55% Evacuated By Car After July Tsunami Warnings Despite Government’s Instructions to Flee on Foot

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, December 7, 2025

More than half of the people who evacuated to safe places on July 30, when tsunami warnings were issued in the wake of the Kamchatka earthquake in Russia, did so by car, according to a survey by the Cabinet Office.

Based on the lessons of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the government instructs people to evacuate from possible tsunami on foot, in principle. However, the response to the quake, which had its epicenter in the sea off the Kamchatka Peninsula, showed that directive had not been widely recognized.

The survey was conducted online in October this year among residents of Hokkaido, Miyagi, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures. These were among the 13 prefectures, including Tokyo, where the tsunami warnings were issued. A total of 4,300 people responded.

According to the survey, 1,012 people, or 23.5% of all respondents, evacuated ahead of a possible tsunami.

Most of these people — 560, or 55.3% — evacuated by car. A total of 396, or 39.1%, evacuated on foot, and 42, or 4.2%, evacuated on motorcycles or bicycles.

Of the 560 who evacuated by car, 202, or 36.1%, were caught in traffic jams.

The Cabinet Office plans to revise a guideline for local governments about emergency evacuation sites that residents need to urgently reach in disasters, by the end of this year.

Based on the survey results, the government plans to add a stipulation that local governments also consider measures for cases in which people with special needs have no choice but to evacuate in cars.