2025 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 359-372
On January 1, 2024, the Noto Peninsula Earthquake resulted in various disasters, such as structural collapses, fires, landslides and tsunamis. This study utilizes smartphone location data, recorded at intervals as short as one minute in nine municipalities of the Noto Peninsula, to elucidate the behavioral patterns of affected individuals at a micro-scale in time and space. The activity level of affected individuals increased sharply during the 4 p.m. hour, coinciding with a series of earthquakes, and subsequently declined gradually. Trip characteristics varied significantly across regions, and in particular, long-distance travel was rarely observed in the Oku-Noto area, where a large number of road blockages were present. The trips made by affected individuals in the Oku-Noto region were classified into five categories: evacuation to shelters and other safe locations, movement towards their residences or previous accommodations, encounters with road blockages, movement within the surrounding area, and refraining from going out. Under spatial constraints during the chaotic period immediately following the earthquakes, affected individuals evacuated and were engaged in varied activities.
