Major Cities to Be Authorized to Deliver Disaster Relief Aid

June 8, 2018

Tokyo- The Diet, Japan's parliament, enacted legislation on Friday to enable the transfer of authority to develop temporary housing and distribute relief goods from prefectures to major cities.

The House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, passed the bill to revise the disaster relief law unanimously at a plenary meeting the same day. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber, passed it in May.

The transfer of authority for such disaster relief activities to major cities is aimed at allowing prefectural governments to focus on support for smaller municipalities and help speed up rescues of disaster-affected people.

Under the law, which will come into force in April 2019, the central government will be able to designate and authorize major cities to offer 10 kinds of disaster relief activities, including setting up shelters, emergency repairs of housing and medical treatment.

When making the designation, the central government will take into account disaster management systems and financial conditions of major cities and listen to the opinions of prefectural governors.

When providing disaster relief goods, governors will work to avoid creating any gaps between designated cities and other municipalities.

Mayors of major cities demanded a revision of the law for the transfer of disaster relief-related authority, but governors opposed to the reform due to worries about confusion in the chain of command and possible delays in rescue activities. Jiji Press