Official Emergency Links (Updated September 6, 2018)

Hokkaido (earthquake on September 6, 2018)
-Hokkaido Government: Consultation desk for foreigners staying in Hokkaido
  Phone number: 011-204-5937 or 011-204-5092
  Launguage: Englsh, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean
  Open at 8:45-17:30 on weekdays

-City of Sapporo: Information on the Early-Morning Earthquake 9/6
https://www.city.sapporo.jp/city/english/index.html
-Sapporo Multi-Language Information Services
http://www.sapporolife.info/english/
-Hokkaido Disaster Prevention Information
https://www.bousai-hokkaido.jp/BousaiPublic/html/dou/en/top_english.html

Osaka (typhoon on September 4, 2018 & earthquake on June 18, 2018)
-Japan National Tourism Organization: 2018/9/4 Osaka Typhoon
https://www.japan.travel/en/news/2018-09-04-typhoon-jebi/
-Japan National Tourism Organization: 2018/6/18 Osaka Earthquake
https://www.japan.travel/en/updates/2018-6-18-osaka-earthquake/
-Osaka Pref.: Osaka disaster prevention net
http://www.osaka-bousai.net.e.add.hp.transer.com/pref/index.html
-Osaka Pref.: Medical Information for Foreigners
http://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp/iryo/medicalinfo/
-Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau: Emergency Links
https://osaka-info.jp/en/page/emergency
-Osaka Gas: Gas Meter Reset Procedure
https://www.osakagas.co.jp/en/residential-customers/safety/gasmeter.html

General
-Japan National Tourism Organization: News
https://www.japan.travel/en/travel-directory/latest-news
-Japan National Tourism Organization: Safety tips for travelers
https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/
-Japan Meteorological Agency: Earthquake information
https://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/
-Japan Meteorological Agency: Tsunami information
https://www.jma.go.jp/en/tsunami/
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassies and Consulates in Japan
https://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/protocol/index.html

Medical Information
-Japan National Tourism Organization: List of medical institutions that accept overseas visitors
https://www.jnto.go.jp/emergency/eng/mi_guide.html#search
-Osaka Pref.: Medical Information for Foreigners
http://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp/iryo/medicalinfo/

Safety Tips
-Japan National Tourism Organization: App "Safety Tips" for Earthquake and Tsunami Early Warning
https://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/emergency/safety_tips.html
-Council of Local Authorities for International Relations: Multilingual Living Information: Emergencies and Disasters
http://www.clair.or.jp/tagengorev/en/p/index.html

By Region
-Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau: Emergency Links
https://osaka-info.jp/en/page/emergency
-Tokyo Metropolitan Government: Disaster Prevention Website
http://www.bousai.metro.tokyo.jp/foreign/english/index.html

News
-NHK World
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
-Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/

Helpful Twitter accounts
-Prime Minister's Office of Japan: JPN_PMO
http://twitter.com/JPN_PMO
-Japan Times: japantimes
http://twitter.com/japantimes

For Family
-How to Find Your Family  (My old blog post by 2011)
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassies and Consulates in Japan
https://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/protocol/index.html

About This Blog (wrote for 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami)

For 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami - Update April 11

Japan Geigermap
http://japan.failedrobot.com/
This map visualises crowd-sourced radiation geiger counter readings from across Japan.


I am very sorry that I haven't been able to update this blog for past few weeks. Although there is no latest news on this blog, I think there are a lot of useful links, so please bookmark them. Especially, bookmark those sites that you can see from your cellphone. Laptop is often useless in the case of emergency.

Also, govemental websites finally started to catch up w/ providing information for foreigners. Some of the contents overlap w/ ours, but please refer to them so that you don't miss any important information:
2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Information for foreigners living in Japan by International Organization for Migration
http://www.iomjapan.org//news/press_237.cfm


Links to Article Sorted by Topics

Important News
Scientific Explanations of Earthquake and Nuclear Plant
Rolling Blackouts
- Tohoku Rolling Blackouts
- Affected Public Trasportation
- Updates
- General Info & Preparation
Nuclear Plant
- National Institute of Radiological Science
- Evacuation Order: Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
False Rumor of Chiba Prefecture Oil Explosion

Info for Specific Places
Aomori Iwate Kanagawa Miyagi Tokyo

Get Latest News * Must bookmark!
Radio
Twitter
Websites w/ Latest Info
Train Service
Tsunami Info
Emergency Numbers
News Coverage in English
General Information Pages
Roads in Tohoku Area

Multilanguage Pages
Radio
Twitter
Call Your Consulate/Embassy
Information Pages
Tips to Stay Safe
Free Translation

Protect Yourself
Emergency Numbers
National Institute of Radiological Science
Check List before Night
Tips by Hanshin Earthquake Victim
Earthquake Action Manual When Away from Home
Action Manual in Earthquakes
Ten Points about Earthquakes
Scientific Explanations of Earthquake and Nuclear Plant

Mental Care
PTSD Child Care

For Family
How to Find Your Family
News Coverage in English
General Information Pages
Make a Donation

How to Help Japan
Make a Donation
UW-Madison: How Can You Help Japan?
日本人の方へ


My Aims

Strong earthquakes hit the Tohoku Region in the afternoon of March 11, triggering several meter high tsunami waves that caused massive destruction and loss of human lives in areas along the Pacific coast of eastern Japan, especially in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures.

This blog aims to provide useful information in English for foreigners in Japan and their family abroad. Because I am currently in the US, and there is a limit of time for me to stay in front of news in a day, this blog is not the best place to get news flash about earthquake or tsunami. To get latest emergency information, I recommend you to check radio and twitter. I posted the links to these useful souces in the articles you can find below.

You can get a lot of scary news in English online. At the same time it is important to know what is happening in Japan, they do not help you to protect yourself. If you are too scared, you cannot take proper action when needed.

