Disaster Information Access and Preparedness Behavior among Foreign Residents: Evidence from Multilingual Disaster Information Infrastructure in Japan

This study empirically examines how access to disaster information affects disaster preparedness behavior among foreign residents in Japan. Using microdata from surveys of foreign residents conducted in 2020 and 2022, we analyze whether difficulties in understanding disaster-related information influence individuals’ preparedness actions. To address potential endogeneity in information access, we exploit regional variation in multilingual disaster information infrastructure across local governments. Specifically, we construct an index capturing the availability of multilingual disaster information on municipal websites using archival data from the Wayback Machine and employ this index as an instrumental variable. The empirical results indicate that better multilingual disaster information infrastructure significantly reduces the probability that foreign residents report being unable to understand disaster-related information. Instrumental variable estimates further suggest that limited access to disaster information is associated with significantly lower levels of disaster preparedness. These effects appear particularly strong among foreign residents who have recently arrived in Japan. The findings highlight the importance of information accessibility in disaster preparedness and suggest that multilingual disaster information policies may play an important role in improving disaster resilience among linguistic minorities.