VISUAL TOKYO CULTURE

What do you do when an earthquake occurs and you cannot contact your family?

When a disaster strikes, there is a rush of phone calls and e-mails to the affected areas, and you may not be able to contact your family and acquaintances as you would like. In fact, at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people said that they used social networking services to keep in touch with each other because it was difficult to make phone calls or send e-mails.

One means of communication that should be tried when telephone and e-mail services are not available is the “Disaster Emergency Message Service” operated by various telecommunication companies in the event of a disaster. It is important to learn how to use this service, as it can be used in a variety of situations, such as to confirm your safety or to meet someone in the disaster-stricken area. Here, we introduce how to use the Disaster Emergency Message Board, which allows text-based communication.

What is the Disaster Emergency Message Service?

There are two types of disaster message services: voice type and text type. The Disaster Emergency Message Dial operated by NTT East/West and the Disaster Message Board operated by cell phone carriers such as docomo, Softbank, and au, in addition to NTT East/West, are representative examples.

1. ^{Disaster Emergency Message Dial（171）}
2. ^{Disaster Emergency Message Board（web171）}
3. ^{Disaster Message Board（docomo/Softbank/au）}

Let’s use the Disaster Emergency Message Board. (web171)

Disaster message boards are provided by various telecommunication companies, but this time we will introduce how to use the bulletin board operated by NTT East/West, known as “web171”.

The web171 is useful for notifying, learning about, and keeping in touch about the safety of your family members. It is simple and clear to use, so everyone in the family should master it in preparation for emergencies.

A. If you were affected by the disaster

1. ^{Search for web171 and jump to the site (https://www.web171.jp/web171app/topRedirect/)}
2. ^{Enter your phone number and click “Register”.}
3. ^{Enter your name, safety and message and click “Register”}

B. To check on the status of family members or acquaintances in the affected area

1. ^{Search for “web171” and jump to the site (https://www.web171.jp/web171app/topRedirect/).}
2. ^{Enter the phone number you want to check the message and click “Confirm”.}
3. ^{If there is a message, the message will appear on the message board.}
4. ^{If you want to reply to the message, enter your name, safety, and message, and click “Register”.}

As a precaution, since a phone number is required to register and view messages, even those who normally only communicate via LINE or WhatsApp need to inform their family and acquaintances of their phone numbers, and also to know their family members’ phone numbers. If you have registered a voice message on the “Disaster Message Dial,” you can also check it on web171.

Unlike individual messages, information can be communicated as long as you know the phone number, making it possible to convey information to a wide range of family members and acquaintances with a single operation. We encourage you to take advantage of web171 as well.

writer：Matsuoka