Thursday, March 24, 2011

The ringtone of earthquake alert texts always frightens me

About three years ago, the Earthquake Early Warning System was introduced in Japan. When the Japan Meteorological Agency detects that a stronger earthquake than a certain level is going to hit Japan, the agency will issue an Earthquake Early Warning/ 緊急地震速報. On TV, whenever the warning is issued, "At XXX areas, please be careful of a strong earthquake. Please don't rush and behave calmly. Please ensure your safety. A strong earthquake is coming in a few seconds " is announced. If you have cellphones and you are in an area where a strong earthquake is hitting, you will receive an alert text.

Since the devastating earthquake hit Japan, the warning has been issued very frequently. Whenever I receive them in public places, I'm frightened more because everybody receives the alert texts with the same ringtone at the same time. When the massive earthquake hit Japan, a Diet debate in Tokyo was being broadcast live on NHK (the public broadcasting service). When an Earthquake Early Warning was issued, the NHK announcer in Tokyo was calm. However, after a minute, people at the studio in Tokyo started feeling a huge quake and seemed to have a hard time broadcasting.

Please see the video in the link below.