Japan Lower House OKs Bill to Create Disaster Management Agency

Tokyo, May 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Tuesday passed a bill to establish a disaster management agency, which oversees the government’s disaster prevention and response measures. The bill is expected to be enacted during the current Diet session, set to end in July, after deliberations in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber. The government aims to set up the agency this autumn. The new agency, to be placed directly under the cabinet, will draw up basic disaster management policy and coordinate responses to large-scale disasters, according to the bill. While the prime minister will head the agency, the post of disaster management minister will be newly created. The minister is slated to be granted the authority to issue recommendations to other government agencies over disaster management. The agency will have four departments, including one in charge of initial response in the event of a disaster and another for promoting disaster preparedness. It will have 352 personnel, up from 220 in the current Cabinet Office division responsible for disaster management. Two local bureaus will be set up as early as fiscal 2027, in preparation for potential megaquakes in the Nankai Trough off Japan’s central and western Pacific coast and along the Chishima and Japan trenches in the Pacific. A disaster management academy that conducts training and research for human resource development will also be established. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]