Thus, my aim of creating this blog is to provide correct and useful information to keep yourself safe and to relief you. I posted a lot of links to useful websites where you can find official/important information regarding this disaster and "what to do tips." Please read and bookmark them before something happens. I also try to post correct information which is hard to find in English, such as information on evacuation and rolling blackout.

To make it easier for you to find the information you need, I created links to each article sourted by categories. Please utilize them and let me know if you find anything not working correctly or hard to use.

Most informations are only available in English unless specifically marked "in Varisou Languages." However, for most of them, I could find only a few languages. If you have useful info in other languages, please leave them as comment.

I am very sorry but because this is an emergency, I am ignoring many copy right issues. Please let me know if you want me to delete any article.


Share w/ Others

Last but not least, please share this blog w/ anyone you know. Or if you see a foreigner on street standing alone, tired, or anxiously, please give them this blog URL.
http://japanearthquakeinformation.blogspot.com/ or shortened version http://bit.ly/earthquakeEng
Your smile and kindness can make a lonely foreigner smile :)

Thank you so much for your help!

Elevated level of radioactive idone found in tapwater in Kanto Area

Updated March 24rd 18:08

Restriction on use of tap water for infants has been lifted, as the level of radiao active iodine at the drinking water treatment plant has dropped from 210 Bq/kg to 79 Bq/kg. Temporary health standards of radioactive iodine set by Japanese Government is 100 Bq/kg for infants under 12 months and 300 Bq/kg for adults.

The most updated information on tap water in Tokyo can be found here
http://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/emergency/monitoring.tokyo-eiken.go.jp/monitoring/w-past_data.html



Elevated level of radio active idonine has been ditected in Kanto area on March 22nd.
Residents of following area are adviced not to give tap water to infants, especially babies less than 12 months old. Tap water should not be used to prepare milk nor baby food.
These municipalities are distributing bottled water for the families with infants for immidiate use.

Tokyo Metropolis
23 Special Wards(２３区)
Musashino City(武蔵野市)
Mitaka City(三鷹市)
Machida City (町田市)
Tama City (多摩市)
Inagi City (稲城市)

Ibaraki Prefecture
Hitachi-Ota City (常陸大田市）


The level of radioactive idone is low enough for other usage including drinking, cooking, and bathing. It is a precautionary action and does not impose immidiate health risk.

You can find the radiation level in air, tap water, and rain at this website
http://atmc.jp/.

This website provide information about radiation risk in Japan in 日本語 | 英語English | 中文 | ベトナム語Tiếng Việt | 韓国語한국어 | ベンガル語 | ロシア語Русский | ペルシア語Fārsī | ドイツ語Deutsch | イタリア語Italiano | ルーマニア語Limba română | フランス語Français | ポルトガル語Português | スペイン語Español | タイ語ภาษาไทย | タガログ語Tagalog | インドネシア語Bahasa Indonesia
http://www.tufs.ac.jp/blog/ts/g/cemmer/index.html

I will be making an update on this.

source:http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/INET/OSHIRASE/2011/03/20l3nf00.htm

Travel restriction to Japan

Updated March 21st 20:05

Currently, World Health Organizaiton are NOT advising travel restriction to Japan.

Following information are gathered by Hikaru Kitamura
Organizer of Japan earthquake 東北地方太平洋沖地震 (http://www.facebook.com/?sk=group_116365381773884)


WHO Spokesperson Gregory Hartl commented on Japan's situation regarding radiation, "There is little public danger." It is very unlikely that food sold & exported are affe...cted by the radiation of the Fukushima Power Plant I, countries checking radiation levels of food imported from Japan as well as ordering their people to leave Japan are overreacting. [This means people being checked is also unnecessary.]

UNifeed: GENEVA / JAPAN HEALTH UPDATE [video available]
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/17231.html
Quotation from another WHO webpage:

"17 March 2011 -- WHO is cautioning people concerned about the radiation issues in Japan against self-medicating with potassium iodide or taking products containing iodine. The advice follows reports of people using these substances in response to radiation leaks from nuclear plants in Japan. Potassium iodide should only be taken when there is a clear public health recommendation to do so."

WHO | Japan earthquake and tsunami
http://www.who.int/hac/crises/jpn/en/index.html
WHO has also made a Japanese FAQ to provide proper knowledge about radiation.

WKC | WHO Centre for Health Development
http://www.who.or.jp/indexj.html
＊＊＊

From NHK (around 22:00, March 20): The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Amano was concerned that rumors were spreading out in the world, various countries worrying that radiation in Japan will affect them. He mentioned that ...the information provided is not enough, that Japan should collaborate with the IAEA and report point by point, several countries (organizations) working on together will be better. IAEA will monitor radiation levels in Tokyo and other areas in the Kanto region, separately from Japanese institutions.

Details of Amano's visit to Japan are available on the IAEA website.

Japanese Prime Minister Assures Director General of Increased Information Exchange
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011/japan-visit.htmlLatest report of the current situation of the Fukushima nuclear power plants by the IAEA has been published online at March 19 2011, 21:00 JST (Japan Standard Time, UTC+9).

IAEA Update on Japan Earthquake
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

For People in Kanagawa

Yokohama

Yokohama Official Website in English
http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/en/
- Info on earthquake, blackout, radiation in Yokohama

Yokohama City Earthquake Information Center
http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/keiei/kokusai/infoquake110312a2.html

For People in Aomori

Disaster Prevention Homepage of Aomori Prefecture Website
http://www.bousai.pref.aomori.jp/gaikokuzin/E/index_E.html

For People in Iwate

Official Disaster Information
http://iwate-ia.or.jp/
- Twitter in English
- Looking for person & Safety confirmation info (In Japanese)