ISSUES RELATED TO COMMUNICATING TSUNAMI IMFORMATION AND STIMULATING EVACUATION BEHAVIOR IN THE EVENT OF FAR-FIELD TSUNAMI

Abstract

 On January 15, 2022, a large-scale eruption occurred at the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai near the Tonga Islands, and a significant sea-level change occurred a wide range of Japan’s the Pacific coast area from the night of January 15th to 16th. The Japan Meteorological Agency took the unusual step of issuing a tsunami warning and advisories.

 In order to clarify the actual evacuation behavior of citizens, a questionnaire survey was conducted among residents of municipalities where tsunami warnings and advisories were issued. The results are as follows. 1) It is important to call out to those around you to wake up a sleeping person, and the decision to evacuate requires a lot of talking to the people around you. 2) In evacuation decisions made late at night when there was no earthquake-induced shaking, residents were found to have made evacuation decisions based on information.