Japan toughens Tokyo quake plan to halve projected disaster damage
Revised 10-year strategy sets tougher targets on deaths, destroyed buildings, fire prevention, household stockpiles, sheltering at home and business continuity.
- Japan's government has updated its 10-year disaster plan for a major Tokyo earthquake, strengthening its goal to reduce projected fatalities and building losses by "half or less."
- To achieve this, the number of specific policy goals has been expanded from 47 to 189, including a new target to install seismic circuit breakers in almost all households by 2035 to prevent fires.
- The plan also focuses on public readiness, aiming for 100% of households to store at least three days of food and promoting sheltering at home due to insufficient public shelter capacity.
The Japanese government decided on Friday (June 12) to update its basic disaster-preparedness plan for a possible major earthquake striking directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area, setting out measures for the next 10 years.
Under the revised plan, Tokyo and nine prefectures in and around the Kanto region will aim to cut both projected fatalities and building losses to half or less of the latest estimates released in December 2025.
Those estimates put potential deaths at up to 18,000 and the number of buildings destroyed or burned down at around 400,000.
The government also set a target for seismic circuit breakers, which shut off electricity when they detect tremors, to be installed in almost all households covered by the plan by fiscal 2035.
The installation rate stood at 20 per cent in fiscal 2024.
It is the first revision of the plan since 2015.
The earlier version sought to “roughly halve” the number of deaths and destroyed or burned buildings, while the new version strengthens the wording to “reducing to half or less”.
To meet the tougher target, the number of specific policy goals in the plan has been expanded sharply from 47 to 189.
These include the circuit-breaker target and stronger fire-prevention measures, as fires are expected to account for about 70 per cent of earthquake-related damage.
The plan also seeks to improve public awareness of disaster readiness. It calls for the share of households storing at least three days’ worth of food to rise from 60 per cent in fiscal 2025 to 100 per cent, and sets a further goal of securing furniture in all homes.
With evacuation shelters in the Tokyo metropolitan area expected to be insufficient, the government will promote sheltering at home where possible.
The plan also calls for disaster drills to be held at least once a year in every condominium building.
For businesses, the government aims for all major companies and 80 per cent of midsize firms to complete business continuity plans.
The revised plan also addresses people who may struggle to return home after a disaster, including measures to secure temporary accommodation facilities and provide information support for those attempting to walk home.
The government will track progress on the numerical targets every year and carry out follow-up measures under the plan.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
