Tokyo’s disaster tips, from earthquakes to terrorism – in pictures

There’s a 70 percent chance a major earthquake will directly strike Tokyo in the next 30 years.

With over 13 million residents who speak many different languages, facing threats ranging from falling debris, stampeding crowds, and freezing weather, communicating preparedness guidelines, that’re simple to follow, wide ranging and, most importantly, effective is a huge undertaking.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg watches hypothetical computer graphic (CG) images showing an earthquake

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government created a massive (and massively handy) handbook called “Disaster Preparedness Tokyo” to teach Japanese residents crucial survival skills, so they’re prepared when an earthquake, or other disaster, strikes.

Here’s what it can teach you about survival, no matter where you live.

Cover Your Head

Throughout the guide, you’ll find illustrations of people holding bags, buckets, jackets, and even duvets over their heads. You don’t wear a helmet to bed or in the office, but in an earthquake or other disaster, falling objects become as much a risk to a city dweller, as they are to a rock climber. Improvising head protection with anything you have on hand, is a great idea.

The Tokyo Disaster Preparedness Guide shows you, among other things, how to stockpile properly, how to make a spoon out of a milk carton, and generally what to do when the big one hits – even including advice on ‘accepting death’

The Importance of Planning

(Tokyo Metropolitan Government)

You’ll find similar advice in any worthwhile survival guide.

But it’s worth repeating, because it’s so important. You need to know how to use potentially life saving equipment like fire extinguishers, stockpile food, water, and other supplies, and develop a plan about where to meet family members, should you be apart.

Tokyo’s guide is unique in terms of the level of detail it delves into. It provides guidance on securing furniture and other items inside your home and gives a detailed checklist of supplies to stockpile for a typical family, both at home and in a “go” bag.

Perhaps most interesting, is the advice on division of duties for families. I hadn’t seen this kind of thing before, but it makes total sense. Through pre-planning, families are encouraged to designate someone to perform vital tasks immediately, such at tackling a fire or securing an exit. This ensures that there’s a plan in place for these immediate needs to be handled right away, amid confusion and fear.

Survival skills and disaster preparedness are one in the same in many ways, because when the world is in a state of upheaval knowing how to survive while “in the field” becomes your top priority.

Stockpiling Supplies, Daily

Even in Dallas, during tornado season, one of my first priorities was stockpiling water, food, sanitation stuff, and other emergency supplies.

It was expensive and took a few days of dedicated work, but Tokyo’s guide has better advice:

(Tokyo Metropolitan Government)

The guide has better advice:

Until now, it was thought that stockpiling emergency supplies was special and involved preparing items not normally used such as non perishable food and flashlight headbands.

As such, there are probably many people who gave up, believing that managing and maintaining a stockpile was difficult. However, the “daily stockpile” method allows you to easily create an emergency stash just by buying a little more of the food and essentials that you normally use on a daily basis.

 If you live alone and often shop at convenience stores, you probably don’t have a week’s supply of food in your refrigerator. Try purchasing a little more of your favorite items such as instant noodles, heat-and-eat food, snacks, and beer at the convenience store to build up your stock.

The approach that Tokyo recommends is almost a 180-degree turn, in that it simply advises adding a little extra to your routine shopping.

Hundreds of dollars in long-shelf-life food may seem an unnecessary burden on many people, but buying a couple extra packages of the staple food you consume already to your weekly shopping is both low-cost and low-effort. Rotating it ensures it doesn’t expire.