Japan’s disaster plans fail to keep pace with tourist boom

When the ground shook off Iwate prefecture at 9pm on Wednesday, the magnitude 6.0 jolt – the latest in a series of sizeable tremors – barely registered in a country still mopping up after two powerful typhoons and bracing for a fresh bout of torrential rain and landslides.Natural disasters have long been a fact of life in Japan, where schoolchildren rehearse earthquake evacuations the way other nations hold fire drills.Every September 1, in a ritual as much of collective memory as civil defence, communities nationwide mark the anniversary of the 1923 earthquake" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="157757" data-entity-type="event">Great Kanto earthquake with evacuation exercises, mock rescues and firefighting drills.Schoolchildren wear padded hoods to protect them from falling debris during an earthquake simulation drill at a primary school in Tokyo in 2018. Photo: ReutersBut Japan itself has changed beyond recognition since those drills were designed and experts warn the nation’s contingency plans have failed to keep pace.