Japan launches disaster management agency to boost response, reduce damage

TOKYO – The Japanese government on Nov 2 launched a new agency to oversee its response to disasters in the quake-prone country and prepare damage reduction measures for a myriad of crises.Headquartered in Tokyo, the National Disaster Management Agency will establish regional hubs to enhance coordination with local governments to deal with disasters, including potential megaquakes along the Japan Trench, the Chishima Trench, the Nankai Trough and directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area.The location of the regional hubs will be selected in the summer of 2027 and they will open by July 2028.The agency is headed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono will serve concurrently as disaster management minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference on Nov 2.It marks the first launch of an agency directly under Cabinet supervision since the establishment of the Digital Agency in September 2021.A key challenge for the new agency, which will also respond to torrential downpours and volcanic eruptions, will be expanding support to municipalities that may have limited budgets and poor access to disaster management experts.The disaster management minister will have the authority to make recommendations to other ministries and agencies, and those whose efforts are deemed insufficient will be obliged to respect the minister’s recommendations.Megaquakes along the Nankai Trough, which stretches south-west off the Pacific coast of central Japan, or in the Tokyo metropolitan area are expected to generate an overwhelming number of evacuees, necessitating the improvement of evacuation shelters, reducing disaster-related deaths and proactively delivering amenities that tend to be in short supply.The agency will also be responsible for the recovery and reconstruction of disaster-hit regions starting from the Noto peninsula, hit by an earthquake in 2024, and Kumamoto prefecture, which experienced a magintude-7.1 temblor in July 2026.It will designate the increasingly intensifying floods across the country as a critical issue on the back of heavy rainfall in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, which was struck by downpours in August that led to urban flooding. KYODO NEWS