In an interview with Hiroshi Saito, the Director of the Disaster Prevention Division of the Crisis Management Department of the Hiroshima City Government, he tells FutureGov Asia Pacific how Hiroshima intends to prepare its citizens in times of calamities through its disaster information mail delivery system. 

The Hiroshima Disaster Information Mail Delivery System is a service in which citizens may register in advance to receive e-mails containing disaster related information that can be viewed either on a personal computer or a mobile phone.

“By having citizens register for the Hiroshima Disaster Information Mail Delivery and use the disaster prevention information available, we hope to completely prevent casualties in the case of a disaster,” Saito said.

Saito classified the content of the disaster information mail delivery system into five categories, namely:

* Emergency Information - Important and urgent information that is necessary to citizens due to the risk of a disaster having an extremely large impact on citizen life, such as evacuation advisories and instructions during evacuations.

* Important Information - Information that is necessary to citizens due to the risk of a disaster having a significant impact on citizen life. Examples are information on typhoons, heavy rains, and earthquakes.

* System information - Information related to the Hiroshima City’s Task Force for Disaster Management.

* Weather conditions - Information on weather advisories, landslide warnings, flood forecasting for designated rivers, tornado advisories, earthquake information, weather forecasts, information on acute heavy rainfall, and tsunami information.

* Test e-mail - E-mails sent periodically to check for invalid e-mail addresses in the system and to verify that the system is operating properly.

Saito explained that several cities across Japan, including Hiroshima City, suffered significant damage as a result of typhoons. In the wake of these disasters, the City of Hiroshima conducted a review to investigate effective ways to transmit disaster information to citizens.

“The results of the review led to the conclusion that delivering such information to citizens via e-mail would be an efficient option, as an overwhelming amount of citizens were actively using mobile phones and the internet. These findings eventually led to the establishment of the Hiroshima Disaster Information Mail Delivery System,” he said.

The City of Hiroshima is currently upgrading the wireless system for the simultaneous broadcast of disaster information for citizens, which uses outdoor speakers, stand-alone receivers, and other similar equipment.

“As we proceed with these upgrades, we will collaborate with Japan’s nationwide instant warning system, known as J-Alert. This system sends emergency information instantly to citizens through the use of satellite communications technology as well as wireless disaster information systems in cities, towns, and villages across Japan,” Saito said.

Other cities in Japan having the similar disaster information mail delivery system are Sapporo, Sendai, Saitama, Chiba, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Niigata, Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, Osaka, Sakai, Kobe, Kitakyushu, and Fukuoka.