1 Year On: Use of App to Help Visually Impaired in Disasters Spreading
Ishinomaki, Miyagi Pref., Jan. 1 (Jiji Press)--A growing number of local governments in Japan are using a smartphone app to help visually impaired residents access critical information in the event of a natural disaster.
In response to requests from visually impaired people, the service, which uses the app to read out an evacuation center and other necessary information, was launched in April this year under the supervision of a nonprofit organization.
"Municipalities need to take action to ensure that people with disabilities can access vital information," a person in charge of the app project said.
The app, which was designed and supervised by the Japan Association for the Visually-Impaired Information Support, identifies users' locations via GPS and reads out disaster information and a route leading to a nearby evacuation center.
It can be used in municipalities that bear the cost of maintaining and managing the server for the service. So far, the app has been adopted by Aomori, Akita, Toyama and Kumamoto prefectures, and the cities of Kobe, Fukuoka and Kumamoto as well as five wards in Tokyo. It is also available in Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by the 7.6-magnitude quake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024.
(2025/01/01-11:00)
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