Typhoons! Are You Ready?
ed. note: this article is reprinted from a post published on July 13, 2007. Aside from the reference to Man-Yi, the information is still relevant.
You too can ride out the storm with the gusto of Slim Pickens on a warhead!
….okay, bad comparison there…just read the article.
As typhoon Man-Yi rolls up towards Kyushu, it’s a good time to consider your personal emergency plan in the event of a natural disaster.
Before newbies start re-watching all of those awful nat. disas. summer blockbusters for notes (”What would Bruce Willis do?! Why, he’d fly up to the damned asteroid and show that mo-fo who’s boss!”), it’s important to say that Saga prefecture is one of the safest (”Most boring? Hush!”) prefectures in Japan, in terms of natural disasters. Most typhoons have to travel over enough land to considerably weaken before they can hit Saga.
Nevertheless, a good emergency plan never hurts: some things to consider:
- ■ Many of us live alone.
- ■ Many of us do not fluently speak or read this country’s language. How well would you do in an emergency situation?
- ■ We have various housing conditions–some of our residences are more solid than others.
- ■ Many of us live on the second floor. This could be a positive thing (in case of floods) or a negative thing (in case of tornadoes).
- ■ Some of us have not really managed a household before–we were with family or at school.
- ■ We rely on the Internet for information and voice-over-IP telephony (Skype/Vonage/BB phone/etc.) for communication. The equipment that powers these services relies on electricity.
- ■ I for one, RARELY hear about typhoons at my school until RIGHT before they hit…or after they’ve come, in some cases.
I actually HAD this conversation last September:
Me: Good morning.
Coworker: Good morning! Is your house okay?
Me: Yes, but I was REALLY scared this weekend. The power was going off and on every five minutes and I thought the roof was going to come off– the apt. was shaking so much.
Coworker: Yeah! My house STILL doesn’t have power. Lots of your neighborhood was knocked out for more than 24 hours. You’re lucky! In fact, this was the strongest one we’ve gotten in 15 or 20 years!
Interior Monologue: I see. That might have been good to know before I had to weather it.
Here are some simple things you can do as precautions:
- 1. Prepare an emergency kit. It should reflect your needs in the event that there is no electricity or clean water for a few days. The Weather Channel provides an extensive one here: http://www.weather.com/ready/supplykit.html . Here is another example supply kit guide: http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html . Don’t just set it and forget it– check dig it out periodically to be sure the batteries still have a charge and that kind of thing.
- 2. Consider the consequences of a power loss. If you REALLY feel that your electronics are important, consider a battery backup. Also called an Emergency Power Supply or Uninterruptible Power Supply, They are basically big batteries with built-in outlets. They function as power strips/surge protectors normally, and if the power goes out, they start drawing electricity from their reserves. Since that vast majority of ALTs have laptops, this isn’t really as crucial. However, remember that your modem and/or routers will need electricity to get you Internet access. Sometimes it doesn’t matter (say, if the servers at your Internet Service Provider are affected by the storm) but I have used it before in the States to keep my Vonage line active when the power goes out. Again, this option is not for everyone, but it doesn’t hurt to know about.
Even if you have a cell phone, you are limited by your phone’s battery. In my experience, lithium-ion batteries, like the ones in our phones, don’t hold a charge very well. Even if you don’t use them, after a couple of days, they start to lose power. I highly recommend those keitai battery backup kits you can get at keitai shops/Best Denki/Yamada Denki/AEON/konbini/etc. Basically, it’s a charger that runs off of AA batteries. I use rechargeables and take a few when I go on a weekend trip away from an outlet. You can either get the kind that attaches directly to the side of your phone, or the kind that connects to your phone with a cable (you keep the pack itself in your pocket). With one of these in tow, even if your cell battery is dead, you can still make a few calls or texts. They cost between 900 and 1800 yen, depending on the maker and how fancy they are. If you have an newer phone, just match the maker and the model number on the back of the package. Otherwise, call over a store clerk for help.
- 3. Establish an emergency contact nearby. This should be your supervisor, plus one other person, possibly a neighbor or one of your JTEs. Make sure this person knows where you live and how to get in touch with you.
- 4. Register with your embassy. The Japanese consulate in Houston encouraged us to do this before we left. Americans can do it online at https://travelregistration.state.gov. I’ve assembled as full as list as I can at the bottom of this article. Also consider letting people know you are safe on Facebook or another social networking website once the disaster has passed. Your keitai company should provide an emergency message board service for English-speakers to let other’s know their status. AU does. I think the others do, too. Learn how to access and use that.
- 5. Study Japanese. Do you know the correct emergency numbers for Japan? (Psst! Check your yellow AJET card!) What do you say once you’ve actually gotten someone on the line? Make it a point to teach yourself Japanese vocabulary that you might need. Learn words related to flooding and storms, as well as the vocabulary you need to describe your location and situation. Don’t forget that your JET Diary is a good resource–but that it might not always be at hand.
6. Finally, keep on top of the weather during typhoon season. The Japan Meteorological Association publishes information in English on their website: http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html.
With any luck, you will never have to endure a natural disaster while in Japan, but if you should, you can feel more confident and in-control by being prepared. 
Other Links
For people who actually get off on disaster planning, jackpot:
http://www.fema.gov/plan/index.shtm
Travel Registration Websites:
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
INDIA (paper form)
IRELAND: ?
JAMAICA
NEW ZEALAND
SINGAPORE
SOUTH AFRICA (online registration is not up yet)
UNITED KINGDOM*
UNITED STATES
* Oddly, the UK website seems to imply that people living in Japan can’t register (”Japan” is not in the list of countries they specify).