NHK works closely with the JMA to ensure a high standard of disaster preparedness and the rapid communication of events. NHK set up a system that allows us to quickly create graphics and automatically produce news scripts for on-air personnel. NHK also carries out training every day after midnight when no programs are aired. (This is because we are constantly monitoring and reporting on earthquakes). These commitments to disaster preparedness meant we were able to quickly move to live coverage immediately after the quake was detected. Disaster preparedness at NHK doesn’t solely rely on the JMA alerts. We also operate and monitor footage from 500 robot cameras set up in major cities, in coastal areas and around nuclear power plants. This provides us with an amazing amount of live footage when a disaster strikes. For example, during the earthquake, a camera captured a tsunami wave 30 minutes after the quake was detected (shown below). Along with cameras, NHK used aerial images captured from helicopters to show the effects of the quake and tsunami. It meant we were able to broadcast live, unforgettable footage of a tsunami wiping out houses in Sendai - a mere hour after the quake (as shown in the following page). By 2014, we will have 15 helicopters stationed in 12 locations around Japan. This will enable us to reach, and broadcast from, any location in the country within an hour. NHK also made an effort to spread its earthquake coverage to different platforms. Live television and radio broadcasts were livestreamed on platforms such as Ustream and Niconico Live. We were swamped with requests from people seeking information about the safety of loved ones. To do this at scale, NHK placed whatever information we had on Google Person Finder2, which “helps people reconnect with friends and loved ones in the aftermath of natural and humanitarian disasters.” 93