Individual Preparedness for Large-scale Earthquakes among International Students in Japan: A Cross-sectional Questionnaire Survey
Open accessAbstract
Introduction: Individual preparedness for large-scale earthquakes is essential for safety and security in Japan, where earthquakes frequently occur. Foreign residents in Japan face barriers to gathering disaster information, and international students are likely to be more vulnerable to the effects of earthquakes due to the shorter duration of their stay in Japan. However, no studies have been conducted on international students' individual preparedness for large-scale earthquakes in Japan. This study aimed to investigate individual preparedness for large-scale earthquakes among international students in Japan. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from May to August 2023 among 360 international students aged ≥20 years enrolled at seven Japanese-language educational institutions in Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo prefectures. Of these, 120 (33.3%) agreed to participate in the mail surveys. Students with invalid answers were excluded and 114 (31.7%) were included in the analysis. The information obtained using a self-administered questionnaire included participants' characteristics, methods used to collect information on individual preparedness for large-scale earthquakes (information sources and languages), and individual preparedness for large-scale earthquakes. Results: Many international students had not implemented safety measures at home and lacked information about safety confirmation, evacuation sites and routes, items to wear during evacuation, items to take in case of evacuation, or items to stockpile at home. In particular, approximately half of the participants lacked knowledge about nearby evacuation sites, and only 37.7% had confirmed their evacuation routes to nearby evacuation sites. Only 32.5% had prepared bags containing emergency items to take in case of an evacuation, and most had not packed the items, even though they were stocked at home. In addition, only 8.8% had stockpiled radios and emergency portable toilets at home. Conclusions: It is necessary to promote individual preparedness for large-scale earthquakes among international students in Japan.
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International students were significantly less likely than Japanese students to report knowing the location of nearby evacuation shelters.
“International students were significantly less likely than Japanese students to report knowing the location of nearby evacuation shelters”
From A comparative study on Earthquake Preparedness of Japanese and International Students in a Nankai Trough Earthquake-threatened Area in Shikoku, Japan (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Table 3 in the Results reports that 61 of 114 international students (53.5%) said they knew nearby evacuation sites. The study does not report a Japanese-student comparison or a statistical test of such a difference, so it does not support the claim that international students were significantly less likely to know. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMore recent earthquake-focused research documents low uptake of basic safety measures, limited knowledge of evacuation sites and routes, and low participation in disaster drills among international students.
“More recent earthquake-focused research further documents low uptake of basic safety measures, limited knowledge of evacuation sites and routes, and low participation in disaster drills among international students, highlighting persistent gaps in informational and practical preparedness [35].”
From A comparative study on Earthquake Preparedness of Japanese and International Students in a Nankai Trough Earthquake-threatened Area in Shikoku, Japan (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
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Atalyan, T., & Bhandary, N. P. (2025) · Journal of Disaster Science and Management · doi:10.1007/s44367-025-00024-0 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Atalyan, T., & Bhandary, N. P. (2026) · Natural Hazards Research · doi:10.1016/j.nhres.2026.07.004
- Authors
- Koike, R., Sonoda, N., Furuki, H., & Morimoto, A.
- Affiliations
- Osaka Metropolitan University (JP)
- Venue
- JMA Journal
- Publisher
- Japan Medical Association
- Published
- 2024
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 496-505
- ISSN
- 2433-328X (ISSN-L)
- 2433-3298
- PMC
- PMC11543362
- OpenAlex
- W4403342242
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 1.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMA Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (22K11120)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disaster Management and Resilience
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Disaster Response and Management
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Earthquake and Disaster Impact Studies
- Keywords
- earthquake preparedness, international students, foreign residents, disaster preparedness, evacuation routes, evacuation sites, emergency supplies
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