Typhoon Hagibis (Typhoon No. 19 in the first year of Reiwa) landed on the Izu Peninsula on October 12, 2019 and brought record-breaking heavy rains across eastern Japan. The NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted a public opinion survey in Fukushima Prefecture’s two cities damaged by Hagibis, Motomiya City and Iwaki City, using a mail method, targeting residents in flooded areas.
In Motomiya City, 70% of the respondents were aware of the evacuation advisory through various ways, typically through a portable emergency radio that had been distributed to every household by the city government. However, those who evacuated from home accounted for 23%, and 68% remained at home. Nearly half (47%) thought their houses might be flooded, based on their past flood experiences. Meanwhile, some residents did not evacuate because they thought “it would be less severe than the August 5 Flood in 1986”, which indicates past disaster experiences also acted as a restraint on their evacuation behaviors.
In Iwaki City, over 80% of the respondents were aware of the evacuation advisory. However, only 29% actually evacuated from home. Among those who remained at home, many cited “I did not think the area I live would be flooded” (58%) and “I never thought the Natsui River would flood” (39%).
The survey reconfirmed that for older people television is their lifeline for information. Since there were specific requests such as “use larger letters on the screen,” “keep the messages longer on the screen,” and “use an alarm sound,” it will be indispensable for broadcasting media outlets to listen to these voices.