First steps when an earthquake, tsunami or typhoon hits Japan

Turn the alerts on before you need them

JNTO's traveller safety service carries Japan Meteorological Agency weather warnings and advisories, tsunami warnings and earthquake information in one place, along with tourist information centres and contact lists for embassies and media.

The companion app "Safety tips" pushes earthquake early warnings, tsunami warnings and other weather warnings issued inside Japan, and it does so in many languages including English. It also includes an evacuation flowchart showing what to do in different situations and useful phrases for asking people around you for information.

What the warnings mean

JNTO explains the three alert types. An Earthquake Early Warning is issued when JMA expects strong shaking, with estimated arrival times and intensities, and the alarm is broadcast on television, radio, mobile phones and smartphones; if you see or hear one, stay calm and secure your safety first, even if you feel nothing.

A tsunami warning is issued about three minutes after an earthquake if a damaging tsunami is expected. If the shaking is strong, or weak but long-lasting, start evacuating: do not judge the danger yourself, go to higher ground, and stay there until the warning is cancelled, because tsunamis arrive repeatedly.

For heavy rain and wind, JMA escalates from Advisories to Warnings to Emergency Warnings, the last signalling the kind of event that occurs every several decades. Volcanic warnings and eruption notices cover about 110 active volcanoes.

Plan around the boring problems

A Japanese survey reported by Nippon.com found that, alongside food, water and shelter, access to toilet facilities is a central worry for residents when disaster strikes in Japan. That is worth putting in a hotel-room plan and a small bag.

Transport is the other quiet failure. Our reporting covers a nonprofit based in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture that has lent cars free of charge to people in disaster-hit areas since 2011 and says it is struggling to meet demand as disasters hit at an unprecedented pace - after one torrential rain event in Chiba Prefecture, more than 10,000 vehicles were left with water damage.

Where to check the facts yourself

The Japan Meteorological Agency publishes an English site with news releases and portal pages for major earthquakes, and it runs a public earthquake list in JSON that needs no account. At the time of checking, that list returned 272 recent earthquake records; the entries carry English title and area fields as well as magnitude and maximum intensity.

Read the agency's own warnings rather than a reposted social-media summary, and treat anything without a linked source as unverified.