Japan to Strengthen Construction of "Emergency Shelters" for Armed Attacks
According to Japanese media, in order to ensure "emergency temporary shelters" (emergency shelters) that can serve as refuge in the event of an armed attack by another country, the Japanese government will draft a new basic policy outline. The outline has now been disclosed. The core of the draft is to further utilize underground facilities, which are safer than ground-level buildings. Given the situation such as North Korea's nuclear and missile development and the worsening situation in Iran, Japan is accelerating the improvement of its system to deal with sudden situations.
The establishment of emergency shelters is based on the "National Protection Law." To protect against threats such as shock waves from missile attacks, the Japanese government requires each prefecture to designate sturdy facilities that can accommodate people for 1 to 2 hours. As of April last year, there were a total of 61,142 such facilities nationwide, of which only 4,233 were underground facilities, accounting for about 7%. Public facilities such as schools and government offices accounted for about 90% of the total, and ensuring civilian underground shelter resources has become a current issue.
To this end, the draft policy explicitly proposes to include private facilities such as subway stations, underground shopping streets, and underground parking lots in the category of emergency shelters. To obtain the cooperation of relevant operating companies, the draft also lists specific measures, including relaxing floor area ratio regulations for large buildings and establishing a commendation system, among others.
Additionally, regarding the per capita coverage rate of emergency shelters, it will be adjusted from the previous prefecture level to the more accessible municipal, town, and village level, and a goal of 100% coverage across all cities, towns, and villages will be set.
Urban areas, where office workers and students gather, experience a significant increase in daytime population. The coverage rate of shelters calculated based on the daytime population is less than 50% in areas such as Minato Ward, Shibuya Ward, and Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo. Local residents have expressed strong calls for setting up underground facilities as shelters.
Japan's government is accelerating the construction of emergency shelters mainly due to concerns over the rapid military buildup of China and the frequent missile launches by North Korea. Starting February 28, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and related reports showed that civilians in the Middle East rushed into shelters to avoid missile attacks, including retaliatory actions by Iran.
Japan will also promote information coordination with civilian disaster prevention apps to improve awareness of emergency shelters, ensuring that residents can quickly take shelter when an emergency occurs. At the same time, referencing measures taken by countries such as Israel, the government will start research on shelters capable of withstanding nuclear attacks.
The Japanese government plans to finalize this basic policy outline at a cabinet meeting this month.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1860317921254602/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.