News & Press Release
Weathernews Support for Kumamoto Earthquake Victims
Weather Support for Rescue Operations to Reduce Secondary Victimization in Disaster Area
Weathernews Inc. (Chiba, Japan; CEO: Chihito Kusabiraki) sends our heartfelt condolences for the people lost to the major earthquake that hit Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures in Japan last week, and the people still suffering in the disaster area. Weathernews was founded upon the ideal that we want to be of assistance to people in times of need, so we are now providing support for rescue and recovery operations in the disaster area.
Medevac Support with Go/No-Go Decisions for Swift and Safe Helicopter Operations
For disaster medial assistance teams (DMAT) and medevac helicopters operated by local police and fire departments engaged in rescue and recovery operations in the disaster area, Weathernews is providing go/no-go advisory information from our Aviation Weather team. In addition, Weathernews is also providing information for the medevac coordination department for the helicopters of the Kumamoto Prefectural Disaster Countermeasure Headquarters, advising go/no-go recommendations through our FOSTER-GA online support tool integrated with the location of aircraft equipped with Weathernews’ FOSTER-copilot real-time position monitoring system for swift and efficient medical evacuations.
Special Weather Site for Kumamoto Earthquake
On Friday, April 16th, Weathernews launched a special website with content for the Kumamoto earthquake advising weather risks potentially affecting people in the region, and providing information on conditions in the disaster area. We will continue to add content about the risks of secondary victimization, areas of caution and links to other useful sites for disaster mitigation in Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures. Special content for the Kumamoto earthquake is also available from our Weathernews Touch smartphone app (free download) or from the following URL.
https://weathernews.jp/s/topics/201604/150005/
Providing Latest Weather Outlook for Local Municipalities
For local municipalities coordinating rescue efforts and evacuation management, Weathernews is providing the latest outlook on conditions in the vicinity of the disaster area for public announcements, and also in order to mitigate secondary geological disasters like landslides and flooding triggered by weather.
Information needed people in the disaster area changes daily, so Weathernews is not going to stop here, and keep using all our power to help people still trapped in the disaster area and the brave rescue teams trying to help them.