Despite grim reminders, Japan quake readiness low

[I just thought this was interesting that a country holds ANNUAL emergency preparedness exercises, and that the level of INDIVIDUAL preparation (though they complain about how low it is) is MUCH greater than in the United States. Shows you what COULD happen.)

Snippets:

Despite grim reminders, Japan quake readiness low

September 1, 1999 Web posted at: 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT)

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Thousands of Japanese practiced applying bandages, putting out fires and dragging bodies from rubble on Wednesday in drills designed to prepare them for a killer earthquake that could strike at any time.

With scenes from last month's deadly Turkish quake a painful reminder of the 1995 Kobe temblor that killed thousands, the exercises -- held annually on the anniversary of a 1923 shock that virtually wiped out Tokyo -- took on a grim new urgency.

That quake 76 years ago killed some 140,000 and left millions homeless.

Avoiding high death toll

Metropolitan authorities have predicted 7,000 would die and 30,000 would be injured in a quake with the strength of the early morning Kobe tremor, which killed about 6,400 people.

Other experts say the death toll from a major Tokyo earthquake could be much higher if it occurs on a weekday during working and school hours, when many of the metropolitan area's 25 million residents are concentrated in office buildings, factories, schools and subways.

Even in the face of these grim predictions, a recent government poll found some 34 percent of Japanese had not made any special preparations for a major tremor, up 10 percentage points from the previous 1997 poll.

And the number of people who had actually stockpiled emergency supplies like transistor radios, flashlights and water dropped 7.7 percentage points to 50.2 percent.

[Wouldn't it be wonderful if the United States could COMPLAIN that ONLY 50.2 percent of the population had made preparations for a major emergency - Y2K or hurricane or earthquake.. whatever. Annual drills. The press and the leadership implying that preparation is to be desired, not that it is the problem. Ahh.. whouldn't it be loverly.]

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 01, 1999