Tag - disaster-preparedness

 
 

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

A person walks among the giant columns supporting the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Saitama Prefecture.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 20, 2024
Tokyo underground: The city beneath our feet
Join us this week on Deep Dive as we discuss with Alex K.T. Martin the expansive subterranean world of Tokyo’s ever-changing underground.
Internal affairs minister Takeaki Matsumoto bows after a bill to revise the local autonomy law was approved at a plenary meeting of the Upper House on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 19, 2024
Japan enacts bill for emergency state power over local governments
The purpose is to make sure that Japan can respond quickly to incidents not presupposed by existing laws.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting on the restoration of quake-hit areas on the Noto Peninsula, held at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2024
Government team calls for preparations for smooth disaster relief
A report from the team has requested cooperation with the private sector to smooth the way for transportation of relief goods.
Takashi Tonegawa, a senior researcher at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2024
Japanese agency observes tsunami with submarine optical cable
The cable extends some 100 kilometers southward from an area near Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture.
Digital transformation minister Taro Kono says the government plans to use My Number ID cards to track the evacuation status of disaster victims.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024
Japan to utilize My Number cards at evacuation centers
"We want to facilitate the response of local governments and residents in the event of a disaster," digital transformation minister Taro Kono said.
Support staff dispatched by power firms work to restore electrical equipment in an area hit by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 4, 2024
Major Japan power firms boost cooperation on disaster response
The electric power sector has established a framework to streamline the dispatch of support personnel and facilitate mutual aid to cover restoration expenses.
The view from the top of one of the five 70-meter-deep shafts spread across the tunnel system of the ¥230 billion Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 3, 2024
Tokyo underground: Exploring what lies beneath the world’s largest city
Tokyo has developed a massive network of underground infrastructure to support its population, a system being put to the test by extreme weather.
Hiroaki Okano, a resident in the town of Uchinada, Ishikawa Prefecture, explains how his home shifted sideways by about a meter as a result of the 7.6-magnitude quake that hit Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 2, 2024
Liquefaction-hit Ishikawa town's future unclear, five months after quake
Around 3,500 cases of liquefaction damage from the 7.6 magnitude quake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1 have been confirmed.
A bill to revise the local autonomy law clears the Lower House on Thursday.
JAPAN
May 30, 2024
Japan's Lower House passes bill for state power in emergencies
The revision is aimed at enabling swift responses for ensuring citizens' safety.
Members of the Self-Defense Forces are dispatched to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in January after a massive quake. The SDF will conduct a week-long quake drill in Hokkaido starting Monday.
JAPAN
May 19, 2024
Japan SDF to conduct drill for quake in Pacific trenches
The drill includes about 12,000 SDF members, U.S. troops in Japan and Australian military personnel and the Hokkaido prefectural government.
Work is underway to restore water supply pipes in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, in February.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 16, 2024
Japan centralizes water supply and sewage administration
The infrastructure ministry aims to advance integrated initiatives covering both water supply and sewage systems in addressing aging infrastructure.
Residents who sought to stop the restart of the No. 2 reactor of the Shimane nuclear power plant hold up signs saying "The judiciary abandoned residents" and "Our voices did not reach it" on Wednesday in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, after a court dismissed their petition.
JAPAN
May 15, 2024
Court rejects petition to halt Shimane nuclear reactor
The court also dismissed residents' claim that evacuation plans for the 820,000-kilowatt unit in the prefectural capital of Matsue were inadequate.
A container was used as a temporary toilet facility at a roadside station in Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, in January after the Noto Peninsula earthquake.
JAPAN
May 9, 2024
High-tech containers provide relief to quake-hit Noto areas
The land ministry is advocating the use of these containers to enhance the disaster-relief capabilities of roadside stations.
Lin Ruei, 17, co-founder of Exptech and Disaster Prevention Information Platform app (DPIP), poses for a photo in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on April 29.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 3, 2024
Quake warning app demand surges in earthquake-rattled Taiwan
Official earthquake apps' patchiness and the demand for better alerts have boosted the popularity of privately-developed quake warning apps.
Smokestacks at an Israel Electric Corp power station are seen from the Mediterranean, about 10 kilometers from the coastal Israeli city of Hadera, in 2014.
WORLD
May 2, 2024
Could Israel keep the lights on and water running during regional war?
Israel's energy minister says blackouts and disruptions are unlikely in the country in the case of a multifront war.
Children give a presentation on volcano studies during a workshop at Tairadate Elementary School in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, in February.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 29, 2024
Raising awareness over Mount Iwate eruption urged as memories fade
Interest in preparing for possible volcanic eruptions is difficult to muster in a nation prone to other natural disasters.
A monument for the Great Kanto Earthquake on the premises of the education ministry in Tokyo
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2024
Use of disaster monument symbols expanding five years after launch
As of March, the number of these symbols put on maps maintained by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan has surpassed 2,000 nationwide.
Residents of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, collect supplies in the aftermath of the Jan. 1 earthquake. When it comes to preparing for and responding to disasters in Japan, the specific needs of women are still not being sufficiently met. One way to fix this would be to increase the number of women involved in the area of disaster prevention.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2024
Women’s needs in disasters are still not accounted for
In Japan, women's needs in disaster situations are not being sufficiently met, as the Ishikawa earthquake shows, partly due to poor female representation.
Noto Airport in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2024
Japan to revise guidelines for airport operators in times of disaster
The BCP revisions come on the heels of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.
Workers on Thursday inspect a building damaged by an earthquake a day earlier in Hualien, Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 5, 2024
Resilient Taiwan responded fast to earthquake after years honing skills
While past temblors have provided lessons for strengthening coordination, the potential for an attack from China also keeps the island on its toes.

Longform

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