On the 9th Palaceside Building installed “disaster-response chairs” in all 16 elevators, eight east and eight west (photo above).
They hold emergency goods in case an elevator stops between floors in an earthquake or other event and people are
trapped. As in the photo at right, inside are bottled drinking water, food (cookies), a lantern and a portable toilet. The toilet is at upper left in the photo at right; please use it with the poncho (a cloth with a hole for the head that covers the body). Toilet paper and a minimum set of other needed supplies are included.
At busy times they may be a little in the way; please forgive us. Older people and others may also use them as ordinary chairs; please sit freely.
The shape of these chairs is a little unusual. The photos below left are from above; do you notice? Yes—they are not right-angled. Palaceside elevators are a bit special: the corners are about 110 degrees, not 90. The chairs are normally square, so set in the elevator they leave a gap as in the photos below right. We asked the maker specially for 110-degree units that fit the building’s elevators exactly.
We will keep thinking and doing what we can toward a safer building. Still, we can only hope the chairs are never used and the investment proves “wasted” (?).