J-Alert

Do you still remember what was happened 6 days ago? For those who can still remember, on April 11, 2012, magnitude 8.9 earthquake hits the West Coast of Northern Sumatra. Tremors were felt in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia’s West Coast shook for at least a minute.

What is a warning system used for detects this disaster and alert the public of the various threats? Recently, I have watched one documentary related to this issue that happened in Japan. The system is J-Alert. I found the information about J-Alert system and I like to share with all of you.

What is the J-Alert?

J-Alert is a nationwide warning system in Japan launched in February 2007. It is designed to quickly inform the public of various threats. The system was developed in the hope that early warnings would speed up evacuation times and help coordinate emergency response.

Diagram of the J-Alert system

How the system works?

J-Alert is a satellite based system that allows authorities to quickly broadcast alerts to local media and to citizens directly via system of loudspeakers. According to Japanese officials it takes about 1 second to inform local officials, and between 4 and 20 seconds to relay the message to citizens. All warnings are broadcast in five languages: English, Mandarin, Korean and Portuguese (Japan has a small Chinese, Korean and Brazilian population), including Japanese. 

Information able to be transmitted by this system

• Earthquake
• Earthquake Early Warning
• News flash of hypocenter, magnitude, and precaution to tsunami
• Information of hypocenter, magnitude, intensities of various cities, and presence of tsunami
• Advisory information of Tokai earthquakes
• Earthquake prediction information of Tokai earthquakes
• Caution to Tokai earthquakes
• Tsunami
• Volcano eruption
• Military threats
• North Korean ballistic missile launching
• Air assault
• Military attack to nuclear power plant
• Large scale terrorism

References:

1.        http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Japan_Launches_Alert_System_For_Tsunamis_And_Missiles_999.html

2.        http://www.thetruthbehindthescenes.org/2012/04/11/8-9-magnitude-earthquake-hits-the-west-coast-of-northern-sumatra/

3.        http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/movie/feature201204051503.html