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When disasters such as earthquakes occur, the subsequent surge in voice calls makes it difficult for telephones to connect. Likewise, immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake mobile phone businesses reported 50-60-fold increases in the volume of calls being made, and for a long time it was very difficult for telephones to connect.
For these reasons, in times of large-scale disasters, etc. we ask that people cooperate by making practical use of “disaster message services” and relatively easy-to-connect e-mail, etc., that any calls made are kept brief, and that people hold back from making non-essential and non-urgent calls or redials, etc. so that urgently necessary calls in disaster-affected areas can be made smoothly.
In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will coordinate with telecommunications businesses to promote easier-to-use and easier-to-connect “disaster message services” along with a file conversion service for mobile phone voice messages, etc.
[State of communications at time of Great East Japan Earthquake]
1. When disasters such as earthquakes occur, the surge in voice calls to the disaster-affected area causes heavy congestion of communication lines, and it becomes difficult for telephones to connect due to this congestion, which is generated when the general convergence of voice calls exceeds a communication network's throughput.
Such a state of congestion also occurred immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 (see image), with mobile phone businesses reporting up to 50-60-fold increases in the volume of calls being made, and for a long time it was very difficult for telephones to connect.
2. For these reasons, telecommunications businesses enforced communication restrictions on up to 80%-90% of landline phones and up to 70%-95% of mobile phones so as to maintain emergency calls to police and fire departments (110, 119) and voice calls of a highly urgent nature for disaster prevention organizations protecting people's lives and assets.
Communication restrictions for landline phones (within the jurisdiction of NTT East) were lifted after a relatively short time, but mobile phone communication restrictions were enforced on an intermittent basis over a period of several days (see image). The main causes of this were the drastic increase in the number of mobile phone users in comparison with previous times of disaster, as well as the extremely large number of people who used mobile phone voice calls to confirm the safety of others.
3. On the other hand, there were either no or little (up to 30% and temporary) communication restrictions placed on packet transfer communication such as mobile phone e-mail, etc., which means that in comparison with mobile phone voice calls it was easier to connect with packet transfer communication such as e-mail, etc. (However, it did take longer than usual for e-mails to arrive at their destinations.)
4. In the Great East Japan Earthquake there were also long power outages and planned power outages, etc. that made it impossible to use telecommunications services.
[Practical use of means of communication in times of disaster]
In times of large-scale disaster, it becomes difficult for telephones to connect due to the surge in the number of calls made to confirm the safety of family members, etc. Below are introductions to ways of confirming the safety of family members even under circumstances such as these, so please refer to and make practical use of these services.
1. Practical use of disaster message services
Telecommunications businesses are providing three types of “disaster message services” (using landline phones, mobile phones and the Internet) to avoid the effects of congestion and enable smooth safety confirmation between friends and family, communication regarding evacuation sites, and so on.
Application of these “disaster message services” commenced immediately following the occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake, with approximately 3,460,000 uses of disaster voice message dial (171), 13,620,000 uses of the disaster message board, and 330,000 uses of the disaster broadband message board (web 171).
Hands-on experience of these services will be offered during Disaster Preparedness Week (August 30 to September 5), so please test the operation of these services for yourself (see enclosed document for methods of use).
・“Disaster voice message dial (171)”
Persons in disaster-affected areas can use this service to record (register) voice messages from subscription phones, ISDN or pay phones, etc., detailing information regarding their safety, which can be addressed (sent) to home telephone numbers and confirmed from any part of the country.
・“Disaster message board”
By using mobile phones/PHS , persons in disaster-affected areas can register written messages, and these can then sent and confirmed from any part of the country by using mobile phone/PHS numbers.
・“Disaster broadband message board (web 171)”
Persons in disaster-affected areas can register written messages, videos, photographs and/or voice messages from personal computers, etc. addressed to their home telephone numbers, and these can be confirmed from any part of the country.
These services are currently being provided independently, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will coordinate with telecommunications businesses to proceed with consideration of ways of facilitating cross-sections searches between “disaster message services.”
2. Practical use of means of communication other than voice calls
In times of disaster there tends to be congestion in the use of everyday landline phones and mobile phones, as people do not know which means of communication will connect quickly for safety confirmation, and moreover they wish to convey/hear safety-related messages in a natural spoken form.
However, the state of congestion of communication networks in the Great East Japan Earthquake shows that it is easier to connect with e-mail than by making voice calls. Therefore, we ask that in times of disaster people make active use of means of communication other than voice calls, such as each of the disaster message services and e-mail, etc.
We also request that people make practical use of means of Internet-based communication such as Internet telephony (Skype, etc.), 050IP phones and SNS, etc., as these proved to be easy to connect with during the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Please note that mobile phone businesses are planning as a measure against voice call congestion to offer services by which voice messages can be converted into files on computer terminals and sent using data communication networks, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will cooperate and study with each business to enable interconnection between the related businesses.
3. Confirmation of advisability of using home-use landline phones, etc. during power outages
(1) There has been increasing interest concerning the advisability of using home-use landline phones and fax machines since the occurrence of long power outages during the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent enforcement of planned power outages due to the need for stringency in the supply and demand of electric power.
(2) Therefore, the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan (CIAJ) and Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA) have compiled reports on the advisability of using their respective member companies' home-use landline phones, etc. during power outages and the use of landline phone services during power outages, and these are being publicized on the following web pages.
○ “Advisability of using home-use landline phones, etc. during power outages”
○ “Use of landline phone services during power outages”
(3) It is sometimes necessary to prepare in advance landline phones, etc. and backup power supplies such as UPS that can be used even during power outages to enable urgent calls (such as emergency calls to police/fire departments) to be made in power outages during times of large-scale disaster, etc.
Therefore, please refer to websites such as those which are mentioned above.
We would like to ask once again for the cooperation of all in times of large-scale disaster by making practical use of “disaster message services,” aiming to keep calls brief, holding back from making non-essential and non-urgent calls or redials, and using means of communication other than voice calls (e-mail, etc.) so that urgently necessary calls in disaster-affected areas can be made smoothly.
Reference:
Please refer to the following telecommunications service-related information, which has been provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and telecommunications businesses since the Great East Japan Earthquake.
○ March 14, 2011: “Use of landline phone services during power outages”
○ March 15, 2011: “Please do not forward any chain mail received!”
○ March 15, 2011: “Beware of malicious donation fraud e-mails!”
○ March 16, 2011: “Receiving communications from disaster-affected areas” (NTT East)
○ March 18, 2011: “Beware of illegal fee invoice e-mails claiming to be from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)!”
○ April 27, 2011: “Application of “Disaster Message Services” to Confirm Safety of Individuals in Times of Disaster”
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For further information about this press release, please fill in the inquiry form and submit it to MIC on the website
https://www.soumu.go.jp/common/english_opinions.html
International Policy Division,
Global ICT Strategy Bureau, MIC
TEL: +81 3 5253 5374 / FAX: +81 3 5253 5924 |
