Trained population and cutting-edge technology: this is how Japan faced the earthquake and the plane crash

In the first 48 hours of 2024, Japan made headlines for two shocking events: on New Year's Day, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake devastated the center of the country, leaving at least 100 dead. The next day, a Japan Airlines plane and another Coast Guard plane collided and caught fire at Tokyo's Haneda airport. Although five of the six crew members of the Coast Guard aircraft died, all 379 people aboard the Airbus A350 survived thanks to the quick response of the flight crew and the attention with which the passengers followed their instructions.

The coast guard plane involved in the crash was transporting supplies to help the area affected by the earthquake recorded the previous day on the Noto peninsula (Ishikawa prefecture) and which forced the authorities to activate a “major tsunami alert” for hours. along the western coast of the country. It was the biggest warning of its kind since the 2011 triple disaster, in which a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, a gigantic tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident claimed a total of 20,000 lives.

Although the official figures of the New Year's earthquake are heartbreaking (100 dead and 211 missing, according to this Saturday's count), the consequences could have been even more devastating if it were not for Japan's preparation for this type of disaster. Last September 1 marked the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that would change the course of the country's history. More than 105,000 people lost their lives, 70,000 of them in Tokyo, and around 370,000 homes were destroyed. A century later, Japanese seismology institutes are world leaders, and have world-leading networks of seismometers and early warning systems.

For Miguel Martínez Pañeda, senior structural engineer at the Arup company, the main difference in the relationship of deaths and damages between the Noto earthquake and other recent large-scale earthquakes, such as those in Morocco or Turkey, is that “Japan is very aware of seismic risk” and that “most of its buildings are built with the certainty that they will have to resist an earthquake.” In a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS, he details that “in other places, there may be a generation difference between one earthquake and the next, so the perception of risk may be lost.”

The country is prone to earthquakes due to its location within the known Pacific Ring of Fire, where 90% of the planet's seismic activity is concentrated. The Asian nation annually records hundreds of earthquakes, although most of them are of low intensity, and, consequently, has been reviewing and updating its construction laws and the national seismic standard for decades, and incorporating lessons learned. “Unlike most European and American building codes, the Japanese not only focus on preventing collapse in the event of large earthquakes, but also on ensuring that buildings can continue to be used after small earthquakes,” points out Martínez Pañeda.

Toshitaka Katada, a professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in disaster management, said by email that the government's rapid response – a rapid warning of an imminent emergency was sent to mobile phones and rescue teams were deployed – as well as the Raising society's awareness about what to do in these situations has also helped save many lives. The Japanese learn from a very early age how to act in the event of an earthquake and, annually, children and adults carry out evacuation drills. In the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake (magnitude 6.9, which killed 6,000 people), community associations that help prepare for potential disasters proliferated. In Katada's opinion, “Japan is probably the state best prepared for an event of this type.”

Modern evacuation protocols

That diligence that is often associated with Japanese society was also essential to prevent the collision at Haneda airport from leading to a tragedy. To many, it is a miracle that Japan Airlines' 367 passengers (including eight children) and 12 crew members emerged virtually unscathed. There were only 17 injured, all out of danger. While investigations continue to clarify how the coast guard aircraft (from which only the captain was saved) ended up on the same runway as the Japanese company's aircraft, experts state that the success of the evacuation is due to modern protocols and professionalism with which they were applied.

“[Los tripulantes] We are highly trained to evacuate a plane in 90 seconds. We have very internalized the procedures,” says Bárbara Pérez Sánchez, an Emirates stewardess, by phone, although she highlights the “exemplary performance” of her Japanese colleagues. From the time the plane stopped and until the last person descended the emergency ramp, 18 minutes passed, according to the Japanese airline. For Pérez Sánchez, the “amazing behavior of the passengers” also played a key role: “They did not panic, they remained seated, without getting up to pick up their suitcases, listening carefully to the crew's instructions and following their orders.”

Many professionals in the sector have highlighted through the internet that the video with which Japan Airlines explains to its travelers what to do in an emergency is a clear guide that prepares them for a textbook evacuation. “It's super precise and super raw. “It highlights the seriousness of Japanese society and the value it places on safety,” adds the Spanish stewardess, who takes the opportunity to echo the existing debate about whether these audiovisual products are effective. The trend in recent years is that these are more like a short tourist promotion than instructions, her colleagues criticize.

Pérez Sánchez anticipates that the incident “will be exhaustively analyzed” and will probably prompt “general aviation regulations to be modified.” It already happened in 1985, after a Japan Airlines flight traveling from Tokyo to Osaka crashed into a mountain. It is the deadliest plane crash in aviation history: only four of the 524 people on board survived. That tragedy, which occurred after a defective tail repair by Boeing technicians, and not the airline, is still very present in the mentality of the Japanese company. It currently implements one of the strictest protocols on the planet, as demonstrated by Tuesday's evacuation, and regularly appears as one of the world's 25 safest airlines on the annual list of airlineratings.com. This week has repeated in said list.

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