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[TokyoLiz]

Quake drills and simulations are offered in English all over Japan. Contact your city or ward office for info.

If you're in Tokyo, you have access to the disaster prevention park http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/showa/tokyorinkai/english/index.htm

About panicking foreigners - I was working in an English school in Vancouver when the Nisqually Earthquake hit (Feb 28 2001). Some of the students panicked and started screaming, while others calmly got under desks and braced against walls. Most of the teachers, me included, had never experienced a a serious quake before, and we'd never had a quake drill. We didn't know what to do, other than heed fire department cautions, and try to keep everyone calm and informed in easy English.

Japan's schools and governments drill a lot, and quake awareness is high. Western Canada is just beginning earthquake preparations. But being smug about it doesn't help anyone.

About the flyjin nonsense - some embassies, including Canada's, advised their citizens to leave Kanto. Canada also evacuated Canadians by bus from the disaster zone. Every time I heard the flyjin nonsense after 3/11, I said nothing and just showed the emails I got from the embassy.

[TokyoLiz]

NHK reports that aftershocks continue, tens of thousands are in shelters, and norovirus is spreading http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160423_10/

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