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Japan's plan to put toilets in lifts
19th of June 2015Japan's infrastructure ministry has announced that the country's lifts may soon have a surprising new feature - toilets.
According to Kyodo news agency, the Japanese government called meetings with the country's lift industry to discuss the idea after a magnitude-8.1 earthquake struck south of Tokyo recently, causing about 19,000 lifts in the city and nearby to stop working.
People were trapped in 14 elevators and it took 70 minutes to rescue some of them, officials told Kyodo. If a larger earthquake strikes, the problem could be far worse. In light of the practical problems caused by being stuck in an lift for so long, the Japanese government began looking into installing water and toilet facilities in all lifts.
Some local authorities have already starting putting portable toilets into lifts in fact. And private Japanese companies manufacture devices intended to serve as toilets in lifts.