Gehirn launches "NERV Disaster Prevention App" on September 1st (Disaster Prevention Day)

In cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency, we deliver the most appropriate disaster prevention information to users at the fastest level in Japan.

PDF Available here (Japanese)

Please note that at this time, the NERV Disaster Prevention App is only available in Japanese, with an English release to be announced before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Gehirn Inc. (Headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Daiki Ishimori; hereinafter referred to as 'Gehirn') is pleased to announce the release of "NERV Disaster Prevention App" on the 1st of September (Disaster Prevention Day).

The "NERV Disaster Prevention App" is a smartphone service that delivers earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and special warning bulletins, as well as weather information on floods and landslides, optimized based on both the user's current location and registered points. It has been developed to help people living in or visiting areas where damage is expected to occur to accurately assess the situation and react accordingly.

Disaster prevention meteorological information is received directly from a leased line connected to the Meteorological Service Support Center (located in the main building of the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Osaka Regional Meteorological Office) to ensure the reliability of the information, and our proprietary technology enables the fastest information distribution in Japan.

Working with the Japan Meteorological Agency to develop a heavy rainfall risk notification function

Following our selection by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as a cooperating service provider for the push notification service for the "distribution of the danger level of heavy rain and flood warnings", we developed the heavy rain danger level notification function of the "NERV Disaster Prevention App" in cooperation with the JMA. In addition, the development team includes members with diverse backgrounds, such as an engineer whose parents were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Kumamoto Earthquake, a designer with disaster prevention qualifications, a designer living in Australia, and a developer skilled in geospatial information visualization.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, we have been providing disaster information to many people 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With each experience, we have thought about and reviewed the way we deliver information, and have developed our disaster information delivery system to ensure that accurate information is delivered quickly. We will continue to work to further strengthen our disaster information distribution system.

Comments from the companies involved

The name of the app comes from the popular anime series "Evangelion". NERV is an extra-judicial organization that deals with mysterious life forms called angels, and issues warnings to warn of their arrival. The "NERV Disaster Prevention App" also provides disaster prevention information in cooperation with various organizations.

Japan Meteorological Agency

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) provides disaster-prevention weather information to protect people's lives and property. The JMA has been cooperating with Gehirn to launch a reliable application with whom we share this mission.

This app is also the first to support our "Heavy Rainfall Risk Notification" function, which notifies you of the risk of flooding or landslides in your registered location, and is designed to deliver disaster prevention information quickly and accurately so that you can make your own decisions and take action when damage is expected.

Just like the angels, the phenomena that bring about disasters always come suddenly and in different forms. This application is designed to help you make the right decision to evacuate in such an emergency.

khara Inc.

Eight years have passed since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, but Gehirn's activities have continued to change and evolve since then.

The app's name and icon are based on the iconic design of "Evangelion", and we hope that this will help users feel more familiar with the app.

We would like to support the distribution of the application so that being prepared for an unpredictable disaster will itself become a daily routine.

khara Inc. is a video planning and production company, including the "Evangelion" series.

Overview of the "NERV Disaster Prevention App"

Name	NERV Disaster Prevention App (Japanese: 特務機関NERV防災アプリ)
Official Website	https://nerv.app/
Release Date	2019/09/01 (Disaster Prevention Day)
Price	Free
Supported OS	iOS (Android version under development)
Developer	Gehirn Inc., Disaster Mgmt. & Prevention Division, R&D Dept. ・ Telecommunications Carrier Report A-23-12058 ・ Licensing Authority (Earthquake Activities) No. 214 ・ JMA Forecast Division Partner Company ・ L-Alert General Information Communicator

A variety of disaster prevention information in one place

You can receive a wide range of disaster prevention information in one app, including weather and typhoon forecasts, rain cloud radar, earthquake, tsunami and volcanic eruption bulletins, special warnings and landslide information, river information, heavy rain risk notifications, and even J-Alert (national protection information) and dam discharge notifications. By manipulating the map on the screen, you can zoom in on the point you are at or look across the country to see the rain clouds and the intensity of the earthquake in any scale.

1. Providing users with the most appropriate disaster information

We display information about your current location or a pre-registered area, based on our own algorithms. We use our own subdivision and mesh information to provide you with the most appropriate information.

2. Push notifications for important information

Depending on the device's location, the type of disaster information, and the level of urgency, we send quiet notifications without sound or vibration, normal notifications, and critical notifications. For urgent information, the "critical notification" alerts the user to the imminent danger. Critical notifications, such as Earthquake Early Warnings and Tsunami Warnings, are forced to sound even when the phone is set to silent or sleep mode.
※ If you do not want critical notifications (silent mode exempt), you can disable them from the iOS settings menu.

3. Barrier-free design

The Japanese version uses the "AXIS" font, which is simple, stylish and highly visible. We also focused on accessibility, with a colour scheme that is easy to read for people with colour blindness, and audio readouts that are easy to understand for people with visual or reading disabilities.