Figure 5-4-1-1 Characteristics of Past Disasters and Comparison of ICT Utilization $ ^{34} $

Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake	Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake	Great East Japan Earthquake	2016 Kumamoto Earthquake
Date	Jan. 17, 1995	Oct. 23, 2004	Mar. 11, 2011	Apr. 16, 2016
Magnitude	M7.3	M6.8	M9.0	M7.3
Number of killed or missing people	6,437	68	22,118	228
Number of evacuees (maximum)	Approx. 320,000	Approx. 12,000	Approx. 470,000	Approx. 180,000
Number of damaged buildings	249,180	16,985	400,326	42,734
Economic damage (direct)	Approx. 10 trillion yen	Approx. 30 trillion yen	Approx. 17 trillion yen	Approx. 2.4 trillion to 4.6 trillion yen
ICT utilization	Fixed-line phones	[Subscribed telephones]
Difficult to use due to blackouts and damage to houses	[Subscribed telephones/ISDN]
Difficult to use due to blackouts and congestion	[Subscribed telephones/IP phones]
Difficult to use to blackouts, congestion and damage to houses due to the tsunami	[IP phones]
Usable except for areas hit by blackouts; Low utilization rate
Mobile communications	[2G mobile phones]
Disseminating: More connectable and effective than fixed-line phones	[3G mobile phones]
Penetration rate: 63.9%; Difficult to use due to blackouts and congestion	[3G mobile phones]
Penetration rate: 87.8%; Penetration rate for smartphones: Approx. 10%; Difficult to use due to blackouts, congestion and damage to base stations	[LTE, smartphones, mobile phones]
Penetration rate: 123.1%; Penetration rate for smartphones: over. 50%; Usable almost without any difficulty; SNS, etc. were highly evaluated.
Internet	[Dial-up connection]
Started to disseminate; Effective in transmitting information in disaster-stricken areas	[ADSL/Optical communication]
Individual penetration rate 64.3%; The prefecture transmitted information on its website but there was only limited use.	[ADSL/Optical communication]
Individual penetration rate 78.2%; Fixed-line equipment was not usable due to blackouts, etc; Pioneering used SNS, etc.	[Optical communication]
Individual penetration rate 83.0%; Usable almost without any difficulty; 00000 JAPAN was offered free of charge.
TV	[Terrestrial broadcasting]
Difficult to use due to blackouts and damage to TV stations	[Terrestrial broadcasting]
Difficult to use due to blackouts; Broadcast of safety confirmation information was evaluated as helpful.	[Terrestrial broadcasting/One-Seg services]
Conventional broadcasts were not usable due to blackouts. etc: Pioneering users used One-Seg services for collecting information on the tsunami.	[Terrestrial broadcasting/Data broadcasting]
Usable almost without any difficulty, except for some areas; Daily living information using data broadcasting was highly evaluated.
Radio	[Temporary disaster radio stations]
Transmitted detailed disaster information to disaster victims	[Temporary disaster radio stations]
Contributed to information communication by installing temporary relay stations and distributing terminals	[AM and FM radio and temporary disaster radio stations]
AM and FM radio were highly evaluated as means for information collection immediately after the disaster, Temporary disaster radio stations contributed to providing administrative information and safety confirmation information during the reconstruction period	[AM and FM radios and temporary disaster radio stations]
Low utilization rate as other information collection means were available

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