agency response period and then to word-of-mouth communications among residents in the reconstruction period. As a whole, changes with time in means evaluated as being effective were smaller in the case of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake as in the case of those means actually used (Figure 5-2-2-2).

Terrestrial broadcasting and administrative agencies' websites were evaluated increasingly, as time passed, to be effective as communication means upon the occurrence of the disaster and in the reconstruction period both at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. This suggests that these media properly provided information that met users' needs. At the time of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, use of these media did not increase so much despite high prior evaluation, probably because people were able to use ordinary information collection means.

## (2) Development of ICT Environment during Evacuation

In order to ensure the ICT environment for evacuees, various types of assistance were offered by telecommunications carriers, vendors and manufacturers, which included free access to public wireless LAN, lending of mobile phone chargers and distribution of radios to disaster victims and shelters.

Regarding public wireless LAN, mobile carriers offered “00000JAPAN,” allowed access to area owners’ Wi-Fi routers, and installed Wi-Fi routers at shelters, thereby striving to ensure a communication environment for disaster victims.

“00000JAPAN” is the unified SSID for providing public wireless LAN services in the event of a large-scale disaster so that Wi-Fi services ordinarily provided by each carrier can be utilized uniformly as a means for disaster victims' communication connections. This initiative was commenced based on lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake. A demonstration test was carried out in September 2013 at Kamaishi city, Iwate prefecture, which was one of the severely damaged areas, and 00000JAPAN started to operate officially in May 2014 but was put into practice for the first time at the time of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

Respondents who answered that they actually used 00000JAPAN accounted for only 23%, while those who knew of 00000JAPAN but did not use it accounted for 37%, and 40% of the respondents answered that they did not know this service. It is considered that the fact that mobile phones or other alternative means could be used without any difficulty contributed to this low utilization rate. However, in order to enhance the usefulness of Wi-Fi services in the event of any larger communication failure, more Wi-Fi routers need to be installed and 00000JAPAN should be made more widely recognized.

In the meantime, users highly evaluated the effectiveness of 00000JAPAN and other public wireless LAN services that can be easily accessed irrespective of contracted carriers. These services were fully utilized by government officials or backup personnel from other local governments in the disaster-stricken areas as means for internet access to collect necessary information. Disaster victims who use smartphones for internet access also requested further development of the public wireless LAN environment.

It was thus found that the effectiveness of public wireless LAN services at the time of a disaster is highly evaluated to some extent. For ensuring more prompt and efficient responses upon a disaster, such as enabling carriers to go around shelters to install routers, informa-

Figure 5-2-2 Means Effective for Information Collection (in time series)

(Source) "Survey on ICT Utilization at the Time of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake" (2016) by MIC