The National Disaster Management Agency should play a key role in building institutional expertise and developing specialized personnel for disaster preparedness and responses, former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said. The country needs to make the agency “capable of accumulating and passing on knowledge and experience” of disaster management, Ishiba, who advocated its creation, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press. The Cabinet Office’s disaster management section, the predecessor of the new agency, was staffed by officials seconded from multiple agencies who typically rotate every two years.
This system did not allow officials to accumulate or pass on knowledge or experience, Ishiba said. He called for enhanced training for local government leaders and officials to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts at a planned disaster management academy. Ishiba criticized Japan’s disaster response system.
To improve conditions at evacuation centers, Ishiba called for systematic stockpiling of emergency toilets, cooking facilities and beds as well as better organization of volunteer activities.
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