It's the thought that counts

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Evacuation notice wasn't faxed to hearing-impaired residents

The city of Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, failed to fax evacuation instructions to hearing-impaired residents during Typhoon No. 23, even although it has an emergency fax system for that purpose, it was learned Thursday.
As a result, some hearing-impaired residents were stranded in the flooding as they were unaware of the imminent danger. The safety of these residents was not confirmed by the municipal government until a day after the evacuation.
...The government recommended evacuation in most of the city at 6:05 p.m. on Oct. 20 and then required it at 7:45 p.m. However, the information was not faxed to the 21 households. About an hour after the recommendation was issued, the government faxed a query to the 21 households to find out if they were safe, but did not mention the evacuation.