How Kumamoto Survivors Are Keeping Earthquake Lessons Alive

Ten years after the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, survivors in one of the hardest-hit areas are working to ensure its lessons are not forgotten.

In Minamiaso, Kumamoto Prefecture, the Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster Museum KIOKU preserves earthquake ruins and shares the experience of the disaster through 60 storytellers. Applicants can participate regardless of whether they were directly affected or the severity of the damage they suffered.

Drawing on personal experiences and reflections, they help pass on the memory of the quake. Their accounts, together with the preserved remains, offer practical lessons in how to prepare and protect lives.

The museum's 60 storytellers range in age from their 30s to their 80s. Some narrowly escaped death after being pinned beneath fallen furniture. Others lost loved ones. Some came from outside the prefecture, driven by a strong desire to help preserve the memory and lessons of the disaster.

Growing Public Interest

Hisatoku Goto, 62, and his wife, Chinami, both affected by the quake in Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, became storytellers together in April 2025.

The Kumamoto Earthquake began with a foreshock on April 14, 2016, followed by the main shock two days later. Both registered 7, the highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale. In Aso, the main shock measured lower 6. The quake cracked the walls of the Gotos' home and knocked out both water and electricity.

At the time, the couple lived with Goto's elderly parents. Because the parents were reluctant to go to an evacuation center, the family chose to sleep in their car instead. "Even when a shelter has been designated, elderly people are often reluctant to go," Goto recalled. "That left us without access to relief supplies or the information we needed. At one point, we received food from Self-Defense Forces personnel we happened to encounter, and we even drove to Oita Prefecture for shopping just to get by."

They spent about 10 days sleeping in the car until the aftershocks eased, but the lack of proper rest left them increasingly exhausted.

*The inside of the car where Hisatoku Goto and his family spent ten days after the Kumamoto Earthquake. (Courtesy of Mr Goto)*

Preparedness Begins at Home

Older people are often more reluctant than others to use evacuation centers during a disaster, often saying they are fine or simply do not want to go. Goto said that makes it all the more important for families to raise their awareness of disaster preparedness together and for local communities to build support networks in advance. "I want people to start doing whatever they can today, even if it's only a little," he said.

It was Chinami who first suggested they become storytellers. "I wondered whether I was really in a position to do it, since I hadn't been among those most severely affected," she said. "But I really felt that we mustn't forget, and that we have to make use of what we learned." Visitors sometimes tell her they want to see the hardest-hit areas for themselves after hearing her talk about them. Encounters like that, she said, have made her realize interest is spreading.

Experience and Emotion Become Lessons

The Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster Museum KIOKU opened in July 2023 on the former site of Tokai University's Aso campus, which was damaged in the quake. Visitors can view preserved remnants of the disaster, including a cracked school building, a fault line exposed at the surface, and a passenger car left badly mangled.

One storyteller who injured a foot after stepping on broken dishes stresses the need to keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed. Another, who struggled to find food, emphasizes the importance of stockpiling supplies.

Together, they convey the broader reality of the earthquake. Yet it is the personal details, the hardships they faced afterward, and the reasons they were injured, that turn those experiences into lessons with wider force. That, in turn, gives added weight to their message that disaster preparedness should begin today.

*Lanterns lit at an event to commemorate those who died in the Kumamoto Earthquake in Minamiaso, Kumamoto Prefecture. December, 2025.*

Takayuki Kubo, 35, the museum's general director, said people are more likely to change their behavior "when disaster preparedness messages come from those who speak with conviction." The museum also gives storytellers opportunities to learn about new earthquake-related findings, thereby expanding the range of information they can share with visitors.

Exchange Builds Disaster Readiness

The Kumamoto Earthquake claimed 278 lives, including disaster-related deaths, and left more than 2,800 people injured. After the first quake, which many believed to be the main shock, an even stronger one followed, upending conventional assumptions. As the disaster reaches its 10th anniversary, one of the central challenges is how to keep its memory from fading.

The museum also works with storytellers from other major earthquakes in Japan, including the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. "By learning from disasters across Japan, including what becomes a challenge 10 years after a major earthquake, we can begin to see what our own role should be," Kubo said. "We want to remain mindful of being a facility that serves society and continue these efforts."

In areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, memorial facilities have also been established to pass on the lessons of the disaster and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The former Okawa Elementary School building in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, has become a place where families who lost children in the tsunami, along with younger people, share their experiences and the lessons they want others to remember. Their testimony, about the grief of losing loved ones and the decisions that determined who lived and who died, has helped deepen awareness of disaster preparedness.

(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: Mayuko Ichii, The Sankei Shimbun