12th Meeting of the Headquarters for Supporting Recovery and Reconstruction from the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake

On February 28, 2025, Prime Minister Ishiba held the 12th meeting of the headquarters for supporting recovery and reconstruction from the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants engaged in discussions on efforts toward recovery and reconstruction from the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and other matters.

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said:

“Ishikawa Prefecture positions this year as the ‘first year of reconstruction,’ and the Government, on its part, will work as one to engage in the rebuilding of the lives and livelihoods of the people and the creative reconstruction of the affected areas, in order to restore a vibrant townscape before the disaster and bring back smiles to the people.

In the previous extraordinary Diet session, it was decided that 100 billion yen of the remaining general reserve funds for the fiscal 2024 budget would be earmarked for expenses necessary for recovery and reconstruction, such as the rebuilding of the lives and livelihoods of those in the Noto region affected by the earthquake and heavy rains that hit the region in a row.

We have received a request from Governor of Ishikawa Prefecture that the disbursement of these reserve funds take the form of support through government subsidies, in order to enable flexible and agile spending of the funds to push ahead with creative reconstruction of the Noto region.

Based on the request, we will approve the use of reserve funds worth 106.8 billion yen in total in a Cabinet meeting today, including Subsidies for Supporting Creative Reconstruction of the Noto Region to be newly established.

With these funds, we will newly create Subsidies for Supporting Creative Reconstruction of the Noto Region and allocate 50 billion yen to the scheme. The Noto region has been particularly affected by an aging and decreasing population and has a geographical characteristic as a peninsula. At the same time, the region has suffered extensive damage from a series of disasters caused by the earthquake and heavy rains. In light of these circumstances, we have designed the grant program to give more leeway by setting a higher subsidy rate as an exception, in order to take measures necessary for creative reconstruction of the Noto region in a flexible and agile manner.

I ask Minister Sakai to play a central role in utilizing this subsidy program to rebuild the landscape and townscape of the Noto region and support initiatives by Ishikawa Prefectures and municipalities, so that the creative reconstruction of the Noto region will serve as a model case for reconstruction in local areas of the country.

With regard to publicly-funded demolition, please continue to steadily proceed with the work in accordance with the acceleration plan revised by Ishikawa Prefecture at the end of January, with the aim of completing it by October this year.

When it comes to the recovery of infrastructure and other facilities, I ask you to promptly implement emergency responses with an eye on this year’s flood season, especially for the rivers and landslide-affected areas hit by last September’s torrential rains, and vigorously carry out measures to support creative reconstruction, such as developing National Route No. 249 and other roads that run along the coast of the peninsula as the ‘Noto Hanto Zekkei Kaido [Noto Peninsula Scenic Sea Road]’ and securing storage sites for dredged soil to facilitate the relocation and consolidation plan for fishing facilities of the Port of Wajima for rebuilding livelihoods.

In regard to the release of crested ibises into the wild in the Noto region, a leading creative reconstruction project by Ishikawa Prefecture, I request that vigorous support be provided for the prefecture toward the implementation of the project in the first half year of FY2026, so that it would give hope to the people in the disaster-hit areas.

We will continue to listen to the voices of the disaster victims and do everything in our power to make concerted efforts across the Government toward the recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas.”