1. Partial revisions of the Basic Act on Disaster Management

(1) Ensuring smooth and prompt evacuation in the event of disasters

• Unification of evacuation advisories and evacuation orders, etc.

Most people affected by disasters delayed their escape as they did not evacuate at the time an evacuation advisory was issued. In addition, the difference between evacuation “advisory” and “instruction” was not fully understood by the public. In order to eliminate the confusion and cases of delay in evacuation, evacuation “advisories” and “instructions” will be unified as “evacuation instructions” and will be issued from the former stage of “evacuation advisory”.

• Creation of individual evacuation plans

The creation of a list of people requiring evacuation assistance has been widely adopted, with about 99% of municipalities producing such lists. However, many senior citizens are still affected by disasters and challenges remain in ensuring the effectiveness of evacuation. In order for them to be evacuated as smoothly and quickly as possible, the creation of individual evacuation plans became mandatory.

• Establishment of a national disaster management headquarters at the “threat of disaster” stage/ Creation of measures for accepting residents from neighboring communities

(2) Strengthening the system for implementing disaster preparedness

• The head of the Emergency Disaster Response Headquarters will now be the Prime Minister.
• A specific disaster management headquarters headed by the Minister for Disaster Management will be established. The Headquarters shall be set up for disasters that do not reach the level of emergency disasters.
• The Cabinet Crisis Management Officer has been included in the Central Disaster Management Council

2. Partial revisions of the Act for Establishment of the Cabinet Office

The position of Minister for Disaster Management will be made mandatory in the Cabinet Office.

3. Partial revisions of the Disaster Relief Act

The Disaster Relief Act will be applied at the stage where there is a risk that disasters may occur