Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

(Abridged)

REPORTER: Regarding your visit today to the Regional Disaster Prevention Base in Tachikawa, can you speak about the intent, contents, and outcomes of your visit?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: Earlier today, I visited the Tachikawa Regional Disaster Prevention Base and the Tachikawa Substitute Facility of the Government Headquarters for Disaster Countermeasures. In the event that there is a serious, abnormal, and catastrophic disaster, such as an epicentral earthquake in Tokyo, the Basic Act on Disaster Control Measures provides for the establishment of an emergency response headquarters, and the Tachikawa facility is fourth in line. The first is the center of the Prime Minister's Office, second is the Cabinet Office Building No. 5, third is the Ministry of Defense facility in Ichigaya, and Tachikawa is the fourth. There are concerns about an epicentral earthquake occurring in the future as pointed out by experts, and we recognize that taking countermeasures are critical. In that sense too, I felt that there was a need to observe the Tachikawa Substitute Facility at an early date and have an understanding of the situation. That is why I visited the facility. Since the facility is fourth in line, I pray that I will not ever be going there. However, in the event of an emergency, I believe a variety of functions will be necessary. My understanding is that the Tachikawa Facility possesses the minimum necessary functions to serve as a substitute facility of the Headquarters for Disaster Countermeasures in all aspects, including information processing and communication functions, material and equipment arrangement functions, and supply stockpiling functions. On the other hand, in the sense of taking all possible measures to ensure the facility's disaster countermeasures functions, I believe there are a couple of points for improvement. For example, regarding the information processing function, I sensed that the equipment was getting a little old -- as advancements are made truly constantly. Also, practical drills including the installation of equipment have hardly been conducted to date. On Disaster Prevention Day on September 1, I believe a drill was conducted for relocating the Tachikawa facility. However, no major drills for actually relocating the headquarters to the Tachikawa facility have ever been conducted, and this is something we may need to do. Additionally, I believe the emergency electricity supply is a little insufficient. A power generator capable of producing 1,000KVA of electricity is supposed to last around one week. However, this may not be sufficient. Also, no simulations have yet been conducted for the method of assembling the necessary personnel in these situations and so forth, and this, too, may be something that is necessary moving forward.

REPORTER: How and by when do you expect to make these improvements?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I believe respective instructions will be given out and then considerations will begin to be made for implementing these improvements. Equipment, etc., however, will also need to take the budget into consideration.

(Abridged)