Japan Improves Weather Warning System to Speed Up Disaster Evacuation

Japan will start operating an updated weather warning system by the end of May to help speed up evacuation decision-making based on the severity of natural disasters.

The Meteorological Agency and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan explained that the new system will classify four types of weather disasters, namely heavy rain, flooding, landslides, and storm waves, into five warning levels to be more in line with the five-level evacuation information system currently issued by local governments.

Weather warnings and advisories are issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency to help people decide whether to evacuate, even before official evacuation orders are issued. However, a number of words and structures in the previous system were considered complicated.

As reported by ANTARA from Kyodo-OANA, Tuesday, December 16, in the new system, it will be emphasized that "emergency warning" is the highest weather warning level, Level 5, which indicates a potentially life-threatening situation where evacuation should have been completed.

The term "urgent warning" will be used for Level 4, which indicates a condition where local governments are expected to issue evacuation orders. Level 3, or "warning", indicates a situation that encourages evacuation for the elderly, while weather advisories will be categorized as Level 2.

How wide and fast this new warning and appeal can be delivered to residents is still a major challenge when a disaster occurs.

The update of this weather warning system was compiled after more than two years of discussions among experts and through revisions to laws and regulations.

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Calling it a major overhaul, a meteorological agency official promised to work with other related agencies to ensure the system is integrated into society leading to faster evacuations.

In the new system, Level 5 emergency warnings for flooding will be applied to about 400 rivers that have been designated as overflowing or at very high risk of overflow. Meanwhile, other rivers will be temporarily handled in the category of heavy rain.

Criteria for issuing weather warnings will also be revised. For example, a Level 3 landslide warning will be issued when conditions are expected to reach Level 4 in the next few hours, potentially reducing the frequency of issuing Level 3 warnings.

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