A regional fire department in western Japan has collaborated with a university to create easy-to-understand pictograms they hope will keep people safe during disasters or even terrorist attacks.
Okayama Fire Department and Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, want to see their pictograms used nationwide to assist hard of hearing people and others, such as non-Japanese, who might have trouble interpreting spoken instructions from rescue workers wearing protective gear.
Although pictograms are ubiquitous in Japanese cities, marking out emergency exits, public restrooms and other important locations, the members of this project say designs made explicitly for the aftermath of disasters are rare.