Japan Launches National Agency to Strengthen Disaster Preparedness and Response

By Staff, Agencies

Japan officially launched a new national agency on Monday aimed at strengthening disaster preparedness and improving the coordination of emergency responses to major earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters, Kyodo News Agency reported.

The Tokyo-based National Disaster Management Agency, headed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, will establish regional offices to enhance cooperation with local authorities and strengthen preparations for potentially devastating earthquakes along the Nankai Trough, Japan Trench and Chishima Trench, as well as beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The locations of the regional hubs are expected to be selected by the summer of 2027, with operations scheduled to begin by July 2028.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara announced that Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono would also serve as the country's disaster management minister.

The new agency is the first institution established directly under Cabinet supervision since the creation of the Digital Agency in September 2021. It is expected to provide support to municipalities struggling with limited budgets and shortages of specialized disaster management personnel.

The disaster management minister will also be granted authority to recommend improvements to other government institutions to strengthen the country's overall disaster response capabilities.

Among the agency's main priorities are improving evacuation shelters, reducing deaths resulting from disasters and ensuring the timely delivery of essential supplies to people displaced by emergencies.

It will also oversee reconstruction efforts in earthquake-affected regions while strengthening measures to address increasingly severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall across Japan.

The establishment of the agency reflects Japan's efforts to reinforce its national disaster management framework and improve its ability to respond to large-scale natural disasters through closer coordination between central and local authorities.