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On June 18, 2018, Prime Minister Abe attended a meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Earthquake centered in Northern Osaka Prefecture.
 
The Prime Minister said in his opening address,
 
“The large-scale earthquake that occurred early this morning, whose epicenter is in northern Osaka Prefecture has caused widespread damage, such as the fatalities of three people, including a young child and elderly people. I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to those who lost their lives, and my sympathies to everyone affected by the earthquake, including those injured.
 
Up to this point, the Government has been working as one, collecting and disseminating information as well as undertaking rescue and relief activities. While we received a report that power outages have already been resolved, lifelines that remain damaged include stoppages of gas service in more than 100,000 households and cut-off water supply in a wide area. I would like to continue to make every effort to restore lifelines such as public transportation, gas, and water supply with support from all across Japan.
 
There might be a possibility that additional human causalities become apparent and we suddenly need to secure shelters and supply water and other daily essentials. It is important to deal with the situation proactively. . Please immediately identify evacuation centers which have been opened and their needs related to daily essentials such as food and daily goods, as well as implement necessary measures, including the provision of push-mode support.
 
Furthermore, there has been a case where a young child lost her life because of a concrete-block wall collapsing at an elementary school. I want all of you to take all necessary measures to secure the safety of schools when disasters occur.
 
I ask all relevant ministers to take leads in your designated positions and roles to take all possible disaster response measures, closely working with the affected municipalities under our policy of putting people’s lives first.”