Photo/Illutration Misato town gymnasium was opened for evacuees for the first time in Kumamoto Prefecture on May 21. (Rieko Ohgi)

With the looming rainy season and the prospect of hugely damaging torrential rains, vulnerable municipalities in southern Japan are trying desperately to convince residents they must evacuate in an emergency despite fears of new coronavirus contagion.

Municipalities have been struggling to drive home that message after hardly any residents in an area of Kyushu showed up at evacuation centers when torrential downpours hit last month.

Kyushu is no stranger to widespread flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains.

After a stationary rain front was observed over Kyushu on May 16, 10 locations in five prefectures, including Kumamoto, recorded the highest volume of rain ever in a single day that month.

Municipal authorities in the town of Misato in Kumamoto Prefecture issued an advisory for all 9,800 residents to prepare to evacuate with a special emphasis on elderly people and the infirm around 9 a.m. on May 16.

Despite the warning issued via the community's wireless network, nobody evacuated to the four designated evacuation centers.

Town authorities had also set up a reception area to check on the condition of evacuees over the eight hours the alert was in effect, but nobody showed up.

“Residents may have been concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus at the evacuation centers, although we took appropriate anti-infection measures,” a town official said.

The town created a manual on how to evacuate in natural disasters, even during the coronavirus pandemic, and distributed flyers to every household from April. To avoid close contact among evacuees, the town decided to use a local gymnasium which had not been used for the purpose before.

As the manual also offered a makeshift suggestion that some residents might prefer to evacuate to the homes of relatives, the town official acknowledged that a number of people might have chosen that option instead.

“After setting up the evacuation center, we realized there was not enough space for those who might feel ill and need to rest,” the official said. “We will create evacuation places where residents can feel safe.”

YNF, a nonprofit organization that supports evacuees, created a poster urging people to evacuate in spite of their fears about becoming infected with COVID-19 and started distributing it via social network sites on May 15.

The poster calls on residents to check the safety of routes to evacuation centers in light of the potential risk of landslides and flooding along the way.

“There is a risk of higher casualties if a disaster hits under the current situation where people are too afraid of being exposed to the virus to evacuate,” said Mutsuko Mihashi, a professor at Kurume University School of Nursing in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, who supervised the content of the poster.

Mihashi, who has been studying nursing infected patients and others during natural disasters, said some people may feel the coronavirus poses a bigger personal risk than a natural disaster.

“In areas prone to landslides and flooding, people’s risk of losing their life is higher than that from infection with the coronavirus. Please consider the risk in advance in order to make the right decision and evacuate promptly, if necessary,” she said.

The central government also created a similar poster, calling on people to evacuate if they need, even if coronavirus infection still poses a potential health risk.

In the poster, the government also asks people to stay home if it is safe, or move to a relative's dwelling, if necessary. It also noted that people who have no choice but to stay in their vehicles should ensure they park in an area where there is no risk of flooding.

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