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On September 7, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting of the Ministerial Council on the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
The Prime Minister said in his opening address,
 
“The recent earthquake has claimed the lives of 16 people to date. We have confirmed many people with serious and minor injuries along with the collapses of building and landslides. I pray for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives and I extend my condolences to everyone who has been affected by the disaster.
 
Even now the safety of 26 people is unaccounted for in and around Atsuma Town. At this stage, rescue units with a total of 22,000 personnel are tirelessly implementing rescue and relief operations throughout the night. We will continue to flexibly strengthen our efforts further and make every endeavor to save people’s lives.
 
With regard to the power outage, as of now power supply has been restored to 1.4 million homes, or roughly half of all homes in Hokkaido, thanks to the steadfast restoration work that has been carried out all through the night, the cooperation through non-utility power generation by private companies in Hokkaido, and power interchange from Honshu (the main island). With the restoration of power, water supply has been also resumed to 4,000 homes. In addition, we expect otherservices to steadily reopen such as transportation infrastructure including New Chitose Airport and gas stations. Our thoughts are with those who are affected and forced to spend the night in the dark feeling uneasy. Today, I would like to ask everyone to continue to exert every effort, including resuming the operation of thermal power stations, in order to ensure that power can be supplied to as many households as possible at the earliest possible point. Please make sure that power remains distributed to critical facilities such as hospitals. I would like to ask for the continued cooperation to conserve electricity in areas where the power supply has been restored  so that power can be supplied to as many people as possible.
 
Amidst the ongoing power outage and suspension of water supply, many people are spending their time anxiously at evacuation centers and elsewhere. I ask everyone to coordinate closely with the affected municipalities and relevant entities to implement push-mode support to provide supplies that are needed, including food and other daily essentials. Please proactively implement measures in advance, including securing the necessary personnel to engage in disaster response and supporting the early recovery of lifelines.
 
Rainfall is expected in the affected areas from this afternoon through tomorrow morning. Buildings could collapse, and landslide disasters could occur. I would like to ask the people of Hokkaido to continue to be on alert for earthquake activities and the weather.”