Japan Revises Measures for Possible Megaquake in Tokyo Area

Tokyo, June 12 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government on Friday decided to revise its basic plan that outlines measures to be taken over the next decade in preparation for a possible powerful earthquake occurring directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area.

In the revised plan, the government includes a target to reduce the number of deaths and the number of buildings destroyed or burned down due to the earthquake to half or less of the latest estimates, released in December 2025, of up to 18,000 and around 400,000, respectively.

It also sets a goal to install seismic circuit breakers, which cut off power upon sensing tremors, at almost all households in Tokyo and nine prefectures in and around the Kanto eastern Japan region covered by the plan by fiscal 2035, up from 20 pct in fiscal 2024.

This is the first revision of the plan since 2015. The previous plan aimed at “roughly halving” the number of deaths and the number of destroyed or burned buildings. This time, the government raised the target to “reducing to half or less.”

To achieve the new target, the government increased the number of specific policy goals outlined in the plan from 47 to 189, including the target on the installation of seismic circuit breakers. Since about 70 pct of earthquake-related damage is caused by fires, the government aims to boost measures to prevent fires.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]