Many people in Okinawa live in apartment-style housing, and if you rent, it’s not unusual to be unable to drive screws into the walls. Apartment buildings carry different risks — and need different measures — than a detached house.

On higher floors, furniture doesn’t just “tip over” — it “moves”

The Tokyo Fire Department explains long-period ground motion this way: a large earthquake produces slow shaking with a long period, and tall buildings have their own natural sway that matches this long wave, so the shaking gets amplified.

And the survey results are clear:

The higher the floor, the higher the rate of furniture tipping over, falling, or moving.

This tendency was confirmed in a survey of Tokyo after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and backed up by data from the Kumamoto earthquakes too (especially in buildings without base isolation).

What’s easy to overlook here is “moving.” Even without tipping over, a refrigerator or a chest of drawers can slide across the floor. It can block an evacuation route, or collide with a person.

In addition to the anti-tip measures covered in the furniture article, on higher floors you must also take anti-slide measures. For pole-type devices where screwing isn’t possible, the Tokyo Fire Department recommends installing them at both ends of the furniture, as far back as possible.

Elevators stop

The Tokyo Fire Department lists this as a risk of apartment living:

When an earthquake of roughly seismic intensity 4 or greater occurs, elevators stop, and people can be trapped inside.

And the impact isn’t limited to being trapped:

When elevators stop, it becomes difficult to carry an injured person down to ground level.

If someone is injured on a high floor, the time and manpower needed for rescue increase significantly. Securing your furniture directly reduces the chance of anyone being injured in the first place — that’s another reason furniture measures matter especially on higher floors.

Measures the Tokyo Fire Department lists include:

  • Keep a disaster-prevention cabinet in the elevator stocked with water and a portable toilet (a matter for the building’s management association to consider)
  • Keep a stretcher for transport somewhere in the building overall

If you’re trapped, use the intercom to call for help and wait for rescue. Don’t try to force the doors open.

Note that elevators also stop during a typhoon power outage. Alongside the blackout article, plan for a life that assumes using the stairs.

Good soundproofing means your voice may not carry

This is easy to miss unless someone points it out. The Tokyo Fire Department notes:

In a well-soundproofed apartment building, a call for help may not be heard.

If you’re pinned under furniture, your voice may not reach next door. That’s exactly why it’s considered important to set up a way for residents to check on each other’s safety in advance.

One thing you can do individually: keep a whistle in your bedroom. It carries through walls more easily than shouting, and doesn’t use up your energy the way sustained shouting does.

Fire risk

The Tokyo Fire Department also lists the fire risk when a building is damaged by an earthquake:

  • If fire doors — walls, windows, or entrance doors — are damaged, fire spreads more easily
  • Firefighting and alarm equipment may not work, which can delay discovering a fire, or make firefighting and evacuation harder

Normally, a building’s own systems protect you — but that assumption breaks down after an earthquake. Know your evacuation route (where the stairs are) in a way that doesn’t rely on the elevator.

Assume the water will “stop”

In apartment buildings, a power outage becomes a water outage directly, because the pressure pump that supplies water runs on electricity. This is covered in detail in the water outage article.

The higher the floor, the more serious this is. If the water stops, you’ll be carrying water up the stairs. At 3 liters per person per day, for a family of four over 3 days, that’s 36 liters. Take a moment to imagine actually carrying that up 10 floors. Simply keeping water stored in your unit already is the countermeasure.

Things to confirm with the management company or management association

  • How the water tank and pressure pump are handled during a power outage (is there backup power?)
  • The procedure for restoring elevator service after an earthquake (who calls it in?)
  • Whether there’s a disaster stockpile (and if so, what and where)
  • How safety checks are done (some buildings use a magnet or a card on the doorknob)

For rentals, the management company is your point of contact; for owned units, the management association. Asking once before typhoon season means you won’t be caught off guard when it matters.

What this article does not cover

This site cannot assess the structure or equipment of any specific building. For earthquake resistance and equipment, check with your management company, management association, or a qualified contractor. For active earthquake, tsunami, or evacuation information, check official up-to-date information, and follow the evacuation information issued by your municipality.