2022
At this time of year, when the New Year would normally be celebrated, Japan faced difficulties.
- On January 1st, one of the largest earthquakes occurred on the Sea of Japan side. Wajima Morning Market, one of Japan's three major morning markets with a history of 1,000 years, was destroyed in a huge fire.
- On January 2, at Haneda Airport, a Japan Coast Guard plane that was about to be dispatched to help with the largest earthquake collided with Japan's largest passenger plane and burst into flames.
- On January 3rd, Japan's oldest arcade street in Fukuoka is destroyed by a huge fire.
- On January 4th, an indiscriminate terrorist attack occurred on a train in Tokyo.
A large number of victims have occurred. To be honest, we stand there dumbfounded.
What can you do in an emergency like this?
I am a victim of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The memory of being saved by Google Maps comes back to me at that time. I reread the article on Google.
Google Crisis Response
Remote support using Google Maps was an exemplary method for disaster volunteers that gained attention during the Great East Japan Earthquake.
I immediately marked a temporary closure on the morning market focus of the big fire and helped Google Business. And I called on my local guide friends to help. This is a mission to help disaster-stricken areas by reflecting information that has been rigorously fact-checked on the map.
However, one guide criticized my call, saying, "It's a violation of the rules for Local Guides to do anything other than post their experiences.''
I was confused by the criticism, but I stuck to my beliefs.
When looking at the disaster-stricken area on a map, an increasing number of places were marked with temporary closure or road closure marks. There were signs that someone was helping somewhere.
Critics later referred to the article and corrected their criticisms of Local Guides' support for remote areas.
Help moderate road closures on Maps
Here we propose important conventions regarding remote support.
- Thoroughly fact-check. Use only public broadcasting as your news source.
- Make only "provisional" edits. Operate only information regarding temporary business closures and temporary road closures.
- Prank posts are sure to occur in disaster-stricken areas. Check it and request it to be removed.
- If your account gets banned for doing remote editing, please check if you comply with the above three points and appeal to Google that this is the right thing to do.
The remote support provided during the Great East Japan Earthquake was at a time when there was no Local Guides program. They also attempted things that could not be done by following the rules. It was an act entrusted only to the unstable attribute of trust.
However, thanks to their actions, we, the disaster victims, were saved. This is the truth.
Great note @YasumiKikuchi
Natural disasters and accidents in Japan made all of us sad.
Thanks for discussing it. Good Local Guides should know how to help in such a situation. I think about it a lot. For example, instant updating data based on real conditions, like what you did is very important. Sometimes a My Map could help, sometimes an LG social activity could help, and any other thing. We should discuss and learn more about it.
I think having trusted Local Guides in each country (like the RL program in Map Maker) could have a great effect on fighting misinformation on the map, especially in disasters where each moment and each true data is important.
