Phl urged to learn from Japan's experience

MANILA, Philippines - A former Japanese official yesterday urged the Philippines to learn from his country’s experience during last year’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake as he cited the need for adequate disaster mitigation measures.

Hatsuhisa Takashima, former press secretary of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said while it is impossible to prevent natural disasters, education and evacuation plans can save lives.

“If you are trained to evacuate as soon as you detect a strong earthquake, you can save your life,” Takashima said in a forum organized by the Japanese embassy and the Asian Institute of Management.

“Hopefully, the Philippine government will learn from the Japanese experience and use the experience to make your preparations much more effective and useful in the future,” he added.

Takashima, a former director general of NHK News, said the lessons learned from the catastrophe should be shared with everyone, especially the youth.

“This experience has to be handed over to the next generation,” he said.

Takashima said the Japanese government would soon share with other countries a report containing the lessons it learned from the earthquake.

“Japan has learned many lessons from disasters, especially this one. It is simply impossible to prevent a tsunami but to reduce damage would be possible. The lessons we learned would be shared with you,” he said.

“(The report) will give you very good information about how to apply those lessons in your case,” he added.

The magnitude 9.0 quake that devastated parts of Japan on March 11, 2011, left 15,854 people dead and 26,992 others injured. More than 3,000 persons remain missing while about 340,000 are still living in temporary shelters.

Last year’s temblor – said to be the strongest in decades – also triggered a strong tsunami that reached heights of up to 133 feet and a meltdown in a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

The catastrophe damaged a total of 254,297 homes and about 270,000 buildings.