From A Survey of Foreign Residents living in the Areas Stricken by the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake
September 2005
1,973,747 foreign residents live in Japan as of the end of 2004, and this was a 45.8% growth compared to 10 years ago. When a massive earthquake occurs how do people from different countries with different tongues and cultures respond to the situation?
NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted its first “survey of foreign residents in disaster stricken areas” from March to April this year (2005), targeting foreign citizens living in Niigata Prefecture who were afflicted by the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake occurred in October 2004. 240 foreign residents in Nagaoka City and neighboring Ojiya City, Tokamachi City, and other municipalities responded. Also, 14 people from seven countries living in Japan answered interviews prior to the above survey.
The result shows 67% of foreign respondents have never experienced a massive earthquake in their home countries. As for behaviors after the earthquake, 38% “just evacuated without doing anything.” While 19% of Japanese respondents respond to a quake by “extinguishing the fire immediately when feeling a tremor,” only 2% of foreign respondents do so. Also, most of foreign residents take no measures for earthquakes.
As for disaster-related information, foreign quake-victims wanted to know “information on magnitude of the earthquake and epicenter” (36%) and “information on aftershocks” (30%). Furthermore, they became concerned about “information of lifelines including water and electricity” (20%) earlier than the Japanese quake-victims did.
When asked what information sources were useful after the earthquake in multiple answer format, 50% chose “NHK General TV” and 22% “NHK BS English News,” which constitute the top two. Some other media were also appreciated: “national newspapers” (17%), “local newspapers” (15%), “local FM” (12%), and “NHK Radio 1” (8%), but no more than 2% answered websites were useful. Word of mouth at workplace or among foreigners played a significant role in gathering information.
In case of foreign residents, use of radio was limited due to the language barrier, and only 31% were able to somewhat understand what radio news reporters say. Regarding disaster-related information for foreign citizens who have to understand Japanese, foreign language, there is a real need for stable transmission and reception of television broadcasts with images, news in simple and comprehensible Japanese, and further efforts to convey information in multiple languages by taking advantage of digital technology.