A General View of Japanese Disaster Prevention System

Abstract

In Japan, disaster prevention and preparedness from an armed attack are distinguished in the emergency preparedness system. The latter is authorized by the law, Kokumin Hogo Hou (the Civil Protection Law). Its goal is to implement an appropriate and timely response if an armed attack was to occur. By enacting this law in 2004, the national government began to foster local emergency preparedness. However, the public's greatest concern is with natural disasters rather than an armed attack. In Japan, the number of active volcanoes is 7.1% of the world total and the number of the earthquakes over a magnitude of 6.0 is 20.5%. The number of deaths by earthquake represents 0.5% of the world but the economic damage is 16.0%. Furthermore, there is no comprehensive concept such as the all-hazard approach in Japan. The main discussion area in Public Safety from a perspective of natural disaster measures is called Bousai, that is, Disaster Prevention. Therefore, we could not discuss Japanese Disaster Preparedness in the context of Emergency Management. This paper describes such the present Japanese Disaster Prevention System.