John Daub: In Japan, an earthquake can happen at any time.
What do you do when one occurs?
So I called the Tokyo Fire Department to ask them the specific measures
that we should take when one happens.
And they told me they have a disaster learning center here in Sumida ward
between Kinshicho station and the Tokyo Skytree.
They also have an earthquake simulator that can simulate
the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011.
Keep watching until the end of this video because I'm going to share
with you my personal experience when the Great Tohoku Earthquake occurred.
Something that changed my life and the way I see this country.
Let's go to the Tokyo Fire Department's disaster learning center.
♫ Intro music ♫
In Japanese: Welcome
Peter von Gomm: ONLY in Japan
The Tokyo Fire Department knows the value in educating people.
It makes their job easier and it saves lives.
The Honjo Bosaikan, or Life Safety Learning Center, for disasters
is free to visit and gives great insight into how to survive
the worst disasters.
It's very family friendly with many things in English to help new foreign
residents learn too.
There are videos of catastrophic events and interactive quizzes.
You won't leave here without learning something useful.
This liquefaction simulator shows just how dangerous earthquakes can be
under the ground.
By definition, it occurs when water-logged sediments at, or near, the ground surface
lose their strength in response to the strong ground shaking.
The ground becomes liquid and swallows everything from the surface.
Besides earthquakes, Japan also has typhoons: hurricane-like storms
originating in the Pacific.
They bring heavy winds and rains, and this simulation helps us understand
why we should stay inside during a storm by experiencing it.
So we're going to try out this experience.
A rainstorm situation probably in the worse possible way.
Hana is going to be joining us.
Let's go inside and see how this works.
Unlike virtual reality simulators, this one you really can feel.
We were let inside the room with coats, boots, and masks
to a pole to hang on to.
Alright. Are you ready?
(Hana) I'm ready.
(John) Alright.
We knew what was coming but we didn't know what it would be like.
And we didn't have to wait long to find out.
[Water spray]
Ahhhhhhhh!!!
[Heavy wind and water]
I couldn't put my head up or let go of the railing.
It's easy to understand how one could lose control and be tossed into
an unfortunate situation.
Wow. That was the worst situation you could possibly go through,
perhaps, ever, in a rain storm.
How do you feel?
(Hana) Um -- WET!
(John) You feel wet. [Evil laughs] Haha.
This was not like any ride at an amusement park.
So although we're in a simulation situation it's kinda fun because we know
we're in a safe environment.
But to experience the kind of winds that does blow people away
really makes you think about, well, you have to be prepared.
And when this kind of wind and storm is out there?
Don't go outside. Stay inside and be safe.
And after experiencing it you can understand why.
And I think that's why this is pretty important.
I asked Imamura-san, director of the learning center, why he believes
these kinds of disaster simulations are so important.
(Imamura) For example, in an earthquake situation,
if someone who has never experienced one before
suddenly faces a strong magnitude,
they will naturally panic.
However, if they have prior training
with an earthquake simulator,
they could react more calmly
and make better decisions.
Our primary goal is to provide some practice
so that you can protect and
save your loved ones in a disaster situation.
(John) Regarding the topic of earthquakes,
what do you want international visitors to know?
(Imamura) In Japan, the infrastructure is built under strict
regulations to withstand strong earthquakes.
Thus, it's unlikely a building would collapse
during an earthquake.
So, in case of an earthquake, it is likely safer
to stays indoors.
But always remember to protect your head.
And rule number one is to stay calm.
However, although it can be safer indoors,
if you see objects that might fall,
evacuate the area as much as possible.
(John) This is the earthquake simulation room.
♫ Dramatic music ♫
It has been engineered to give visitors a serious shake exactly like some of
the worst earthquakes in Japanese history.
This is as real as it gets
you know, of course, to the real thing: an earthquake.
So now we're going to be entering the simulation room.
This is where it all happens.
A chance for you to try some very serious earthquakes.
Now in Japan, as I said before, earthquake is not measured in magnitude, but shindo.
It's important to understand how Japan measures earthquakes.
Magnitude is an estimate of the relative size or strength of an earthquake
from "1" to "10", although "9.4" is the highest known event.
This scale sums up the size and strength of the numerical figure.
The 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake measured a "9.1" and is the fourth
greatest earthquake in recorded history.
The Japanese system is different though.
The "shindo intensity scale" measures the degree of shaking in the event of
an earthquake on a scale from "0" to "7".
This is different because it doesn't measure the size or intensity but the actual
shaking in the areas impacted by the release of energy.
Here's the scale.
You don't really feel it until shindo 3.
At shindo 5, there are variations: a lower and upper.
At shindo 6, you can't stand up.
At shindo 7, you lose all body control and you may be thrown into the air.
Shindo 7 earthquakes have only been measured four times in Japan.
We're about to simulate two of them right now.
