Only 5.9 percent of families in Japan thoroughly prepare their children for natural disasters or other emergencies, according to a recent survey by toymaker Bandai Co.
The ratio of respondents who said they occasionally have disaster preparation discussions with their children only comes to 13 percent.
"I want the results of this survey to trigger families to start discussions on how to prepare for emergencies ahead of Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 1," said Bandai spokeswoman Tomomi Washizu, a 40-year-old mother of three.
The survey was conducted online in July on 900 families with elementary or junior high school students. Parents were asked to respond to the survey together with their children.
About 70 percent of the surveyed families said they had made some preparations for emergencies. However, 23.2 percent said they had never spoken about emergency preparedness at home, and another 57.9 percent said they rarely touched on the topic.
Many families said emergency drills at school or news reports on disasters were what prompted them to raise the subject at home. Families that were more proactive in preparing for disasters said they had established a family meeting point and had a specific communication plan prepared.
But the results showed many children had no knowledge of family emergency plans.
As many as 46.7 percent of the respondents said they had emergency provisions at home but only 22.7 percent said their children knew where they were stored.