Town Information

GARAPA EnglishSpecialEdition

Multicultural Cooperation Section, Oizumi Town Hall8Address: Oizumi-machi Hinode 55-1
Phone: 0276-63-3111(ext. 261) August 10th, 2023
Fax: 0276-63-3921 E-mail:tabunka@town.oizumi.gunma.jp
For protection of your important persons and youself from disasters［自分と大切な人を災害から守るために］■For protection of your important persons and youself from disasters

October 12th, 2019, the typhoon No.19 which approached Kanto region caused natural catastrophes to various
parts of our nation. In Oizumi town, several houses suffered flood damage, and the living of people in the town
was affected by the typhoon greatly. In addition, a lot of earthquakes occur in Japan. In a huge earthquake,many kinds of damages occur such as collapse of houses or buildings, fires, collapse of walls or cliffs, or etc.
In recent years, major earthquakes have occurred in various regions of the country consecutively, such as
the Great East Japan Earthquake, Kumamoto Earthquake, Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake, and etc.
In near future, occurrence of a massive earthquake is expected, and there are municipalities
that a probability to hit an earthquake of 6-weak or more seismic intensity
within 30 years is more than 80%. As an aside, a probability to have a traffic
accident is 44%, and a probability to get a fatal accident is 0.3%.
So we can understand that a probability of occurrence of an earthquake is very high.

We don't know when a disaster occur.
It is very important for us to prepare always for the unexpected.

In the event of a disaster ～Earthquakes～［災害が起きたとき～地震編～ ］■Stay calm and Secure your safety！
(1) If you feel the ground shaking, secure your safety such as sheltering yourself undera table, a desk or something similar. Keep doors open to secure evacuation routes.
(2) Do not rush outside, because you may get injured with falling objects.
After the shaking subsides, go outside with checking surrounding circumstances.
(3) If you are outside of a building or a house when an earthquake occurs,leave away from things which are easy to fall down such as concrete block walls,
utility poles, etc., and be careful about falling objects such as signboards,window glass, etc.

■Stay calm! Prevent fires.

(1) After the shaking subsides, check for fires.
(2) In the event of a fire, extinguish it in its early stage.
※ For avoiding a burn, stay calm and put out the fire after the shaking subsides.
Turn off the circuit breaker of your house when you evacuate.

■Keep away from narrow alleys, wall verges, cliffs, or rivers.

There are large or small foreshocks after a huge earthquake. Please keep away frombuildings or walls which have a risk of collapse, and vending machines,
narrow alley, wall verges or rivers.
If there is no vacant lot nearby, assess the surrounding conditions calmly
and move to a safer area away from buildings.

■If you are driving a vehicle when an earthquake occurs, ...?

If you are driving a vehicle when an earthquake occurs, reduce your speed slowly
and park the vehicle on the shoulder of a road, and then turn off the engine.
Keep staying in the vehicle until the shaking subsides.
If you need to evacuate, flee on foot with taking your valuables.
But do not lock the doors and leave the key in the vehicle.
1

In the event of a disaster ～Heavy Rains～［災害が起きたとき～大雨編～ ］■ In the event of a heavy rain

A heavy rain in a short hour such as sudden intense downpours, torrential showers, or typhoons falls occasionally.
Since a disaster, such as flooding of revers, landslides, or flooded houses, may occur due to a heavy rain, daily
preparations are important.
Oizumi town has provided "Oizumi-machi Comprehensive Disaster-preparedness Map(Oizumi-machi Sogo Bosai Map)" which shows expected areas of flooding and estimateddepth of flooding by using different colors when the Tone-river, Watarase-river andKyuhaku-river are overflowed.
You can get the Oizumi-machi Comprehensive Disaster-preparedness Map at:
Oizumi Town Hall and Multicultural Community Center, and the soft-copy has been
uploaded in the web-site of the Town Hall.
Please take a look at it and check risk level around your house.
< URL of Multicultural Community Center : https://www.oizumi-tabunka.jp/archives/52403.htm >■Point of Caution: The force of water is so strong that even an adult male cannot open a sliding door at a depth of 50 cm.
The walking depth is 70 cm for men and 50 cm for women. It is dangerous to try to forcibly evacuate.
If the water level rises, wait for rescue from a high place.
: Even if the weather is fine where you are, if it is raining upstream, the river level may rise or flash floods(sudden flooding) may come. When you are near the river or enjoying leisure activities on the riverbank,please pay attention to the weather upstream and stay away from sandbars and far from the current!

Alert Level
Evacuation Information, etc. (Alert Levels)

Information of river levels and rain fall
(Information equivelent to Alert Levels)
Disaster Prevention, Weather Information

RiskLevel

AlertLevel

High5

Actions that residents
should takeEvacuation
Information, etc.

Life in danger,
Secure safety
immediately!

