Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, due to being located on the Ring of Fire, but is also one the best equipped to handle them. Every year the country has disaster prevention day on September 1, the anniversary of the 1923 Tokyo earthquake. At many Japanese schools, students are very familiar with earthquake drills. Drills take place monthly, with children being taught to go under their desk and grasp to table legs until the quake has stopped (Rauhala, 2011). Japan has the world’s most sophisticated earthquake early warning systems and also has a tsunami warning system with sensors that monitor seismic activity 24/7 (Rauhala, 2011). Tsunami safety has been a focus of coastal city planning throughout the nation. The east coast of Japan, where tsunamis frequently hit, earthquake and tsunami proof shelters have been built and tsunami walls and floodgates have also been constructed. In 1981 Japan’s building guidelines were updated with an eye to earthquake science and again revised in 2000 with requirements and mandatory checks (Rauhala, 2011). Of course, all the preparation in the world cannot stop an earthquake from occurring. Though 2011 Tohoku earthquake had taken many lives and caused much destruction, it would have been much worse if not for Japan’s …show more content…
Since the 2011 earthquake the Japanese have since look to improve their tsunami walls, drills, and home locations. Many of the walls to help protect the people were not high enough to with stand the amount of water that came with tsunami, and water simply flowed over the wall or were destroyed. In Japan earthquake and tsunami drills are held monthly to better prepare for a future disaster. Children are taught to go under their desk and grasp to table legs until the quake has stopped and schools with multiple stories have chutes for them to escape the building and get to solid ground. Japan also has an early earthquake and tsunami warning system in place that runs 24/7. Lastly, the government has looked to move neighborhoods near the coastal zone or flood zones to higher ground. Keeping homes higher would prevent fewer homes from being destroyed in a future