Descriptions:
Mobile phone base stations were damaged in the Noto Peninsula earthquake, leaving voice calls and data unusable in parts of Ishikawa Prefecture and other areas. In such situations, payphones come to the rescue. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, it became possible to immediately install them in evacuation centers, and their role is being reconsidered. Sayuki Chisaka Announcer: “What would you do if you couldn’t use your smartphone in the event of a disaster?” People in the city: “Eh!! I wonder what it would be like!” “Oh!” , what should we do? I haven’t thought about that.” “Contact us.” I need funds to do this, so I need to find a place nearby where I can rent a phone and contact them, or if that’s not possible, I have no other choice, other than going there directly.” Currently, more than 90% of people own smartphones. Although it has become indispensable as a convenient means of communication, the Noto Peninsula earthquake on January 1 caused communications disruptions in Ishikawa Prefecture and other areas, raising concerns about emergency communications. Even after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, mobile phones were not connected. At that time, citizens relied on public telephones. Even though more than 15 hours had passed since the earthquake, people were still lining up at pay phones to inform people about their safety. According to NTT East, payphones have three features. Firstly, it is not subject to communication rules. Toshiaki Suga from NTT East Japan, special manager in charge of public telephones: “When a disaster occurs, communications are overloaded. When this situation occurs, outgoing calls are restricted and communication from regular phones is no longer possible. 110 and 119 are the same as emergency calls, so it is a priority number and that is an advantage.” Secondly, you can call even if there is a power outage. Toshiaki Suga, special manager for payphones at NTT East Japan: “Since the cable is connected, electricity is supplied, although weakly, so it can be used even during a power outage. The display and electricity do not turn on. , but you can still call.” Third, you can make free calls in the event of a large-scale disaster to which the Disaster Relief Act applies. While public phones are indeed “disaster-proof,” they are slowly disappearing from the streets. There were about 710,000 payphones nationwide in 2000, but by 2021 there were about 140,000, less than 20% of the total. Sayuki Chisaka Announcer: “When was the last time you used a pay phone?” People in town: “Wow, I was in high school, so maybe 10 years ago I wouldn’t even know how to do this. use it, I haven’t used it.” 13 years ago, public phones were essential to keeping your family safe. Communication was as important as food and water. Based on the experience of this earthquake, the installation of special pay phones for use during natural disasters has become widespread. Matsushima Junior High School is a special evacuation center for Matsushima City. Sho Higuchi, director of the Environmental Protection and Disaster Prevention Group, General Affairs Division, Matsushima City: “This is a box that contains a telephone line for a special pay phone. If you climb up the ladder and open this cover, you’ll look at the telephone line like this. There’s a phone line there, so we’ll run that phone line into the gym and use that.” We’ll pick up the phone line and move to the gym. Sho Higuchi, director of the Environmental Disaster Prevention Group, Matsushima City General Affairs Department: “This is the box that controls the main unit. You can use it by connecting this telephone line.” They were installed in advance at evacuation centers. , and the number of lines throughout the country increased almost 10 times. There are currently more than 1,000 locations installed in the prefecture, allowing anyone to check their safety from the evacuation center. Sho Higuchi, director of the Environmental Protection and Disaster Prevention Group, General Affairs Division, Matsushima City: “We hope that people living in evacuation zones can feel a little safer when interacting with people outside.” The installation location has changed compared to the previous one. street to the evacuation center. Pay phone. The role they play during natural disasters will continue to be important. (Republished January 16)