Japan Launches Disaster Agency to Brace for Nankai, Tokyo Quakes

(MENAFN) Japan opened a new national disaster agency Monday, a move aimed at hardening the country against major earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions and unifying how Tokyo responds when they strike, a national news agency reported.

The National Disaster Management Agency, based in Tokyo and led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, will set up regional hubs to tighten coordination with local governments. The hubs are also meant to prepare for potentially catastrophic quakes along the Nankai Trough, the Japan Trench and the Chishima Trench, as well as directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Sites for the hubs are due to be chosen by summer 2027, and they are scheduled to be running by July 2028.

Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono will double as disaster management minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said.

The agency is the first created directly under the Cabinet since the Digital Agency launched in September 2021. It will back municipalities struggling with tight budgets and too few disaster management specialists, and the disaster management minister will be empowered to recommend improvements to other government bodies.

Its priorities include upgrading evacuation shelters, cutting deaths linked to disasters and making sure essential supplies reach displaced residents. The agency will also oversee rebuilding in earthquake-hit regions and address increasingly severe flooding tied to heavy rainfall across Japan.

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