What to Do During an Earthquake
The standard Japanese earthquake response fits in one sequence: drop, cover, and hold on while the ground moves, then secure fire and exits, check people, and gather official information. Drill it once and it holds under stress.12
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Japan Meteorological Agency site.
Overview
Everything in this article follows the national standard guidance. During shaking, your only job is protecting your body. After shaking stops, work outward: fire sources, exits, injuries, information, then the coast question if you live near the sea.12
During the shaking: drop, cover, hold on
Get low, cover your head and neck, and hold onto something stable until the shaking fully stops.1 Get under a sturdy table or desk if one is within reach; otherwise crouch against an interior wall away from glass and tall furniture.
If an Earthquake Early Warning sounds, you have only a matter of seconds before strong tremors arrive, so act immediately rather than finishing what you are doing.1 The system estimates each location's shaking and the arrival time of the main motion from seismographs near the epicenter.3 The warning arrives a few seconds to a few tens of seconds before the main motion, except near the epicenter where it can arrive at the same time as the shaking.1
Do not run outside mid-shake
Stay where you are until the shaking stops. Rushing outside during strong motion exposes you to falling glass, roof tiles, and collapsing block walls, which the JMA damage tables document from 5-upper upward.4 The indoor collapse risk in a modern building is lower than the falling-object risk on the street outside it.
Stairwells are the worst choice of all: they concentrate debris and crowd movement at the exact moment both peak. Shelter first, move after.4
After the shaking stops
Secure fire sources and the door
Turn off gas burners and heaters if they are safe to reach. Gas meters with safety devices trip around intensity 5-lower and stop the supply on their own, but an open burner flame still needs you.4
Open a door to secure your exit. Wooden frames can warp in a strong quake and jam the door shut, so establishing an open exit early costs nothing and can matter a great deal.2
Check people, then information
Check yourself and your family for injuries before anything else. Then switch on official information: JMA earthquake and tsunami reports plus your municipality's broadcasts and alerts.12 If anyone needs an ambulance, the procedure for calling 119 is worth knowing before the quake, not after.
Cracks and toppled shelves pull attention, but injuries that go unchecked in the first minutes get worse. People first, property second.2
Near the coast: move to high ground first
If strong shaking hits while you are near the coast, treat the shaking itself as the tsunami signal. Move to high ground or your municipality's designated tsunami shelter immediately, without waiting for a warning siren or alert.2
Tsunami arrival time is measured in minutes on near-field coasts. The decision to move cannot wait for confirmation on television.2
Expect follow-on quakes
A large quake is followed by further quakes of similar or slightly lesser intensity, and they can continue for hours to days.2 Do not assume the first quake was the only one.
Keep evacuation shoes, a flashlight, and your phone battery pack accessible for at least the first night. Sleep away from tall unsecured furniture until the sequence settles.2
Drill your household plan before the quake
Walk the plan once with everyone in your household: where each person shelters in each room, the building's evacuation route and stairs, and the nearest open area or designated shelter outside the home.2 Confirm the meeting point for family members caught in different places.
Walk to your designated shelter once in daylight. A route you have walked is one you can follow in the dark, in rain, with phone networks down.2
Find your municipal hazard map
Your evacuation destination is named by your municipality, not by Japan. Every city and ward publishes hazard maps marking tsunami zones, landslide zones, and designated shelters for its own neighborhoods.
Start at the national Hazard Map Portal run by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism at https://disaportal.gsi.go.jp/, which overlays national risk data on one map.5 Then follow the portal to your own municipality's published map and confirm your shelter and zone in advance, since boundaries are revised over time.5
Good to know
Opening the door matters more than turning off the gas first
Both matter, but the order surprises people. A jammed door traps you; a tripped gas meter already stopped the supply around 5-lower.4 Open the exit first if you can only do one thing immediately.
Elevators trap people after every urban quake
Seismic sensors halt elevator cars, sometimes between floors. Never ride one during shaking, and take the stairs for at least the first movements after a strong quake.1
The tsunami decision cannot wait for the warning
Warnings follow measurement, and measurement takes minutes the coast may not have. Strong shaking near the sea is the warning; move first and confirm later.2
See also
- Calling 119: When and How
- Gas in Japan: City Gas vs. Propane and the Safety Inspection
- 7119: Japan's Non-Emergency Medical Consultation Line
- Emergency Hospital Tiers in Japan
- The Evacuation Advisory Tiers in Japan