Family in Japan? Check whether shaking reached their area

Start with what the map can and cannot tell you

A headline naming a prefecture or a large magnitude does not tell you how strongly the ground moved where your family lives. JISHINDESU lets you use their town as the reference point and inspect measured Shindo from stations included in the report.

The map cannot confirm the condition of a particular person, building or street. It provides seismic context that can help you decide whether to make contact and consult official information.

• Shindo describes intensity recorded at a particular observation point.
• No listed reading does not automatically prove that no shaking occurred.
• JISHINDESU is not a personal safety confirmation service.

Add their town and choose “Readings nearby”

Select “+ Add a place”, then enter the city, ward or prefecture where your family lives under “Search for a city”. You can also use “Pick on map” or your current location. The saved point appears immediately under “My places”.

Open “Location and filters”, choose a radius that includes surrounding stations, then switch to “Readings nearby”.

If you cannot find the right location, ask your family in Japan to mark it on the map and use “Share this point”. The link they send will open the exact same point and radius for you.

This mode does more than find epicentres close to the point. It can include a more distant earthquake when a station inside the selected radius actually reported Shindo from it.

Enable notifications around your family member’s place

Save your family member’s point, open “Earthquake notifications”, select that place and choose its minimum Shindo. The same subscription can include up to eight saved places with a different threshold for each. Shindo 3 can be a practical starting point when you want messages about more clearly felt events without being notified about every weak observation. Choose the threshold that fits your needs.

Choose a notification radius and minimum Shindo for the saved point. The condition applies to stations covered by that radius, including stations across municipal boundaries, not to the whole town or Japan-wide maximum Shindo. A station reading is not a measurement at your home. Older subscriptions without station coverage may still use a municipality; review and save their settings again.

A JISHINDESU notification concerns an already reported station reading meeting the configured coverage and Shindo threshold. It is not an Earthquake Early Warning, confirmation of a person's safety or a measurement inside a particular building.

Use “Share this point” to send other family members a link with the same location and radius. Everyone can then check the identical area without copying coordinates.

Open the report and inspect local observations

Compare the origin time, maximum Shindo and station list. The reading in your family member’s municipality, or at the nearest visible station, is more useful than the event’s maximum Shindo alone.

Near the coast, after strong shaking or weak but prolonged swaying, immediately head to safe higher ground or a designated tsunami evacuation site. Do not wait for a warning, map or notification. Act on a tsunami warning or evacuation instruction even if you felt no shaking. During a tsunami advisory (津波注意報), leave the water and move away from the shore. Do not return to the water or shore while tsunami warnings or advisories remain in force; follow local instructions. Read the report only once you are safe.

Earthquake data does not replace contact

To confirm a person’s safety, use a communication method agreed in advance. During a major disaster ordinary calls can become congested; Japan’s FDMA recommends that families plan meeting points and learn emergency message services such as 171 beforehand.

Before an emergency, agree on a simple family plan: where to check official information, how to contact one another and which disaster message service to use if calls fail.