Lessons of major earthquakes decade ago help British man in Kumamoto

KUMAMOTO, Japan (Kyodo) -- A British professor coping with a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday credited lessons from past quakes for his quick response. Andrew Mitchell, a 41-year-old sociology professor at Kumamoto University, recounted feeling initially panicked but using his past experiences to calm himself and take action.

The 2016 earthquakes, with magnitudes of 6.5 and 7.3, killed over 270 people and Mitchell noted the difficulty for non-Japanese people to react swiftly to such events. Ten years ago, as a doctoral student, he struggled with understanding evacuation procedures in Japanese. On Tuesday, he instinctively hid under his desk, put on thick socks for protection, and turned off the gas.

After the shaking stopped, he began sharing reliable disaster information in an online group with international students and residents, addressing language barriers and misinformation. Mitchell and fellow KEEP members launched the group after the 2016 quakes to share experiences and lessons learned, emphasizing the importance of preparing for earthquakes and helping one another in recovery.