled. 170,000 houses were without electricity for a few hours, and 108,000 homes had their electricity and gas temporarily cut.

Considering that roughly 2.7 million people live in Osaka, the damage was surprisingly little (in my opinion).

Trains were swiftly evacuated according to safety protocols. Photo by Fiona M Shinohara.

4 Ways Japanese Respond to an Earthquake

If you like videos more than reading, check out this 20-minute documentary about Japan’s earthquake systems.

1. Trains

Seismometers are placed on every train track to monitors seismic activity (earthquakes). When signaled, the system automatically engages…