Viewpoints of a Thai doctor regarding the culture of disaster preparedness in Japan

As Japan is a disaster-prone country, the people of Japan have long suffered from a variety of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, landslides, floods, and volcanic eruptions, etc. So far, as the author (Kalayanamitra, Piyatida [hereinafter referred to as “PK”]) has observed, in comparison with the people of Thailand, the people of Japan tend to be quite earnest in preparing for disasters so as to mitigate damage. However, the people of Thailand have also suffered from a variety of natural disasters, but despite that, they tend to ignore the risk. Therefore, it can be observed that the general attitudes toward natural disasters are different between Japan and Thailand. In order to analyze this difference, PK has collected disaster-related information by visiting once-devastated areas, interviewing disaster specialists of different backgrounds and a few laypersons, and holding discussions. The severe natural disasters of Japan are mostly unpredictable; however, on the other hand, the major natural disasters of Thailand often involve flooding and droughts, which come with a slow onset that allows people to have enough time to think about what to do and to evacuate before the worst-case scenario occurs. This is the reason for Thailand’s regular lower death toll despite great socio-economical damage. In Japan, people tend to keep the dark lessons of history fresh in mind, aided in recollection via literary records, pictures, photographs, statues, monuments, stories passed down, and other various ways. Therefore, knowledge of disasters in Japan is shared publicly and is transmitted from generation to generation. This attitude is not limited to specific regions or to some societal subgroups but is done as a whole, nationwide. In other words, the attitude of the people of Japan toward natural disasters is more ritualistic and is an important part of Japanese culture itself. As a tentative conclusion, Japan seems to have a more-matured sense of response regarding natural disasters based on common knowledge obtained from historical accounts. In addition, it is possible to attribute this to the high level of racial homogeneity in Japanese society, standardized language education (with a very high literacy rate as a result), and widespread information networks, including radio, television, telephones, newspapers, and the internet, etc.