Nearly 70% of 108 Japanese coastal municipalities at risk of damage from a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake have never conducted drills for operating evacuation centers in the winter, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.
The survey, which examined 108 municipalities spanning seven prefectures from Chiba to Hokkaido, assessed preparedness in the event of a tsunami caused by an earthquake in the Japan and Chishima trenches in the Pacific Ocean. It revealed delays in implementing measures to address the severe coldness of shelters in the winter.
Many disaster-related deaths in the wake of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and the magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 were believed to have been due to cold weather, bringing attention to the dire conditions at shelters during winter disasters.