Japan’s new disaster agency aims to streamline response, but challenges remain

Japan’s new disaster management agency, which launches Monday, will lead the nation’s preparations for, and response to, major natural disasters. But questions remain over how effective it will be in practice. The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) is designed to function as a centralized control tower to direct disaster preparedness and response efforts by boosting coordination across ministries and local governments, particularly in the event of a major disaster in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

One of the NDMA’s key powers will be the ability to issue directives to ministries and agencies. However, there are no legal penalties for failing to follow them.