See TV networks could release only verified official information on the number of the dead and the magnitude of the earthquake, which, due to their inadequacy, delayed a public recognition of the magnitude of the problem. A Kobe congressman called several members of the Japanese Diet in Tokyo, pleading for a declaration of national emergency and the dispatch of troops, but was disbelieved for hours, because early TV reports were much less disturbing. In Japan, the number of calls to radio stations was large. FM Kobe, a local radio station, received 20,000 calls in four days. The public NHK radio and television station received 30,000 calls and responded to 11,000 inquiries in the same period.
Radio has the advantage in that it can be easily battery- powered.
A major lesson from Kobe is that computer networks and bulletin boards can be much more effective than voice phone networks once the immediate calamity is over. They are also more effective than radio and television for specific information. The advantage of computer networks is that messages need to be posted only once but can be read by many, and at different times. This facilitates coordination enormously. Also, network transmission time can be kept brief since messages can be written out before connection time, and downloaded rather than read on-line by recipients.