2018 Volume 68 Issue 11 Pages 2-27
“The Heavy Rain Event of July 2017 in Kyushu Hokubu” (torrential rain in Northern Kyushu) involved severe rain caused by mesoscale lines of precipitation that kept falling over the same region between Fukuoka and Oita Prefectures. Small and medium sized rivers in hilly and mountainous areas flooded in a short amount of time. Cities and villages along the basin were hit by inundation and sediment disasters, and 42 people were dead or missing in Fukuoka and Oita Prefectures. The NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted a public opinion survey of 2,000 male and female residents (aged 20 and older) of disaster-affected Asakura City and Toho Village of Fukuoka and Hita City of Oita. Based on the survey results and on-the-ground research, this paper examines issues surrounding evacuation and information communication.Of the entire respondents, the percentages of residents who “evacuated” to safe places such as evacuation areas were 20% in Asakura City, 29% in Toho Village, and 21% in Hita City. It is revealed what caused them to “evacuate” was not “information” such as evacuation advisory, but abnormal phenomena represented by torrential rain and raised water level in the river. Around half of evacuees moved to places other than evacuation areas designated by local governments. Many evacuees had to take flooded roads, and some could not reach the designated evaluation areas.The residents’ main sources for “information for severe weather preparation” including “sediment disaster alert” and “information about a record-breaking deluge in a short period,” or evacuation information such as “evacuation advisory” and “evacuation instruction (emergency)” were “NHK TV broadcasts” and “emails from the government.” As disaster information sources are shifting to “email” and other internet media, it is time for broadcasters to review how “TV and radio” should communicate disaster prevention and reduction information.
