Japan oks bill to create disaster management agency

The current disaster management division of the Cabinet Office will be reorganized into the agency, which will have personnel of 352, up from 220 at the current division.

The related budget will also be expanded.

The agency will be headed by the prime minister and will also have a dedicated minister.

The government aims to launch the agency in autumn.

According to the legislation, approved at a cabinet meeting, the agency will operate directly under the cabinet.

It will be responsible for formulating basic disaster-related policies, as well as for planning and overall coordination to address major disasters.

The dedicated minister will have the authority to issue recommendations to other government agencies.

To enhance regional disaster response capabilities, the bill also calls for the creation of local disaster management bureaus.

Two such bureaus are under consideration to strengthen preparedness for potential huge earthquakes in the Nankai Trough in the Pacific Ocean off central to southwestern Japan and in the Japan and Kuril trenches off the Pacific coasts of northern to eastern Japan.

Additionally, the bill would allow the government to establish a training and research facility to develop disaster management personnel.

"We'll realize a system that can provide sufficient support to disaster victims no matter where disasters occur," Takao Makino, minister in charge of preparations for the establishment of the disaster management agency, told a press conference.

The cabinet meeting also approved a draft amendment to the basic law on disaster management to add protection of an adequate living environment for disaster victims to its basic principles.