Foreign Victims Gaining Attention Only on the 12th Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake... "Died Because They Could Not Understand the Announcement"

Criticism that terms like 'gojidae' and 'pinan' increased damage
Lessons from the earthquake... Evacuation study for foreigners also held

[Image source=Yonhap News]

"I became anxious hearing the evacuation broadcast coming from all over the neighborhood. I wonder if Filipinos can understand the Japanese phrase 'gojidae pinan' (evacuate to high ground)... If only the broadcast had said 'run away,' everyone would have understood."

As the Great East Japan Earthquake marks its 12th anniversary on the 11th, Japanese media are focusing on the stories of foreigners who lost their lives at that time. On the 10th, the Asahi Shimbun reported a series of interviews titled "Foreigners who lost their lives in the tsunami without even being able to say goodbye," sharing the stories of foreigners who perished in the Great East Japan Earthquake.

According to Asahi, an estimated 33 foreigners lost their lives during the Great East Japan Earthquake due to being swept away by the tsunami or building collapses. Most were foreign workers employed at factories or restaurants. They were not proficient in Japanese and could not understand evacuation broadcasts such as "The tsunami is coming, run to high ground" or "Evacuate," and ultimately became victims.

Asahi introduced the story of Maybelin, a woman in her 20s from the Philippines. She had left her young daughter in the Philippines and came to Japan to work part-time at an izakaya. Shortly before the earthquake, she had returned from her hometown and was staying at home without going to work when the tsunami struck. Acquaintances claim that she likely did not properly understand the evacuation broadcasts due to her poor Japanese skills.

Another Filipino acquaintance tearfully said, "If she had been at the store, she might have been able to escape with her coworkers. Her Japanese was poor, so she probably couldn't understand the broadcast." It is said that when Maybelin's body was found, both of her hands were bent as if she had been hanging onto something until the very end.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Asahi also shared the story of a Chinese man who lost his mother. His mother had remarried a Japanese man and moved together to Sendai, Japan. However, learning Japanese was another matter. The man was not proficient in Japanese and was working at a construction site when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. When his coworkers sensed the earthquake and ran toward the mountains, he followed and survived, but his mother ultimately lost her life.

Asahi reported that while some foreign workers suffered direct damage such as death from the earthquake, many faced secondary problems like losing their jobs as the affected areas were devastated. In fact, in the case of the aforementioned Chinese man, the immigration bureau ordered him to return to China, saying, "Since your mother, who was your Japanese spouse, has died, you no longer have the right to stay."

In Japan, the number of foreign workers is increasing due to low birth rates and labor shortages. However, disaster broadcasts are often delivered in language that foreigners find difficult to understand at once, which can exacerbate the damage. Marking 12 years since the earthquake, Japan has begun holding disaster evacuation studies for foreigners and raising the need to improve disaster broadcasts. Last month, in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, Filipino, Chinese, and Vietnamese workers at factories participated in evacuation studies to understand broadcasts and learn tsunami response methods.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.