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On July 10, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the third meeting of the Emergency Response Headquarters for the Heavy Rain in July 2018 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
The Prime Minister said in his opening address,
 
“Over 140 people are now dead or missing from the recent heavy rains. The Government continues to exert every effort to search for the large number of people whose safety has not been confirmed.
 
Yesterday, I dispatched a Government assessment team to Okayama Prefecture and Hiroshima Prefecture and received from the head of the team, Minister of State for Disaster Management Okonogi, a detailed report on the situation in the affected areas.
 
Many roads have been forced to close in the affected areas, but we are doing all we can to eliminate obstacles on the roads, while also taking various measures, including the use of delivery vehicles for convenience stores and others as emergency vehicles, in order to speed up the transportation of relief supplies and recovery work. Furthermore, in response to the widespread disruption of water supplies, the Self-Defense Forces are currently providing water and bathing support in Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture, Kurashiki City in Okayama Prefecture, and other areas. At the same time, with the cooperation of water utility companies, the public and private sectors are working as one and exerting every effort towards early recovery.
 
Amidst the rising heat, many people have been forced into leading physically and mentally challenging lives as evacuees. In view of this, we are ramping up efforts to procure the needed emergency relief supplies such as water, food, air conditioners, and temporary toilets. Moreover, the Government will formulate budgetary measures to further strengthen the push-mode support that we have decided to implement. We will allocate a contingency fund for that purpose. With this, we will accelerate the provision of emergency support to the people affected.
 
Through the Team to Support the Daily Lives of Disaster Victims established yesterday, the Government and municipalities will work as one to swiftly advance the recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas.
 
I ask all of you to devote every effort to responding to this emergency, while continuing to cooperate closely with the affected municipalities and paying close attention to those affected as well as swiftly identifying the details of the needs in the affected areas.”