Road to Tokyo 2020: Disaster prevention portal site remains little known

July 21, 2019

Tokyo--A Japanese land ministry portal website gives viewers access to information from public institutions on disaster preparation and responses in multiple languages in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralymics.

Launched two years ago, the site, however, is not yet well-known either at home or abroad and the number of page views remains low, and officials are working to bolster its profile.

The site, which can be accessed at https://www.mlit.go.jp/river/bousai/olympic/index.html, offers information in Japanese, English, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese and Korean, to help people including foreign visitors prepare better for possible natural disasters in Japan during the Tokyo Games.

The site directs viewers to outside sites with information that people need in ordinary times, such as ways to protect their lives in disasters, as well as train maps in Tokyo and its vicinity.

If a natural disaster occurs, the portal will also distribute data such as updates on the damage situation and weather information.

But the portal has failed to increase the number of viewers.

Since its launch, it has attracted some 8,700 viewers a month on average, far lower than some 235,000 daily visitors on average in March for the ministry's homepage, raising concerns that visitors to the Tokyo

Games may be unable to find necessary information if they are hit by a natural disaster during the quadrennial event.

The ministry will publicize the portal site at events related to the Tokyo Games, officials said.

In preparation for the 2020 Games, the ministry is considering linking the portal to the Global Positioning System to help users find on their smartphones the nearest evacuation center and hospital from their locations.

"Even foreign people unfamiliar with the geography of Japan could search for information much more easily if they can orient themselves," a ministry official said.

With some Olympic and Paralympic events to be held outside the Tokyo metropolitan area, the ministry plans to include in the portal site links to information such as train maps around event venues. Jiji Press