Wow.
Uh, this one is going to be the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe.
It's extremely strong and they can simulate that here so
we're going to give that a try.
Ok.
That button reads "shindo 7".
The Great Hanshin Earthquake hit Kobe on January 17, 1995 at 5:46 AM.
Alright. Alright.
The city was asleep. Imagine being in your bed as it starts off this violently.
Oh.
Oh. OH!
This one!
This fell down over.
Aww.
That.. it's still going on.
Just because it kinda settles down, the earthquake, sometimes, it's not over.
You can feel it. There are aftershocks as well.
I can still feel some of the rumbling.
Um, the simulation actually has sound effects of the things going on around you
which is incredible.
It seems too real.
6434 people are believed to have lost their lives.
The epicenter was very close to the city of Kobe causing catastrophic damage.
This triggered over 300 fires which ravaged many parts of the city.
That one you can't even prepare for.
It just suddenly happens.
The earthquake just hits you.
There's nothing you can do in that kind of a situation.
You have a very short amount of time to react.
So that's why this kind of training is important for you to realize that
at a moment, these things, these earthquakes can strike and the way
you react can save your life.
So you can see we're resetting it.
Everything has moved.
This table is very heavy.
(Imamura) The inside is made with steel.
(John) Wow.
This is the simulation of the 3/11 earthquake.. wow.. in Tohoku.
Ok, ok. I'm ready.
I have some bad memories of this.
Oh, oh!
Oh my gosh.
(
Everything is moving all around me.
You can feel just this rumbling going up and down.
The entire trailer here is shaking.
It says it lasts about a minute.
I'm just going to go underneath this table here
because I just don't know what else to do.
Woah! WOAH!
This is really, really, long.
(
That.. brings back a lot of memories that I never wanted to experience again.
That was quite an experience that I've been through before.
And just the length of it.
At first you don't know what to do.
You're like a deer in headlights when an earthquake like this hits.
And then, anything that you've had, any kind of training will kick in.
You get underneath the table or you brace yourself somewhere.
My first reactions were not good.
Many years ago when I was in that earthquake here in Tokyo.
But to experience it again, it brought back some really tough memories.
Brought back some really tough memories.
The simulation made me remember
exactly how it was on March 11th.
How did it recreate the pattern so accurately?
(Imamura) In Japan, when an earthquake occurs, we use
multitudes of seismometers to record the patterns.
This helps us predict earthquakes more accurately.
We then retrieve this information and
use it to program our simulators.
John: Earthquakes happen often here.
When relatively small ones occur,
locals tend to not do anything.
They usually continue whatever they were doing.
But international visitors immediately
jump under the tables.
(Imamura) Yes, that is the correct reaction.
Japanese people have gotten used to
earthquakes a little too much.
As you experienced earlier, even when
an earthquake may feel weak initally,
it can suddenly increase power.
We can never predict the strength of an earthquake.
That is why we must always take
precautions when one occurs.
John: At a nearby park I reflected back on that tragic day: March 11, 2011.
That was actually hard for me to be in that earthquake simulation
during the exact thing, the exact pattern, of what happened on March 11, 2011.
It was like after the earth...., that simulator ended, a lot of the memories
came back to me, of that day.
I was at home in front of the computer editing videos,
and I was frozen. I was in my seat in front of my desk
and I didn't know what to do.
I looked out the window behind me and my building, I'm on the 6th floor, it was
swaying like I was on a boat.
I think about twenty seconds into it, I finally got up and I put my hand on
the doorknob and thought about going outside
but then I didn't.
I just stayed there in the doorway.
And then it just started to go down again.
My heart was racing. I was really freaked out.
The first thing I did was call my friends. Call people that I knew and ask them
if they were okay.
Ask them, "What happened?"
I went on to the television. I picked it up off the floor and watched NHK
and you could see that they had experienced the same thing in the studio across town.
And a lot of people left Japan in 2011.
And this channel was started as a reaction to a lot of information not being
conveyed correctly maybe to the public.
To just build a positive image about Japan.
That's why I started this channel.
So that's why this episode really does mean a lot to me to be able to do.
Because I experienced it myself.
No matter the amount of training you do, an actual shindo 7 earthquake is going
to frighten you.
You will feel helpless.
The entire world around you will be unstable.
The impact goes beyond just the shaking.
Living in Japan means you must learn your area's disaster plan and be as ready
as you can be if the "big one" does occur.
I hope you learned something.
Leave me your thoughts in the comments below.
Your experience, your stories.
After the earthquake I volunteered as much as I could:
food runs, digging mud out of houses, just listening to others and being a friend.
It's a reason why I'm still here in Japan and why it's important for me to keep
making this series: ONLY in Japan.
Here in Japan life can change in an instant.
Stay safe everyone!
And remember to care about the people around you.
Mata ne (See you)