Japan has about 10% of the world's earthquakes. Every person living in Japan (or any other seismically active area) should make at least minimal preparations in case "the big one" strikes in your area. Quakes hit without notice anytime day or night, so TCQ recommends that you make 2 of these kits (per person), one for home and one for your primary workplace or school. Use this $5 U.S. (or) 500 yen -kit as a starting point - add essentials like: extra contacts, medications, etc. Keep it small & light. Make this initial kit sometime this week, then forget about it!, i.e. at least create and have this much of a kit and place it near an entrance or window. Dust it off once each year or so.

A few optional items include: a big novel or deck of cards (you're going to have some time on your hands...), some whiskey (painkiller, sterilizer & friend maker), extra clothing, a first aid kit, harmonica, and cigarettes.

Wrap the above compact emergency items into 4 or 5 layers of plastic grocery store bags (which are strong, light and can be separated out when needed to carry a full load of ... whatever you need to carry at that time). The TCQ Quake Kit is composed of low-cost, flexible items: T-shirts can be worn, torn into strips, or used as towels; toilet paper has a host of possibilities in an emergency situation; and the string may come in handy for any number of expedient uses. Low cost & high flexibility - the $5US/500 yen Quake Kit from T.C.Q.

[Ed. Note: This was originally published in the Spring 1995 issue of the now discontinued TCQ (Tokyo Central Quarterly). Please feel free to copy and use this information as desired - with the exception that written permission is required prior to any commercial and/or for-profit reproduction of any kind. Copyright 1995-97, by Paul Abramson.]

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