Nearly Half in Quake-Hit Noto Areas Felt Digital Divide

   Tokyo, July 10 (Jiji Press)--Nearly half of respondents living in the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, believe that a digital divide was evident right after the January 2024 disaster, a survey has shown.
   According to the survey by LY Corp., which operates messaging app Line, and Kanazawa University, 48.0 pct of respondents said there was a gap between those who could access information and those who could not.
   The survey was conducted online with 2,094 residents of areas affected by the temblor, which highlighted the need for local governments to improve their information dissemination so that necessary information, including on soup kitchens and other relief measures, reaches affected people.
   In the survey, 87.1 pct of respondents said they trusted official accounts of local governments on the Line app as they gathered information during the chaos just after the disaster.
   The share of respondents who said they will use information from such Line accounts again stood at 88.3 pct.

(2025/07/10-20:10)

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