Faisal Mahmud
02 November 2026•Update: 02 November 2026
Japan launched a new national agency Monday to strengthen disaster preparedness and coordinate responses to major earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions, Kyodo News Agency reported.
The Tokyo-based National Disaster Management Agency, headed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, will establish regional hubs to improve coordination with local governments and prepare for potentially devastating earthquakes along the Nankai Trough, Japan Trench and Chishima Trench as well as beneath metropolitan Tokyo.
Locations for the regional hubs will be selected by the summer of 2027, with operations scheduled to begin by July 2028.
Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono will concurrently serve as disaster management minister, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara.
The agency, the first established directly under Cabinet supervision since the Digital Agency in September 2021, will support municipalities facing budget constraints and shortages of disaster management specialists.
The disaster management minister will have the authority to recommend improvements to other government bodies.
Priorities include improving evacuation shelters, reducing disaster-related deaths and ensuring that essential supplies reach displaced residents.
The agency will also oversee reconstruction in earthquake-hit regions while addressing increasingly severe flooding linked to heavy rainfall across Japan.
AloJapan.com