Using QR Codes for Disaster Preparedness

Evacuation Guidance

Municipalities are adding QR codes to evacuation shelter signs that open the shelter location in Google Maps when scanned. For tourists and foreigners unfamiliar with the area, map app navigation provides significant reassurance.

Linking to multilingual pages conveys evacuation routes to non-Japanese speakers. Distributing QR codes linking to hazard maps during disaster drills is also becoming common.

Carrying Family Emergency Contacts via QR Code

Encode all family members' phone numbers, email addresses, and meeting points in vCard format as a QR code, kept in a wallet or phone case. Even if your phone battery dies during a disaster, someone else can scan the QR code to access contact information.

Attaching QR codes to children's belongings (school bags, name tags) allows quick access to guardian contact information if separated.

Carrying Medical Information

Store medical conditions, medications, allergies, blood type, and primary care physician contacts in a QR code carried alongside medication notebooks and insurance cards. Even if unconscious during emergency transport, paramedics can scan the QR code for immediate access to critical medical information.

While personal data handling requires care, rapid access to life-critical information takes priority. Use a static QR code without password protection or design for emergency accessibility.

Sharing Emergency Supply Lists

Compile household emergency supplies and storage locations on a web page, convert to a QR code, and post on the refrigerator or entrance. All family members can locate supplies, and it doubles as a periodic inspection checklist.

The earthquake preparedness manual published by Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency calls for stockpiling roughly three days' worth of water and food as a minimum guideline. Counting drinking water as three litres per person per day is also a widely used rule of thumb, and writing the total calculated from your household size and the number of days at the top of the list saves recalculating it at every inspection. Add an expiration-date calendar to the page behind the QR code and you reduce the risk of overlooking supplies that have quietly expired.

Knowing the limit when communication is cut off

In making QR codes useful for disaster preparedness, there is a weakness you must not forget. Because many QR codes are a mechanism that opens a page on the internet after scanning, if communication is cut off in a major disaster, there is a risk of being unable to reach the information at the crucial moment. Understanding this limit, it is important to also keep truly necessary information on paper. Positioning the code as merely a help in normal times or minor disruptions, only by combining it with preparation that does not rely on communication does it function in an emergency.

Confirm the contents in advance

For QR codes prepared for disaster preparedness, rather than scanning them for the first time in an emergency, confirming their contents in advance is indispensable. Periodically inspect whether the linked page still opens correctly and whether the information written there has not become outdated. Contact details and evacuation sites can change over time. If you share the contents with your family and practice actually scanning, you can use them calmly even in a confused situation. Preparation does not end with making it; the meaning lies in continuing to keep it in a living state.

Combine with analog preparation

QR codes are a convenient tool, but in disaster preparedness, the key is not to rely on them alone. Situations such as a smartphone's battery dying, the device breaking, or not having it at hand can fully occur in a disaster. Write emergency contacts, evacuation sites, and information on chronic illness and regular medication on a paper card too, and carry it. Decide the gathering place with family verbally in advance as well. By combining such analog preparation with QR codes, you can protect necessary information even in a situation where one or the other cannot be used.

Municipal QR Code Disaster Preparedness Initiatives

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched the Tokyo Disaster Preparedness App in March 2018 and published a fully redesigned version in March 2024. Printing a code on leaflets and posters to guide residents to the app's download page removes the need for them to remember which store to visit for their particular device. Point the code at a redirect page and you can change the destination without reprinting the material. The app includes evacuation shelter maps, disaster response manuals, and a safety confirmation feature.

Posting a code at the entrance of a tsunami evacuation building so that scanning it confirms the building's capacity, whether supplies are stored there, and its elevation above sea level is also straightforward to build. Keep the displayed content on the web side and a revised capacity figure or a swap of stored supplies is reflected without replacing any printed notice. Being able to read information about a refuge on the spot supports both residents' awareness of disaster preparedness and their ability to act without hesitation when one strikes.