Emergencies/Disaster Prevention/Crime Prevention

●Earthquakes ●Typhoons/floods ●Contacting family and friends in an emergency when there is no telephone service ●Fire

●Sudden Illness/Accident ●Crime Reporting ●Reporting from Pay-Phones ●Crime prevention

●Earthquakes

(1) Hide beneath a desk or table.

・In the event of an earthquake, quickly hide beneath a firm desk or table. If you have a cushion, use it　to protect your head.

(2)Ensure an emergency exit.

・In the event of an earthquake, open all doors to ensure an emergency exit.

(3) Do not rush out of the house.　

・ Since major quakes usually cease in about 1 minute, check the surrounding area. Do not rush out of the house. Calm down before taking any action.

(4) Extinguish all sources of fire quickly.　

・Quickly extinguish all sources of fire, such as gas appliances and kerosene stoves, if they are in use.

・Close the main valve of all gas appliances. Remove the power plug of all electric appliances from the outlet.

・When evacuating the house after an earthquake, turn the circuit breakers to the 'OFF' position, as some electric appliances may fall in an earthquake and come in contact with combustible materials that may ignite, resulting in a fire.

(5) If a fire occurs, extinguish it first.　

・ If a fire occurs, extinguish it while the flame is small using a fire extinguisher or a bucket.

・ Call out to your neighbors and work together to initially extinguish the fire.

(6) Obtain accurate information.　

・ Pay close attention to TV and radio news, and avoid being mislead by false rumors.

・ Rely on information from City Hall, fire stations, police stations, and other public agencies for accuracy.

・ Do not make unnecessary or non-urgent phone calls. In particular, avoid making calls to fire stations to ask about the disaster situation, since such calls make their fire-extinguishing work more difficult.

●Typhoons/floods

(1) Pay close attention to broadcast information.　

・ If a typhoon approaches Japan, typhoon information from the meteorological observatories is broadcast over TV and radio. With this information, check items around the house to ensure your safety.

(2) Listen for warnings and alarms.　

・ In the event of any damage, warnings, alarms, and short-term heavy rainfall record information are broadcast. Pay attention to information broadcast on TV and the radio.

(3) Stay away from dangerous areas.　

・ It is difficult to identify the boundaries of streams and ditches swollen from rainfall. Also, it is difficult to identify missing manhole covers on a flooded road. After a heavy rainfall, there are many cases of people falling into swollen streams or manholes. Avalanches and landslides are more likely to occur in mountainous and hillside areas. Do not go to such dangerous places.

●Contacting family and friends in an emergency when there is no telephone service

If you cannot get through to people in disaster-stricken areas, the NTT Disaster Emergency DENGON Dial allows you to check on your family, relatives, and friends with messaging (dengon).

Using the Disaster Message Board from a mobile phone

From your mobile phone's top page menu, open “Disaster Message Board”.

To post a message:Select “Post” and enter your message.

To check for messages:Select “Check”, enter the mobile phone number of the person in the disaster-stricken area, and view the message.

Disaster Emergency Dengon Dial and Disaster Message Board Demonstration Times

The 1st of each month, January 1 to 3, National Disaster Prevention Week (August 30 to September 5), and Disaster Prevention and Volunteer Week (January 15 to 21) are demonstration times.

Please try these services to prepare for an emergency.

●Fire

Fire Prevention

Fire causes serious damage to your neighborhood as well as to yourself. Be sure to keep the following points in mind to prevent fire.

• Before going to bed or going out, check all potential sources of fire for safety.
• Since there are many fire incidents due to careless handling of cigarettes, be sure to obey the smoking regulations.
• Before leaving a source of fire, such as a gas stove, be sure to extinguish the fire.
• Since the climate in Japan is dry in winter, the danger of fire increases.  Be careful of heating devices in use.
• To avoid delays in escaping in an emergency, install fire alarms for residential use.
• For initial fire-extinguishing, prepare a fire extinguisher.

In case of fire:

・Extinguish the fire ・・・ Use a bucket and/or fire extinguisher for initial fire-extinguishing.

・Inform ・・・ Call out to your family and neighborhood by saying, “Fire! (KAJI-DA!)” and dial 119 to make an emergency call.

・Escape ・・・ If the fire grows and smoke begins coming out, stop the initial fire extinguishing and escape from the area of the fire.

●Sudden Illness/Accident

In case of sudden illness or accident, dial 119. Say “Kyukyu-desu (I need an ambulance)” in Japanese, Report the address, your name, and condition of the victim, and wait for the ambulance on the street.

In case of a traffic accident, dial 119 to call an ambulance, and then 110 to call the police to report the accident.

If you witness an accident, do the same even if you are not involved.
Check the information, such as the license plate number and the driver's license, of those who are involved. All automobiles in Japan are registered for compulsory automobile insurance. To be sure, check the name of the contracted insurance company of those who are involved, too.

●Crime Reporting

If you are the victim of a crime, dial 110 to call the police. Report the address, your name, and situation. It is best if you can contact the nearest police station (keisatsu-sho) or police box (koban).

●Reporting from Pay-Phones

Emergency calls (110 or 119) can be made free from any pay phone.

Pick up the receiver and press the red button on the front of the telephone. Some telephones may not have this feature.

●Crime Prevention

Burglary

・Be sure to lock the door before leaving your house.

・Use “One-door, two-locks” (two types of locks on one door).

・Attach auxiliary locks to windows.

・Replace regular window glass with a laminated type or affix security film to the window glass.

Purse Snatching

In most cases, a purse-snatcher on a small motor vehicle, while passing a bicycle or a pedestrian from behind, snatches the victim's bag from the front basket or the hand of the owner.

・Keep your valuables on your body.

・Avoid walking on a dark or solitary street.

・Hold your bag firmly.

・Hold your bag with the arm opposite the road.

・Put a cover on the front basket of your bicycle.

・Be careful when your are on the way home from a financial institution.

・Be particularly careful while you are talking on a mobile phone.

Bicycle/Motorcycle Theft

・Do not leave your bicycle on the road.

・For motorbikes, attach a firm auxiliary lock in addition to the steering lock.

・For bicycles, use a wire lock in addition to the original lock.

Auto Theft

・Hide the possessions in your vehicle from sight.

・Be sure to lock your vehicle.

・Choose a parking lot that is well managed.

Abduction/Kidnapping

・Do not let your child play outdoors alone.

・Collect sufficient information about where and with whom your children play

・Have your children go to, and come home from, school in a group.

・Have your children learn how to protect themselves.