Japan on Monday launched a new national agency focused on disaster management to improve the country’s preparedness if there’s a megaquake along the Pacific coast or in Tokyo, or an eruption of Mount Fuji.
More than 350 workers at the National Disaster Management Agency will oversee preparedness, emergency response and reconstruction efforts.
The agency was not created in anticipation of any specific calamity, but to address concerns about whether the nation is prepared for a crisis on the scale of the 2011 quake and tsunami in northern Japan, which killed nearly 20,000 people, and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Japan, which lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is one of the most disaster-prone countries, but it has never had an agency dedicated to the task.
“As the command centre of disaster response, we will do everything to strengthen our preparedness to protect people’s lives and properties ... and aim to become the world’s most prepared,” Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono said. He will manage the agency headed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
“Though we cannot prevent natural disasters, we can reduce damages by being prepared,” Takaichi told agency staff at a launch ceremony.