Prepare Multilingual Disaster Information Before an Emergency

Save a JMA multilingual information page

Open the Japan Meteorological Agency’s multilingual information page in a language you can read and save it as a bookmark. It provides an official route to weather, earthquake, tsunami and volcanic information. When you check information, make it a habit to compare both the area covered and the publication or update time. Share the same starting page with family members and organize your sources in advance, so you do not have to search for a new source during an emergency.

Find your municipality’s disaster pages

Use the official website of the city, ward, town or village where you live to find its disaster-prevention information, evacuation information and any local hazard-map pages. Save the page that explains where you should check evacuation locations or local instructions. Yokohama’s guidance is a local example. Evacuation locations can differ by type of disaster, so do not copy the rules from another city. Check the latest official guidance for your own area and discuss family contact methods and a possible meeting arrangement in advance.

Choose additional tools and share the plan

Use the Cabinet Office’s multilingual booklet and the Japan Tourism Agency’s information to identify apps or websites that may be useful to you, such as Safety tips. The booklet itself is a guide to information tools, not a real-time warning service. In a personal note, list JMA, municipal and additional information sources, and share the list and your contact method with family members. This is not an instruction to visit each source in order during a disaster. Do not treat the absence of an app notification as proof that conditions are safe, and remember that communications may not always be available. If you are already in danger, stop reading this guide, protect yourself first, and follow local official instructions.

Checklist before you contact the service

• Open and bookmark the JMA multilingual page in a language you can use.
• Find and save your municipality’s official disaster and evacuation information pages.
• Check both the relevant area and the publication or update time whenever you read an alert or notice.
• Share your main information sources, contact method and meeting plan with your family in advance.