Japan Enacts Bill to Establish Disaster Management Agency

Tokyo, July 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s parliament Monday passed into law a bill to establish a disaster management agency, which will act as the government’s command center for disaster reduction measures and responses. The bill was approved by a majority vote at a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. It had cleared the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, in May. The agency, expected to start operating as early as November, will be remade from the existing disaster management division at the Cabinet Office with bigger financial resources and personnel. It will handle preparations in normal times, responses to actual disasters, and restoration and reconstruction. Headed by the prime minister and having its own minister, the agency is set to be an organization directly under the cabinet. Its main roles are formulating basic policies for disaster reduction and planning and coordinating government responses to large-scale disasters. The prescribed number of personnel is 352, up from the 220 of the current Cabinet Office division. The minister responsible for the agency will have the right to advise other government organizations, which will be obliged to respect the advice, enabling the government to work as one when taking related measures. Alongside the minister, the agency will have state, parliamentary vice and administrative vice ministers. The head office will comprise four departments–one for responses to large-scale disasters and training and human resource development, one for disaster reduction measures in normal times, one for regional responses including support for disaster victims and education on disaster reduction, and one for budget and public relations affairs. The new law also stipulates the establishment of regional disaster management bureaus of the agency. The bureaus will be set up in two locations in fiscal 2027 or later. In preparation for possible megaquakes in the Nankai Trough and the Japan and Chishima trenches, the regional bureaus will promote disaster reduction measures and build support systems for areas that would be affected. Also planned is the establishment of an institution to conduct training and research for disaster management. On Monday, related bills were also enacted, including one to revise the basic law on disaster management to add the securing of good living conditions for disaster victims to the law’s basic philosophy. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]