{"id":2925,"date":"2020-03-24T12:19:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T03:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vhbloglive.wpengine.com\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2020-03-24T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T03:19:12","slug":"what-to-do-in-case-of-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/japanese-apartment-life\/what-to-do-in-case-of-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do in Case of Emergency Regarding Your Apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Life is always interesting and never\nstays the same for long. Unexpected things happen and can change any situation\ndrastically. Living in a country in which you can’t fully speak the language,\nor read the writing can make it much worse. It should come as no surprise that\nyou will need to take a proactive approach to learn what you should do in an\nemergency situation. It helps to be mindful of possible future problems. These\nare a few things that you can do to make sure you stay ahead of most situations\nthat may happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every apartment building, no matter\nhow big or small, has an emergency plan. Some may have them on the notice\nboards while others will give one to each resident when they move in. The\ntaller buildings have more explicit exit routines that you will need to follow.\nSmaller buildings have recently been fitted with fire escape hatches on all of\ntheir patios. If you are ever unsure about what to do and where to go, you can\nalways ask a neighbor, the landlord, or use the building’s website if they have\none. Every building comes equipped with fire extinguishers, and the larger ones\nmay have an AED device on sight as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If there is an emergency specifically\nin your room then you must notify someone immediately. The first thing to do is\nto contact the landlord for things like the building’s structure, pipes, and\nelectricity. If you don’t do it immediately it may come back on you for the\ncost of fixing the damage. If you have a friend who is a native that is even\nbetter. Unless your contract says something different, always tell your\nlandlord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For natural disasters, it will be\ndifferent. Every city has a specific evacuation plan. They have designated\nareas set aside as emergency shelters for such occasions. There is a warning\nsystem that sends notifications in Japanese and English as well, so make sure\nto pay attention if you are in an affected area. If you are told to leave the\nbuilding, then do so. If something happens to it during this time you are not\nresponsible for what happens to it. You only have to worry about that if you\nare the one who started the accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The best way to handle those\nsituations is to be prepared. Try to take care when cooking to ensure nothing\ncan catch fire. You can buy some spray that will deal with grease fires if they\nhappen. Know exactly where the extinguishers are and make sure you have an\nuncluttered line to them. For water problems, try to keep the pipes free of\ndebris to keep them from clogging up. If it goes for too long it can become\nsomething much worse, and even inconvenience the other residents. There are\nproducts you can buy at the local drugstores to keep the pipes clear and clean.\nIf there is any structural damage to the apartment, leave it to the landlord.\nTry to fix anything can lead to an even bigger problem, and in the end, come\ndown directly on you. Repair costs and other small fees will quickly drain your\nbank account. Even if you think you can fix, just leave it to the landlord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Having some things prepared helps as\nwell. Making a disaster kit is almost necessary. Simply having emergency\nsupplies readily available can take a lot of worries away. Buy a large bookbag\nand fill it with essential emergency items like flashlights, batteries,\nnon-perishable food items, water, a medkit, small tools, gloves, and sanitary\nitems. It will help if there is an emergency that develops too quickly for you to\nprep for. There are different ones you can put together for different kinds of\nproblems. Some stores sell a premade set for around 10,000 yen apiece. It may\nseem expensive, but it will be worth every yen that you spend on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you are unclear on where to go, or\nwhat to do, you should ask your neighbors or someone else around outside.\nFollow others to the right areas as well. The best thing to do is to not panic\nduring the incident. Try to keep a cool head and see where it looks like\neveryone else is going. Don’t try to go off on your own and handle it on your\nown. The cities will have transport available for everyone when it is time to\nevacuate. You can be confident that the cities will have a plan ready to enact\nat the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn’t good to constantly think of\nall the terrible things that can happen, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.\nMaking a plan and practicing it a few times helps too. Think carefully about\nwhat will be best for you when things start to go sideways. As long as you pay\nattention to these things when they are discussed you should be fine. Don’t do\nanything that could cause any trouble for you and it should be smooth sailing\nfor your stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life is always interesting and never stays the same for long. Unexpected things happen and can change any situation drastically. Living in a country in which you can’t fully speak the language, or read the writing can make it much worse. It should come as no surprise that you will need to take a proactive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-apartment-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}