In brief
The Japanese government has inaugurated the National Disaster Management Agency, headed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and with Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono serving as disaster management minister. The agency will open regional hubs by July 2028 to bolster local coordination, and it will oversee recovery in areas affected by recent seismic events such as the Noto Peninsula and Kumamoto. The move marks the first Cabinet‑directed agency created since the Digital Agency in 2021.
The Japanese government announced on Monday the creation of a new Cabinet‑directed body, the National Disaster Management Agency, to coordinate disaster response and drive damage‑reduction initiatives. Kyodo reports the agency is headquartered in Tokyo and will be led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, with Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono serving concurrently as disaster management minister.
Kyodo notes that the ministry’s chief cabinet secretary, Minoru Kihara, said the agency will launch regional hubs by July 2028, with hub locations selected in summer 2027. The hubs will aim to improve sync with local governments for earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and other crises, especially megaquakes potentially along the Japan Trench, the Chishima Trench, the Nankai Trough and beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The agency will have the authority to make recommendations to other ministries and agencies, and ministers whose efforts are “deemed insufficient” will be obliged to comply. Kyodo highlights that the new body will oversee recovery and reconstruction for regions such as the Noto Peninsula, hit by an earthquake in 2024, and Kumamoto Prefecture, affected by a magnitude‑7.1 tremor in July this year.
Kyodo further explains that the agency will treat the increasingly intense floods across the country as a critical issue, following heavy rainfall that caused urban flooding in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo last August.
This launch marks the first agency directly supervised by the Cabinet since the Digital Agency was established in September 2021. The move reflects Japan’s heightened focus on proactive disaster preparedness amid its persistent seismic and meteorological risks.
