Tokyo, Nov. 3 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s National Disaster Management Agency, launched Monday, faces a test as to whether the new government agency can sufficiently play a central role in implementing measures to reduce damage from major natural disasters. On Monday, disaster management minister Goshi Hosono issued an emergency request for people in the country to thoroughly take measures to reduce disaster damage, stressing that preparing for national crisis-level disasters is the new agency’s primary mission. It is very unusual for the government to issue such a request at normal times. Close attention is being paid to whether effective disaster reduction measures will be implemented. The probability of a major earthquake occurring in the Nankai Trough in the Pacific off central to western Japan within the next 30 years is about 60 to 90 pct or more, according to the government’s earthquake research commission. “We have received no special information on earthquake prediction,” Hosono told a press conference Monday. At the same time, he said he wants people to take disasters as their own issue, urging each citizen to prepare for disasters. The government hopes to spread the so-called phase-free concept, which makes daily necessities and services available regardless of normal times and emergencies, such as installing seismic breakers in new houses as a standard and formulating a framework for standardizing the fixing of furniture after purchases. Still, the public’s awareness of the need for disaster management is not increasing. In a 2025 government survey of 3,000 people aged 18 and over, only 37.6 pct of respondents said they had measures to prevent furniture and home appliances from falling in place in preparation for major earthquakes. Of those who said they did not take such measures, 38.2 pct said they were planning to do that but were procrastinating. The National Disaster Management Agency is given the right to recommend other ministries and agencies that have failed to take sufficient measures to correct the situation. The Reconstruction Agency and the Digital Agency are also given such right but have never exercised it. Hosono indicated his readiness to use the right as needed. But an official at the National Disaster Management Agency questioned whether the recommendation right alone is enough to enable the new agency to serve as the control tower to promote the government’s disaster preparedness. For the new disaster management agency to serve as the control tower for the entire government and respond to national crisis-level disasters, “a strategy that is completely different from conventional measures” is necessary, such as building a system involving society as a whole including industries, Nagoya University professor emeritus Nobuo Fukuwa, an earthquake engineering expert, said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
