Tsunami Evacuations Brought Heatstroke Concerns, Traffic Congestion; Some Residents Reluctant to Flee

By Yuto Inoue and Ayano Takada Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

20:00 JST, July 31, 2025

Traffic congestion and the risk of heatstroke were among the problems that emerged as people followed evacuation directives issued Wednesday after a powerful earthquake off Russia’s east coast sent tsunami barreling toward Japan.

Many local governments along Japan’s Pacific coast told residents to evacuate after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings following the temblor. Although no strong shaking from the earthquake was detected in Japan, confusion during the evacuation process has illuminated several challenges facing preparations for future tsunami disasters.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Masashi Kiyomoto, the agency’s senior coordinator for earthquake and tsunami disaster risk reduction, urged people to remain alert to the dangers of tsunami.

“High tsunami could continue to come for at least one day,” Kiyomoto said. “Subsequent tsunami are often bigger than the first wave, so we urge people to stay where they evacuated to until the warnings are lifted.”

The epicenter of the earthquake that struck near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday morning was more than 1,000 kilometers from Hokkaido. After the quake, the agency issued tsunami advisories for the Pacific coasts of Hokkaido and the Tohoku and Kanto regions.

However, the earthquake’s estimated magnitude was revised upward to 8.7, prompting the agency to upgrade the advisories to warnings about one hour later. The largest tsunami recorded in areas under the warnings arrived at least five hours after the earthquake, so authorities were forced to err on the side of caution until the warnings could be lifted.

Cars ‘unable to move’

Based on lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, the central government adopted the principle of having residents evacuate on foot when a tsunami is approaching. However, many people evacuated to higher ground by car after Wednesday’s tsunami warnings, which created traffic congestion and other problems.

In Tomakomai, Hokkaido, many residents sought safety by driving to the observatory in Midorigaoka Park, which is about two kilometers from the coast and about 35 meters above sea level. According to the park’s management office, at one point about 600 vehicles had squeezed into the parking lot that has spaces for 107 vehicles. Some cars reportedly became unable to move due to the congestion.

Evacuation guidelines compiled in July by a committee in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, reiterated the principle of having residents evacuate on foot, but also acknowledged that elderly and other people who require assistance would be able to drive to a safe location. Whether such people are able to smoothly evacuate likely will need to be carefully examined.

Residents reluctant to flee

Some elderly households and other residents were reluctant to leave their homes in regions where tsunami warnings had been issued.

About 50,000 residents of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, live in areas from which evacuating would be so difficult that there are concerns they might not be able to escape from a tsunami. Many people did not evacuate even from designated areas that have no high ground or tall buildings within 333 meters. An 80-year-old woman who lives with her wheelchair-bound, 86-year-old husband said: “It’s physically impossible for me to push his wheelchair to the local elementary and junior high schools designated as evacuation centers. And there’s no way I’ll go and leave my husband behind.”

In Iwate Prefecture, evacuation directives had been issued for a total of more than 50,000 people in 12 coastal municipalities as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. More than 110 evacuation centers were set up, but only about 5,000 people sought shelter at those facilities.

“We want people in areas under evacuation directives to respond with a sense of urgency,” an Iwate prefectural government official told The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Evacuees ushered inside to escape heat

As sweltering heat gripped the entire nation Wednesday, evacuation centers in all areas scrambled to deal with the risk of heatstroke among evacuees. The temperature climbed to 33.8 C after 2 p.m. in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, so people who had assembled at outdoor emergency shelters were quickly taken inside to air-conditioned rooms at the city assembly hall.

Japanese Red Cross Hokkaido College of Nursing Prof. Masahiro Nemoto pointed out that local authorities must factor the summer heat into their evacuation plans.

“People who evacuate to outdoor designated evacuation centers such as parks in midsummer face the risk of heatstroke,” said Nemoto, an expert on disaster risk reduction measures for vulnerable people. “Local governments need to assume such scenarios could occur, and from the planning stage consider ways to ensure they can also provide indoor evacuation facilities.”