80-90% of Japanese fail to evacuate after missile alerts

December 14, 2017

Tokyo- A Japanese government survey showed Wednesday that 81-94 percent of people in the nation did not or were unable to evacuate or take other protection measures after they were informed of the launch of a North Korean ballistic missile in August and another in September through the J-Alert warning system or from other sources.

Only 5-16 percent of respondents said they took measures to protect themselves from the missiles.

Given the results, the government plans to beef up efforts to make people aware of the need for evacuation in the event of missile launches. The missiles fired by North Korea on Aug. 29 and Sept. 15both fell into the Pacific Ocean after passing over Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido.

The survey was conducted on the Internet and through questionnaires in 12 prefectures where warnings were issued through the J-Alert system.

The proportion of online respondents who evacuated stood at 5 percent in both August and September, while 94 percent did not or were unable to evacuate.

In the questionnaire format, the proportion of those who evacuated came to 12 percent in August and 16 percent in September.

The government advises people to go into a building or underground, or lie on the ground to protect their heads when J-Alert warnings are issued.

But 28-39 percent of respondents who did not evacuate said that they do not know where to evacuate, and 37-46 percent called evacuation meaningless.

On its civil protection portal site, the government posted a message stressing the need for people to evacuate in order to protect themselves from fragments of and blasts from missiles.

The government also compiled evacuation manuals in English, Chinese and Korean. Jiji Press