Japan Public Sees 'No Point' Fleeing From North Korea Missiles

(Bloomberg) -- Few Japanese followed official warnings to take shelter following the launch of North Korean ballistic missiles in August and September, according to a Japanese government survey.

While Japan’s alert system succeeded in informing the public about the launches, just 5.6 percent of respondents said they took shelter after North Korea fired on Sept. 15. The most common reason respondents gave for not evacuating was that there was “no point,” or that they didn’t know where to go.

The government advises the public to move to rooms without windows or get underground, though basements are unusual in Japanese homes. The Cabinet Secretariat surveyed about 5,000 people in 12 northern prefectures where residents were urged to take shelter because they might be close to the missile’s predicted flight path.

Almost 60 percent of those questioned said that while they felt vaguely uneasy after learning of the launch, they didn’t feel fear or that they were in danger of harm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Gearoid Reidy, Jason Koutsoukis

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