Oct 11, 2019

Favorite resources/apps for emergencies?

With Typhoon Hagibis just around the corner, I'm curious about your favorite apps or other resources for emergencies. I particularly like Western Pacific Weather on Facebook for info on Japan's typhoons, but I'd love to get info on other resources you may find useful!

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genkidesu

Love to travel, interested in J-beauty products and consider myself a convenience store snack aficionado. Navigating the ever-present challenges of expat life, particularly about my TCK's (third culture kids).

5 Answers

KamaT

on Oct 11

I find the Japan Meteorological Agency website to be easy enough to navigate and it seems to get straight to the point without any gimmick or unnecessary clutter. The weather app on iPhone I think is pretty useless. I approach Twitter with caution in regards to emergency info. I mean, I think it's good to let you know when something is coming, like a typhoon, for example, but the finer details can get lost in all the scaremongering, posturing and desperate appeals for likes and clicks. I prefer to check the major Japanese news outlets for finer details of an emergency -- Japan Times, Kyodo, Mainichi et al. Whatever you might think of their other content, their probably the most reliable source when it comes to fact-checking. I have to say, I don't go for anything that sends out an alarm or makes my phone vibrate or anything like that (although I can't seem to stop whatever it is that makes my phone scream when an earthquake hits). If you like looking at wind direction / simulations check out windy.com At home I still think it's hard to beat the TV for a wall of info, flashes and bleeps -- even if you can't understand Japanese, you can still get a general gist of the scale of things.

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JapanRamen

on Oct 16

My go to is also the Japan Meteorological Agency. Most apps are not helpful at all during storms, so I might as well go and try to understand the source material myself haha. Also the rolling info/warning on TV, those are useful too.

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TonetoEdo

on Oct 20

Besides the Japan Meteorological Agency website in English, we depended heavily on Yahoo 天気災害 weather and disaster information for river flooding during Typhoon #19 Hagibis. https://typhoon.yahoo.co.jp/weather/river/　 The website includes live camera feeds from the rivers and lists emergency and evacuation notices.

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Nednettinc

on Oct 24

During the typhoon NHK Japan had live coverage with live English translation. I found this to be the most helpful and the most current--I was able to watch it on Facebook, but I heard people were also able to access the English translations on their TVs using the subtitle function on their remotes. Before the storm I also looked up specific emergency information from my ward/city government websites. I was able to see ahead of time if we were in a flood zone, landslide zone, etc. Japan also offers free wifi in the case of emergencies if need be.

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JapanExpert

on Oct 24

Disaster Preparedness Tokyo is a great app, and not just for those living in Tokyo. It has various language options also, so if you don’t read Japanese you can set it to another language.

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