Hyogo Pref. to develop disaster information app

December 30, 2017

Kobe- The Hyogo prefectural government plans to develop an app for smartphones and tablet devices that will deliver disaster-related information to people in real time, Governor Toshizo Ido has said.

Related expenses were included in the Hyogo government's fiscal 2018 draft budget. It aims to introduce the app by fiscal 2019.

The prefectural government will consider joining hands with private businesses to add a function to allow people to check which shelters are open and their availability at the time of disaster.

"We plan to make continuing efforts to create a system that will be easy for residents of the prefecture to use," Ido said in a recent interview with Jiji Press, indicating determination to enhance the functions on the app.

Currently, the prefectural government sends information on weather warnings and disasters via email to people that have signed up beforehand.

Not only will people be provided with information by using the app, which people in the western Japan prefecture will have to download, but the app will also allow users to search for the nearest evacuation center on a map, as well as determine the degree of risk they face in their current location.

The Hyogo government will also create an app function that will enable people to send information via various methods, such as the Line free communications app, to spread accurate information from the prefectural government to many people.

Through the function, it hopes to prevent inaccurate information from spreading in a time of disaster.

To help people who are vulnerable during disasters, such as those with disabilities and foreign tourists, the Hyogo government plans to add a function that will send information as a pictogram, showing the situation clearly with diagrams, and a feature that will read disaster information out loud. Jiji Press