Earthquake Drill for International Residents Conducted in Plain Japanese

Hello, and welcome to "Learn Japanese from the News."

Thanks for joining us.

Chiara, we experience a lot of earthquakes here in Japan.

Are they more frequent than you thought?

Well, there certainly are quite a few.

But, you know, I think it's just part of life here in Japan.

Yes. Take a look at this.

Last year, Japan experienced over 2,400 earthquakes, of which 54 were strong enough to cause most people to react.

54... So, on average, there's one strongish earthquake somewhere in Japan about once a week .

Well, that does mean that people have a lot of experience dealing with them!

And our news story today is about earthquake preparedness.

"Earthquake Drill for International Residents Conducted in Plain Japanese."

Before we go to the news clip, let's go over some words to listen for.

"jishin."

earthquake.

"kunren."

training or drill.

OK, let's watch the news clip.

A training drill was held
in Tokyo's Nakano Ward on Sept.4 to learn how to respond
to earthquakes and other disasters.

About 150 people participated, including international residents
and volunteer interpreters.

Officials from the fire
and police departments gave explanations in plain Japanese.

They used written instructions, featuring short sentences
and kanji with pronunciation guides.

They explained, "In case of an earthquake,
go under a desk or table.

If there are no desks,
place a cushion on your head."

They also said, "When dialing 110
to contact the police in an emergency, it is important to speak calmly,
clearly, and accurately.

If you do not know the address, give the names of intersections
or nearby stores."

Now let's review some sentences from the story.

Officials from the fire and police departments
gave explanations in plain Japanese.

Now, read along with me.

"shooboo ya keesatsu no hito wa yasashii nihongo de setsumee shimashita."

"Yasashii nihongo" means "plain Japanese."

Here, "yasashii" has two meanings: "easy," as in "easy to understand," as well as "kind" or "thoughtful."

That's definitely helpful, because emergency-related vocabulary has lots of terms that we don't use every day.

Yes, they can be difficult to understand if you're not used to it.

Now, one word you'll often hear when talking about earthquakes is "shindo."

Yes. "Shindo" is definitely a word most people in Japan should learn and become familiar with.

Now, let's check in with Tokunaga-sensei to learn what it means.

Magnitude is a numerical value
representing the size of an earthquake.

In Japan, we also use the "shindo" scale
to measure the degree of shaking.

"Shindo" 1 is very weak.
"Shindo" 7 is the strongest.

At "shindo" 7, you can expect
many wooden houses to fall over.

At "shindo" 5 and 6, the shaking is intense enough
to startle most people.

"Shindo" 5 and 6 are further divided
into two levels: "jaku" and "kyoo."

"Jaku" means "a little less than."
"Kyoo" means "a little more than."

Keep in mind that "jaku" and "kyoo" are used to express
more than just seismic intensity.

So, we surveyed international residents who've been in Japan for less than four years about their earthquake-related concerns.

Many answered that they wanted to know more about their local evacuation centers and where to get official emergency information.

Yes, you definitely want to find out where your closest evacuation center is.

After an earthquake, the first thing I do is I get information from the internet.

But to do that, it's very helpful to first know the name of the area where you live, or are currently located in.

And speaking of emergency information, be sure to check out the NHK WORLD-JAPAN website, which provides disaster-related resources in many languages.

The NHK WORLD-JAPAN app also offers the option to receive push notifications for earthquake and tsunami alerts in four languages.

OK, let's move on to our next sentence.

When dialing 110 to contact the police in an emergency, it is important to speak calmly, clearly, and accurately.

Now, read along with me.

"keesatsu ni isoide renraku-suru tame no bangoo

ichi-ichi-ree ni kakeru toki wa awatenaide hakkiri

seekakuni hanasu koto ga taisetsu desu."

So Chiara, have you ever had to call emergency services here in Japan?

Fortunately not, but I can imagine that a lot of international residents are unsure about how to contact the police or the fire department.

Right. Several of the respondents to our survey said that they didn't know how to speak Japanese and were unsure about how to call emergency services.

So here in Japan, the emergency telephone number for police is 1-1-0.

For fire and ambulance, it's 1-1-9.

So, the fire department actually offers 24/7 interpreting services for calls in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The operator will communicate with you through an interpreter in a three-way call.

Wow, now that's really comforting to know.

Because in an emergency situation, a language barrier can literally mean the difference between life and death.

Exactly. When the operator answers, say you'd like an interpreter.

Now let's hear from an international resident who lived through a major earthquake in Japan.

The Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake
registered a maximum intensity of "shindo" 7.

Cynthia Cheston was living in Osaka at the time.

There was this violent shaking.

I tried to get up out of bed,
but I couldn't stand.

What was it like outside after the quake?

There was broken glass everywhere.
All over the sidewalk.

The streets were practically deserted.

It was like a ghost town.

To make matters worse, the language barrier made it hard to understand what was going on.

The Japanese used in news broadcasts
is different from conversational Japanese.

So I didn't know the word for
"evacuation" or "evacuation shelter."

Cynthia says she realized she had to learn disaster-related Japanese vocabulary.

But she also knew that wasn't enough.

What if my water and gas
stopped working?

I had no idea
how to restore it.

So she learned the steps to restoring gas and water service in the event of a disaster.

What did the experience teach her about earthquake preparedness?

In a quake, open your front door
so you can escape if you need to.

If you don't have a doorstop,
use an umbrella to prop it open.

She says you should have an escape route ready.

I also keep a pair of shoes
under my bed.

In the earthquake, all my plates
and glasses fell and broke.

So protect your feet.

Cynthia also has three months' worth of food prepared for emergencies.

Not just for herself, but for any neighbors in need.

Close to 30 years on, she's as prepared as ever for the next big quake.

Now, this really drives home that since earthquakes are so frequent here, you have to have a plan in place.

Definitely.

Earthquakes may be unpredictable, but we should always be prepared.

And, that's all for today.

We'll see you next time.

See you soon!