Japanese, Tokyo Govts Discuss Measures for Mount Fuji Eruption

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Cabinet Office and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday held the first meeting of a council on measures to deal with volcanic ash falling in the Tokyo metropolitan area from Mount Fuji in the event of its eruption.

Council members agreed to discuss, using Tokyo, which has a population of about 14 million, as a model case, how to maintain the functions of infrastructure such as railways, roads and communications networks, and how to secure goods transport systems while allowing people to continue daily lives as much as possible.

The council will set up working groups on issues such as maintaining daily life, providing information to residents and disposing of volcanic ash from Mount Fuji, which straddles Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures in central Japan. Yamanashi borders Tokyo.

After the working groups discuss specific measures, the council will meet again in fiscal 2026, which starts next month.

Members of the council include representatives of the prefectural governments of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, all of which neighbor Tokyo, as well as officials of railway operators, power suppliers and telecommunications carriers.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]