When an earthquake strikes

When an earthquake strikes, please try to follow the guideline below. However, you do not have to be able to follow all of it. Always prioritize to protect your life.

While it is shaking

• Stay under a desk or the like to protect your head
• Shut off cooking stoves
• Shut off the main gas valve
• Open doors and windows so you can escape

When the shaking stops

• Evacuate if there is a danger of tsunami or liquefaction (softening of the ground)
• If there is a fire, use a fire extinguisher to put it out
• Check your family’s safety
• Put on shoes so you do not hurt yourself by stepping on a glass
• Keep your emergency backpack near you

Three minutes after the quake stops

• Make sure your neighbors are safe
• Check the safety of elderly people living alone
• If there is a fire, notify the people around by yelling.Extinguish the fire together with others.
• Be on the alert for aftershocks. Multiple earthquakes may follow a major earthquake.

Five minutes after the quake stops

• Obtain information from radios and the like
• Be wary of false information
• Limit phone use to essential calls
• Evacuate if there is a danger of your home collapsing
• Do not go near walls or glass
• Do not use your car

Ten minutes after the quake stops

• Pick up your child from school
• When leaving home, write down where you are headed on a piece of paper and post it in a place where it can easily be seen from outside your house. Shut off the main gas valve and switch off electrical breakers.

The day of the earthquake

• Contact the fire department and work with your neighbors to extinguish fires, help the injured, etc.

About three days after the earthquake

• Live using the items you prepared (drinkable water, food, emergency portable toilets, etc.)
• Obtain disaster information
• Do not enter damaged houses
• Be on the alert for aftershocks