Panic as 5.5m wake to the sound of sirens
PEOPLE across Hokkaido woke with a jolt at 6.02am local time yesterday to the howl of sirens. An automated voice warned that North Korea had launched a missile.
Panicked residents frantically considered where they could hide as they were told to find shelter.
Television programmes were replaced by a bulletin warning that a ballistic missile had been launched from North Korea four minutes earlier, and the threat could be imminent.
Hokkaido, with a 5.5million population, has long been used to the threat of natural disasters such as earthquakes. But yesterday, locals were faced with different kind of terror as they were told they were in the path of the missile.
The panic came three days before a missile drill was due to be carried out in the face of the growing threat from Pyongyang. Eerie footage shows deserted streets and grey skies as the wail of sirens followed by an audio announcement pierced the air.
Phone warnings reading ‘Please evacuate to a sturdy building or basement’ flashed up on mobiles.
The messages usually warn of an earthquake or threat of a tsunami but yesterday residents across 12 prefectures were told: ‘Missile launch. Missile launch. North Korea appears to have fired a missile. Take refuge in a solid building or underground.’
The alarm sounded after North Korea launched its first ballistic missile to fly over Japan since 2009.
Although the warning was clear, many on the northern Japanese island did not know where to hide.
Ichiro Kondo, 38, a fisherman in Erimo, told the Japan Times: ‘The alert told me to evacuate but I couldn’t think of any building in the town that could withstand missiles. I didn’t know where to go.’
Ayaka Nishijima, 41, said: ‘I was woken by the missile alert on my cell phone. I didn’t feel prepared at all. Even if we get these alerts there’s nowhere to run. It’s not like we have a basement or bomb shelter.’
Another woman said: ‘You cannot run away from it – which is the biggest worry.’ In the island’s capital, Sapporo, Ai onodera was woken by the buzzing on her mobile.
The 33-year-old switched on the television to see that all channels had been replaced by the emergency bulletin. She immediately called her husband, who was away on business. ‘I was terrified that I wouldn’t see him again,’ she said.
Andrew Kaz, 24, an American work-
ing as a teaching assistant, said: ‘I know this happened before but I feel small and rudderless. Everything seems like business as usual but you can tell people are shaken up.’
Bullet trains to Tokyo, 700 miles to the south, were halted temporarily and 40 schools shut or opened late.
Within 12 minutes, phones pinged for a second time, displaying a message that the missile had flown over Hokkaido and crashed at 6.12am some 730 miles out into the Pacific.
In Tokyo, Ryo Shigihara, 37, said: ‘When I watched the news and heard it had actually crossed Japan and fallen into the Pacific Ocean, I felt immediate danger.’
Hiroaki Kumasaka, 38, said: ‘We felt helpless knowing there was nothing we could do even while a missile was passing through the skies of Japan. I sent a message to my family saying, “Japan is no longer safe”.’