Confused by Yahoo's evacuation information Kofu City asks the Japan Meteorological Agency to improve August 7 18:36
This month, it was found that despite the fact that Kofu City did not issue evacuation advisories, IT giant Yahoo had notified smartphones and others that “evacuate now”. This service is based on information from the Japan Meteorological Agency, and Kofu City submitted a document requesting improvement to the Meteorological Agency as “residents are confused”.
IT giant Yahoo is providing a service to provide disaster prevention information on smartphones, etc., but on January 1 this month, a notification was issued to residents of Kofu City saying “Early warning level 4 equivalent / Immediate evacuation”.
At this time, Kofu City did not issue evacuation advisories or evacuation instructions, and citizens received multiple inquiries such as "Is it really necessary to evacuate" or "Information issued by Kofu City"? .
This system is a service in which five private companies such as Yahoo notify evacuation information based on information indicating the risk of heavy rain and flooding analyzed by the Japan Meteorological Agency. According to the Kofu Regional Meteorological Observatory, The danger level was high and this notification was being made.
For this service, Kofu City submitted a document requesting improvement from the Japan Meteorological Agency, as residents were confused, and alertness decreased when evacuation was necessary.
Deputy Director Shinsuke Ichikawa of the Kofu Regional Meteorological Observatory said, “It was a service that encouraged the evacuation behavior of residents, but I think it was an expression that was misunderstood as evacuation information conducted by the municipalities. "
Yahoo "I want to improve the expression to avoid misunderstanding"
According to Yahoo, the information on the danger level of heavy rain provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency was changed to an easy-to-understand expression for users.
Yahoo says, “The word evacuation has caused confusion for users, and we want to make improvements to expressions that do not give misunderstandings while making requests to the Japan Meteorological Agency.”
Japan Meteorological Agency "improving expression promptly"
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the expression “evacuate now” means that Yahoo was using it in consultation with the Meteorological Agency.
On that basis, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, “It was an expression intended to support the residents' voluntary evacuation decision, but it could be mistaken for information such as evacuation recommendations issued by the local government. I want to improve my expression. "