Editorial: Stepping up to enhance disaster resilience
January 10 , 2025
With the frequency and intensity of natural disasters increasing, Japan must remake itself from being a hub of such calamities to a national preparedness powerhouse. A major step in achieving this transition will be to minimize as much as possible the consequences of a natural disaster by building communities through what is known as “preemptive disaster prevention.”The Cabinet approved fiscal 2025 budget aims to construct earthquake-resilient water and sewage pipelines, shore up river and sea embankments, upgrade aging infrastructure such as dams and roadways and invest in other prepardness projects. The government has also doubled funds to the Cabinet’s discretionary 2024 budget for related works for this year.
Since fiscal 2018, the government has allocated ¥7 trillion yen over three years to a variety of projects, including the reinforcement of river embankments and improvement to small water reservoirs. It is also accelerating the spending of ¥15 trillion over a five-year period since fiscal 2021 in part to improve the predictive risk assessment of river basin flood control and linear rainbands that continue to exact a high toll on lives and communities. Komeito has led the effort to adopt these and other programs.
The latter funding is set to run out in fiscal 2025, however. It means further steps must be taken, one such measure being the role and authority of the Disaster Prevention Agency to be launched in fiscal 2026.
Equally important will be preparations undertaken once a natural disaster strikes, from the preemptive Push-type Assistance Service System as well as databasing to ensure the rapid rollout of mobile kitchens and home trailers approved in the 2025 budget. Komeito is lobbying for a TKB program enabling the installation of toilets, kitchens and beds for evacuees and has already been instrumental in the air-conditioning of school gymnasiums commonly used nationwide as an evacuation facility.
