Located in the "Ring of Fire" -- a string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity -- Japan has been hit by a number of earthquakes.
Yet the most prominent earthquake in the Japanese collective memory remains the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, of 1995 which struck the southern part of Hyogo Prefecture.
The catastrophe hit in the early hours at 5.46am on Jan 17.
A total of 6,402 people died and 40,092 were injured in the earthquake which hit 7.3 on the Richter scale.
To deal with the calamity, almost 600 shelters were set up to accommodate about 240,000 people.
This severe earthquake gave birth to a raft of disaster prevention measures, according to Kaori Asada, assistant manager of the Kobe City Crisis Management Office.
"Many new disaster prevention measures were implemented across Japan comes after the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. For Kobe itself, the city subsequently set up a crisis management office to help people affected by earthquakes and other natural disasters," said Ms Asada.
Safety first: Safety culture is instilled in Japanese children from an early age with kids taught to walk behind their parents on footpaths. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
The office has 80 staff, half of them drafted in from other related agencies.
Ms Asada said that the department does not only deal with earthquakes but also other accidents and disasters such as heavy rain, typhoons and tsunamis.
"Last year, in July Typhoon Jebi hit Osaka and caused significant damage across western Japan. We worked with the Japanese government to provide useful information and best practices to officers who were assisting those affected so that they could return to their normal life as quickly as possible,'' Ms Asada told a group of Japanese and foreign media invited to attend the Kansai Resilience Forum 2019 in Kobe on Feb 22.
The forum was held by the Japanese government in collaboration with the International Academic Forum (IAFOR).
Attending the forum were around a hundred local and foreign experts on natural disasters, as well as international media, to exchange views about best practices in natural disaster management.
During the last two decades, Ms Asada said the government has worked to improve Kobe's crisis management and disaster prevention system.
One example of the solutions arrived upon is "the lifeline" -- a new main water pipeline route, to make sure the city has a water supply during a crisis.
The pipeline is 12.8km long, can store up to 59,000 cubic metres of water and can supply about 1.5 million people for 12 days.
PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT
In Japan, it's not only the authorities that play a role in disaster prevention; the private sector and local communities contribute too.
Among the private companies to join hands with the government is Crowne Plaza Osaka.
Thomas Mayrhofer, the company's general manager, said the organisation, which comprises ANA Crowne Plaza hotels and Intercontinental Group, takes a holistic approach to crisis management.
Raising the bar: All buildings in Kobe city are constructed to withstand earthquakes after the city was once hit by the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
"We've provided safety training for senior leaders. We also work with local communities when we carry out fire drills and the safety inspections."
During natural disasters, the hotel also provides shelter for affected residents. "In times of crisis, a hotel becomes a shelter first, a business second, because we have responsibilities to local communities as much as our guests,'' he said.
In terms of emergency assistance, Mr Mayrhofer said the hotel has also introduced its own medical app for guests to download.
If guests have a medical problem, they can get necessary information from the app or even alert the hotel to contact hospitals to provide treatment.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Japan has been praised for its disaster preventive measures. However, even good systems have some drawbacks.
In terms of sharing information on disaster management, Mr Mayrhofer said the authorities must provide information for foreigners too, not only in the Japanese language because "there are many foreign workers now living in Japan too.
"During the earthquake in June of last year in Osaka," he said.
"They [foreigners] listened to Japanese government warning and all they could understand was the word tsunami. So, the only action they could reasonably take was to evacuate as fast as possible."
Greener living: The Green apple at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art reminds people of the importance of humanity. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
In Kobe, the crisis management office, however, has measures to help foreigners, according to Ms Asada.
The office provides information about consulates and foreign communities, she said.
"[During the crisis], the office provides information in foreign languages on our radio station. We also send volunteer interpreters to affected foreign communities and areas in need."
Kobe provides multilingual "disaster prevention booklets" in foreign languages including English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese and Portuguese, she said.
These booklets provide information to help foreigners understand signs and disaster warning and evacuation orders.
In addition to local government measures, Kobe has opened a community radio station to support foreign residents when disasters happen.
Chiaki N Kim, director of the FMYY radio station, said the station was set up after the Kobe earthquake in 1995 to provide disaster information in multiple languages.
Ms Kim said the station encourages foreigners in Japan to volunteer to help disseminate information in multiple languages when a disaster strikes.
She said currently her station still does not have any Thai language experts and is looking for who can understand both Japanese and Thai to help.
ART AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT
In Kobe, art has become a means to help people cope with disaster.
A noteworthy example is the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art designed by Tadao Ando, a world-renowned architect and recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.
The museum opened in 2002, seven years after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995.
"We have built this museum to symbolise the earthquake,'' Mr Tadao said, adding that he wanted art and design to play a role in helping affected people recover deal with their grief. One famous sculpture is that of a green apple at the back of the museum.
Off you go: A tsunami-warning buoy is seen before being set adrift. (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)
"I believe that it is a symbol of youth, or maybe it represents the purpose of humanity,'' he told the seminar.
He said that after looking at the apple, he wanted people to think about their lives and the positions they hold and then to think about what they still think they need to do to make the world a better place.
"Everyone on Earth needs to think about how to live with fewer resources and less energy, and everyone should think about how to achieve this,'' Mr Tadao said.
LIVING WITH DISASTER IN THAILAND
In terms of earthquake warning measures, the most-relied-upon system in Thailand are "tsunami buoys".
The system -- comprising two buoys --floating in the Andaman Sea, detects undersea seismic activity and wave magnitudes. Alerts are then relayed to the National Disaster Warning Center.
If the seismic intensity warrants evacuation, the centre sends evacuation orders to provinces and communities in the vulnerable areas.
Go with the flow: Villagers of Ban Nam Khem, in Phangnga’s Takua Pa district, practise evacuation drills during a tsunami evacuation drill. Ban Nam Khem was one of the country’s worsthit areas when giant waves struck the Andaman coast in December 2004. (Photo by kitja Apichonrojarek)
The system was installed in 2005, a year after the tsunami of 2004. The system has been used off Japan and in the Central Pacific Ocean. However, there have been glitches.
It was reported that the buoys suffered from malfunctions in 2014 and 2017.
Kobchai Boonyaorana, deputy director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department confirmed that 80% of this system was inactive in 2017 due to a lack of budget.
STRONG COMMUNITY KEY
Maitree Jongkraijug, a member of the Southern Community Organisation on Disaster Management, said local participation is the key to good disaster management.
"Look at the case of disaster relief after the Pabuk cyclone hit Nakhon Si Thammarat early this year. The local community and civic groups played a major role in working with the government. They had prepared in advance and they knew what to do when the natural disaster hit," said Mr Maitree.
Mr Maitree is a resident of Ban Nam Khem in Phangnga province, one of the hardest hit areas in 2004. After that catastrophe, the village started to create its own system for disaster management, subsequently becoming a showcase for the role communities can play in helping to protect themselves.
Ban Nam Khem now has its own community news centre to provide information on natural disasters. It has also prepared special maps that highlight vulnerable areas and evacuation routes. Mr Maitree said Thai society needs to think beyond "disaster relief" and try to solve the problem at its core.
"If people know that the town will face flooding every year, they should petition the government to fortify vulnerable areas or stop building roads and other infrastructure that can block flood drainage routes," he said.
He also urged communities and cities in Thailand to have their own "disaster calendar" to provide information about the seasonal likelihood of potential natural disasters.