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disasters (Page 2)

Flooded disaster-struck region in Japan urges people to use hashtag to tell everyone they’re okay

After dealing with a natural disaster, this part of Japan is now struggling to prevent financial disaster as well.

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Osaka earthquake: Scenes show damage from strongest tremor to hit the region in decades

The shallow epicentre caused strong tremors that killed three and injured dozens of people in the region.

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Tokyo’s iconic 109 department store designated most likely building to collapse in earthquake

Out of 852 examined buildings in the city, researchers say the Shibuya fashion mecca is the least prepared for a major trembler.

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Tokyo disaster tip: How to make a diaper with just two items you have in your home

Disaster preparedness team’s tip could save your nostrils.

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North Korea missile alert manga produced by Japanese government office

The cartoon might look cute and colourful, but the message it conveys is frightening.

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Can you make instant udon noodles with room-temperature water? We find out

We needed to know if the idea is worth the almost non-existent level of effort.

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Tokyo police department’s disaster safety tip: How to make a lantern using a bottle of water

Bright idea could keep you safe if an earthquake or typhoon leaves you without electricity.

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The top 10 most mildly infuriating kitchen disasters, as presented by Japanese Twitter

Don’t cry over spilled milk, but definitely cry over some of these.

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Edo-era illustrated records show the disasters that have plagued Japan throughout its history

Fires, floods, and famine have all been a part of Japan’s historical past.

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Chiba ports become literal sea of garbage following last week’s severe flooding【Pics】

The ports around the Chiba-area city of Choshi were last year honored for the fourth year in a row for having the largest catch of mackerel pike (a very popular fish known as sanma in Japanese) in Japan.

But that’s of little comfort to local fishermen who have this year found their boats stranded in a literal sea of garbage and debris that has been carried into the ports from the Tonegawa River. The heavy flooding of the Kanto region brought about by last week’s relentless rain is believed to be the cause of the sudden influx of waste.

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Japan’s beautiful mountainous scenery and relaxing hot springs are all thanks to volcanic activity, and even today there are still a handful of active peaks to be found in the country. One of the most famous, Kyushu’s Mt. Aso, is even a popular tourist destination. We don’t recommend visiting today, though, because the 1,592-meter (5,223-foot) volcano is currently erupting, as seen in these photos taken by locals.

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Pufferfish or plane crashes? What causes more deaths in Japan?

Megadeth once said there are “99 ways to die” and while I’d hate to question their methodology in arriving at that conclusion, I’d wager that there are actually many more. Japan is no exception, of course. Despite the nation’s relatively low rate of violent crime there are plenty of natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanoes that can do us in. Giant hornets, cuisine that features plentiful raw meats, and poisonous fish are all parts of daily life in Japan as well.

But statistically speaking, just how dangerous are these things? Let’s find out with a morbidly fun game that we like to call “Which Causes More Deaths?”

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The aftermath of that huge fuel explosion in China looks like a post-apocalyptic video game

If you don’t live in China or an adjacent country where you could presumably still hear the blast, or have been otherwise living under a rock, you may not have heard about the insanely huge explosion that rocked the city of Tianjin on Wednesday and briefly caused the city to look like the set of a conspicuously over-budgeted natural disaster movie.

Unfortunately, this disaster was very real and, tragically, has so far cost at least 50 people their lives, with many more still in critical condition. But, with the threat of further explosions unlikely, news cameras have started picking their way through the wreckage and devastation of the explosion, which occurred at a hazardous chemicals warehouse site, and the fallout looks just like a scene from a post-apocalyptic video game.

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The 6 volcanoes most likely to destroy, like, everything (guess which country has the most)

If volcanoes were comic or fantasy villains, they’d be more akin to Marvel’s cosmic entities or Lovecraftian horrors than the puny likes of Magneto or, uh… The Slug (I don’t know many Marvel villains). They strike only every few thousand years before slipping back into a long slumber, lurking for centuries as humanity slowly forgets the horrors they can inflict, inching closer to the looming mountains with each passing year, setting up cities at their very feet. Then, when mankind least expects it – just chillin’ ‘n shit as Dave Chappelle might say – the volcano strikes again, blasting molten rock and ash over miles and miles, smothering out whole cities in the (cosmically speaking) blink of an eye.

Yet, even as we know intellectually that volcanoes are kind of a big deal, we tend to look up at them less with abject horror and awe and more with shouts of, “Hey, check out that big-ass rock!”

Well people, we’ve got news for you: There are at least six big-ass rocks capable of blotting out not just entire cities, but entire civilizations and possibly humanity itself and you’ll never guess which disaster-prone island nation has the most.

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Stay safe on the cheap with a disaster preparedness kit put together at the 100-yen shop

We recently celebrated Instant Ramen Day, marking 56 years since the very first packs of easy-to-cook noodles appeared in Japan. Not every anniversary that comes at this time of year is so lighthearted though. On September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the Tokyo area, resulting in the death or disappearance of some 140,000 people.

Out of respect to the fallen and concern for the living, in 1960 the Japanese government designated September 1 as Disaster Preparedness Day, and this year we put together a disaster kit assembled from items you can easily procure at the 100-yen store.

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Hiroshima begins recovery projects following tragic, deadly landslides

In the early hours of the morning on August 20, Hiroshima City was hit by severe thunderstorms. As the downpour continued, the ground gave way in the Asanami and Asakita Wards, triggering landslides that have caused the deaths of dozens of residents.

With the storm finally passed and clean-up projects beginning, we visited the disaster site where we saw just how long the road to recovery is going to be.

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