Case Study

“My Timeline” for disaster Prevention Action in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Posted: 17 March 2025

Updated: 17 March 2025

Asia - Japan

Issue

Heavy rains and typhoons are becoming more intense in Japan, causing major damage almost every year since 2016 across the country. The 2018 floods in western Japan affected most of the region, and the Takahama area of Matsuyama city was also heavily affected during the heavy rains in July of the same year. Despite a high level of disaster awareness and preparedness, recent floods and typhoons are testing the limits of the community's capabilities to cope with situations that demand a revisit of the vulnerabilities as well as robustness of preparedness and response capacity. Timely evacuation could be a turning point for saving lives.

Solution

As part of its disaster risk reduction efforts, Matsuyama city has introduced “My Timeline”, a disaster preparedness tool for individuals or families during floods and typhoons, which can be predicted in advance and therefore allows time for preparation (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.lg.city.matsuyama.bousai&hl=en). "My Timeline" focuses on disaster prevention action plans that determine in advance the actions an individual and their family should take in preparation for a disaster. My Timeline is a chronological list of actions that households can take during disasters. Creating a timeline involves five steps: (1) Checking the disaster risk in the area using a hazard map; (2) Deciding where to evacuate; (3) Deciding when to evacuate; (4) Deciding what to take to the evacuation site; and (5) Planning actions to take.

Short Summary:

“My Timeline” is a planning tool in which individuals and families prepare a chronological list of disaster prevention actions in the event of heavy rain or a typhoon, and includes information on where, when and what actions to take when evacuating.

Description (Details)

“My Timeline” is a personalized disaster preparedness plan that helps individuals and families create a plan in advance to ensure a safe and efficient response during heavy rain or typhoons and to encourage them to check disaster risks and prepare on a daily basis (MLIT). “My Timeline” is seen as an effective tool to help individuals and families prepare for potential disasters and raise awareness at the same time. Since 2019, Matsuyama city has been working on an "All Generation Disaster Prevention Education" initiative to seamlessly educate local residents from elementary school students to the elderly on disaster prevention in collaboration with various stakeholders such as industry, government, academia and citizens (https://www.city.matsuyama.ehime.jp/kurashi/bosai/bousai/all/syusyuhouhou/mytimelineapli.html). In July 2021, students at Ehime Prefectural Matsuyama Higashi High School proposed distributing a disaster prevention map and a "My Timeline Sheet" together to raise awareness.

The city launched the "Matsuyama Zero Late Evacuation Project" in 2022 (https://www.city.matsuyama.ehime.jp/kurashi/bosai/bousai/all/syusyuhouhou/mytimelineapli.html), which aims to bring “My Timeline” to schools, communities, and facilities and reduce the number of people who evacuate too late in the event of a storm or flood. Matsuyama city updated the "My Timeline Sheet" in March 2022 and distributed it to all households at the same time as the updated "Matsuyama Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Map”.

Matsuyama city freely distributes a paper-based version of “My Timeline” as well as a mobile app called “Matsuyama City My Timeline Disaster Prevention App”. Using the mobile app, a person or family can create a digital version of their timeline, register a group with family members, learn about disaster prevention tips and past disasters, and receive information on disaster prevention such as push notifications for each alert level or when evacuation information is issued. By registering a group with family members or acquaintances, users can send safety notifications and SOS messages at the same time.