How a small Japanese company notifies millions of people about natural disasters

NERV, a small private firm run by Gehirn, has gained a strong reputation for providing timely earthquake warnings in Japan. Despite having just 13 full-time staff members, NERV's warnings often surpass those issued by official bodies and the country's public broadcaster. The company's Twitter account has gained a significant following, with 2.2 million followers in Japanese and 35,000 in English. Additionally, NERV's app has been downloaded over four million times. The account was initially created in 2010 by Daiki Ishimori, who drew inspiration from the anime TV show Neon Genesis Evangelion. In response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Ishimori realized the need for alternative methods to communicate disaster information beyond TV and radio. His account grew rapidly in popularity, but recent changes to the social media platform, X, affected NERV's ability to provide its services. X started charging users to access its application programming interface, limiting the number of free automated posts. Despite these challenges, NERV remains committed to its mission of making Japan safer and has started a paid membership scheme to cover its costs. The company aims to expand its accessibility and continue providing essential disaster information to the public.