Devastating Natural Disasters

Since Japan has been known for extremely devastating natural disasters It is preventing me from moving there. My first concern is Tsunami's, a massive one hit in the 1990's and killed 200 people plus caused massive destruction. Also earthquakes have taken lives. I am talking about Tokyo of course, which is highly vulnarable to Tsunami's and earthquakes. Tokyo is the home of devastating natural disasters and i am worried. I understand each city has its dangers but the city seems so vulnarable. Should I be worried ? Earthquakes happen very often, do they take enough lives for me to have to fear them ? Are some parts of the city more vulnarable to them than others ? Any suggestions or comments would be extremely appreciated, thank you.

My first concern is Tsunami's, a massive one hit in the 1990's and killed 200 people plus caused massive destruction.

And more than half a million people died in traffic accidents in Japan since 1990!


I am talking about Tokyo of course, which is highly vulnarable to Tsunami's and earthquakes.

I don't think that Tokyo is particularly vulnerable to Tsunamis thanks to the fact that is located in a bay. But there is a certain risk that a strong earthquake will hit the city within the next 30 years.

But I believe the risk of getting injured in a traffic accident is considerably higher than getting injured in a natural disaster.

You can decrease the risk of getting hurt in an earthquake by living and working in a building that was built after 1980 and by not storing any heavy objects in high places in your apartment.

Since Japan has been known for extremely devastating natural disasters
I would disagree on this point. There are many other parts of the world that suffer through more natrual disasters than Japan, for example, the Hurricanes that constantly hit the southern part of the United States causes more damange each year than disasters in Japan, also the large wildfires in the US. or the Tsuanami and earthquakes that have hit southeast asia the last few years have caused more damage.

Also earthquakes have taken lives. I am talking about Tokyo of course, which is highly vulnarable to Tsunami's and earthquakes.

As mentioned Tokyo is located in a bay so it isn't "highly" vulnerable.

Most earthquakes are minor do not cause any damage (or atleast minimal damage) or deaths at all.

I do agree with Uji, more deaths are caused by traffic accidents than by natural disasters.

Tokyo is home to devestating disasters
The last "devesting" natural disaster to hit Tokyo was in 1923.

People have prevented themselves from moving to the U.S. due to gun crimes, and Latin America due to terrorism, and Italy due to Mafia, and the tropics due to deseases you usually don't encounter. But funny that a huge population of locals AND expats have managed to survive very normal lives in those places.

Kenji, the more disasters there are, the more prevention there is. Tokyo is not as vulnerable than you may think. Each high school has a large stock of emergency kits for the whole residential area to share, once a large disaster occurs.

Buildings are made so that they're not suppose to fall down even in the largest of earthquakes. A huge law suit has currently been going on on fake construction, but that just shows how much awareness there is.

The main reason the Tsunami had a large affect in Southern Asia recently is because they never expected such large waves in that area. In Japan, the system is more causcious, and people will come to tell you to fled from the coastal area, once danger is expected.

hi, saw from my local tv that japan has been hit by a 8.1 quake and tsunamis warning are now in place?
my family and i are arriving in tokyo on 17/11 and we are a little concerned now. we plan on visiting tokyo and surrounding areas initially. places which we wanted to visit include some lake areas like lake chuzenji, lake kawaguchi, lake ashi and odaiba. are these areas safe to visit now?
we already have our intinerary planned for the whole trip but with this quake and tsunamis, we are wondering if we should cancel these places and travel to "higher grounds" instead.
as we are leaving on fri, appreciate any quick response here. thank u.

*******Tsunami forecast now in effect********
Tsunami Attention
EASTERN PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO
OKHOTSK SEA COAST OF HOKKAIDO
CENTRAL PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO
WESTERN PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO
NORTHERN PART OF JAPAN SEA COAST OF HOKKAIDO
PACIFIC COAST OF AOMORI PREF.
IWATE PREF.
MIYAGI PREF.
FUKUSHIMA PREF.
IBARAKI PREF.
KUJUKURI AND SOTOBO AREA, CHIBA PREF.
UCHIBO AREA, CHIBA PREF.
IZU ISLANDS
SAGAMI BAY AND MIURA PENINSULA
SHIZUOKA PREF.
OGASAWARA ISLANDS

got these info from japan meteorological agency.

pls advise if any of the above places affect where we are going to be visiting? we will visit tokyo, yokohama, hakone, fuji five lakes, odaiba, nikko, kamakura and enoshima. thank u.

In most of these areas, the height of the tsunami turned out to be only about 20 cm. I don't think that any damage was done anywhere.

I live in a part of the United States that NEVER has earthquakes-at least none that are large enough to notice. And my family and I plan on visiting Japan one day. The idea of an earthquake kind of scares me, most likely just because I have never experienced one. Does Japan for the most part get many earthquakes? If so, are most of them small enough to not even bother people who are used to them too much? Just wondering. Any help would be appreciated. :)

Yes, Japan is one of the most earth-quake prone countries in the world. A relatively large one seems to happen somewhere in Japan every 2 or 3 years on average- the amount of damage usually depends on the population density of the area as well as the magnitude of the quake.

I live in Tokyo and we feel small ones every few weeks or so- most of them are so small though that unless you are sitting down indoors and see lights swaying for example you might not notice them. Most of these are around 3 on the Richter scale so very minor. In the 9 years I've lived here I've only experienced one earthquake where things actually fell over- a few containers fell off the top of our fridge.

Most people just ignore the small ones- they are a fact of life here.

If you come to Japan I really recommend you stay/ live in a new building- as above one built after 1980. In the recent Niigata earthquake pretty much all the buildings that collapsed were old traditional wooden buildings. The newer buildings in the same area survived intact.

Just to compare dangers, I know about 5 people who have been seriously injured in traffic accidents in Japan in the 9 years since I have lived here, but no one I know has been injured/ killed by an earthquake or any other natural disaster.

Thank you so much Sira! Also thanks for recomending to stay in a newer building. I might not have thought about it. This does make me feel better about the earthquake thing. Which, like I said was probably just making me nervous because I have never felt an earthquake and it would be a different kind of experience. But your post helped so much! Again, Thanks. :D