Emergency Safety
Measure *1

Flood Information(Rivers)

Landslide
Information(rainfall)

Flood Occurrence
Information

Heavy Rain
Special Warning(Landslide)

Alert Level~~ Must Evacuate Before Reaching Level 4 ~~4Everyone mustevacuate fromdangerous locationsEvacuation
Order *2

Flood Risk Information

Landsliding
Warning
Information

3The elderly etc.,mustevauate from dagerous
locations

Evacuation ofthe Elderly,etc. *3

Flood Warning
Information

Heavy Rain
Warning

Check your own
evacuation action

Heavy Rain
Advisory
Flood advisory

Flood Caution
Information

Heavy Rain
Advisory

Prepare yourself
for disaster

Early Caution
Information------------

2Low1*1 Alert level 5 may not always be announced, because at that level of disaster the municipality may not be fanctionalenough to grasp the actual situation.
*2 Evacuation Order will be announced at the same timing as the previous Evacuation Advisary were announced.
*3 Alert level 3 is the timing for people other than the elderly etc.,also to start to suspend usual activities, prepare toevacuate, voluntarily as necessary.
2

Check emergency supplies to carry［非常持ち出し品をチェックしよう］□Valuables (Cash, Residence Card(Zairyu Card), Health Insurance Card, Passport, Credit Cards, etc.)□Blankets, Clothes (Innerwears, Outerwears, Towels)□A Flashlight (prepare enough batteries)□A Portable Radio□Can opener, Rope, Work gloves, Plastic sheets, etc.
□Medicine (Household Medicines, Disinfectants, Sticking plasters,Medicine for the digestive, Eyedrops, etc.)□Diapers, Milk, Goods for babies or infants□Food/Drink (Dried bread,Canning, Bottles of water, etc.)

Rolling Stock［ローリングストック］

Rolling Stock means stock and rotation of foods. This is a way of keeping a constant supply of new foods at home,by buying extra foods that you usually eat, such as canned foods and/or boil in the bag foods, and buying the newfoods as replacement when the old foods were used.
This thought should be taken for not only foods but also other products which have a life time such as batteries,
medicine, or etc.
[Points]① Use older foods first.
Consume older foods first so that emerging food stocks do not become old.
In addition, put foods in order with a way that you can understand old or new easily.
② Replenish foods that were used.
Keep in mind to replenish the foods as soon as possible when you used them,because a disaster may occur while you forget to do.
③ Making use of Stock food.
Even if you have prepared a large amount of food for daily use by keeping a rolling stock,
you may not be able to cook food in the event of a disaster because gas, electricity, and water will be cut off.
A "cassette stove" is useful in such a situation.

Three main points in disaster prevention［防災のキホン3つの「助」］■Self Preparedness
This is to prepare for disaster by yourself for individuals and households.
When a big disaster occurs, it is important for you to take actions to protect yourself.
※Examples of usual action to protect yourself①Stockpiling of foods and drinks.
②Fixing furniture and home appliances.
③Sharing several ways to communicate among your family members when a disaster occurs.
④Checking evacuation routes and places.
■Community Support
This is achieved by working of neighbors and people in the region together.
The life of many people were saved by help of inhabitants who were in the region when disasters
occurred. So it is important for you to make relation with neighbors by greetings regularly or
joining events of the region so that everybody can confirm the safe each other or can help eachother smoothly when a disaster occurs.
In addition, when you receive an annoucement of a self emergency drill at a Kominkan or so on
which is carried out by your regional association , please participate in it actively. If you do notknow whether the emergency drill is carried out in the region or if you do not know how you canparticipate in it, please ask the town hall, the multi-cultural community center, or the leader of theassociation (Jichikai-cho).
■Public (Government) Support
This is the support by public authorities such as the town hall, the police, the fire fighting, andSelf- Defense Forces.
However there is a limit to aid the injured by the public support when a big disaster occurs. Soyour usual preparation is important.
3

How to get disaster prevention information［防災情報を得るために］■Usuful Apps (Application Software)
The country and several companies develop multilingual apps to notify further information of disasterprevention for foreigners living in Japan. By installing apps into your smart phone, you can gather information
whatever you want when an unexpected occurs. Please use them effectively.
[Example of Usuful Apps against the disaster]Name of Apps

Contents

Number ofLanguages
supported

Safety Tips

The application to notify disaster information such as theEarthquake Early Warning or Flowchart of evacuation
measure for unexpected.

15

Voice Tra

Multilingual translation application developed by thecountry.

QR

31

NHK World

The application to distribute the Erathquake Early Warningor news of NHK's international broadcasting in multilingual.

19

Multilingual Life
Information

The application to collect necessary information including
disaster for the life in Japan.

15■ Disaster Prevention Administrative Radio
The town broadcasts evacuation information in Japanese and Portuguese
through 53 points of speakers in the town when a disaster occurs.
Please listen to it carefully.
When it was hard for you to listen to it, you can get the same information by callingto the following numbers within 24 hours from the broadcasting.
0120-313-141 (Toll-free number)※0276-61-0500 is also available with charge.

Tips for evacuation behavior ［避難行動について］■ Check the Oizumi-machi Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Map to see if the area
where you live is a place where you need to evacuate.
Those who do not live in an expected flood zone do not need to go to an evacuation
shelter. Even if evacuation is necessary, the following precautions should be taken toprevent COVID-19 or other infectious diseases.
■Considering evacuation shelters"Evacuate" means to escape from the danger. If you are in a safe place,
you do not need to go to an evacuation shelter.
To avoid overcrowding in the evacuation shelter, please consider evacuating
to a relative's or an acquaintance's home that is safe, or staying your house
if the area you live is not the flood expectation area in
Oizumi-machi Comprehensive Disaster-preparedness Map (Oizumi-machi Sogo Bosai Map).
■Things to bring to evacuation shelters
The risk of infectious diseases is also high in evacuation shelters
where a variety of people, from children to the elderly, gather.
Therefore, wear a mask and disinfect your hands at the shelter.
Also, town stockpiles are limited, so if possible, bring masks, disinfectant,and a day's worth of water and food.

4