15 Whitehall office
Plans for Disaster Preparedness
On 5 February, we held a seminar focused on disaster preparedness, inviting officials from the City of Kobe, which experienced devastating damage in a major earthquake 31 years ago. They presented the measures the city has implemented in the years since, drawing directly on lessons learned from that disaster. This included initiatives to raise public awareness and sustained investment in infrastructure to enable a rapid and effective response when disasters occur.
I was reminded of a well-known observation by the famous Japanese scholar Torahiko Terada that “natural disasters strike when we have forgotten them”. It underscored the importance of maintaining long-term commitment to disaster preparedness. In practice, this means not only continued financial investment but also recognising the multifaceted nature of resilience. This includes building trust between citizens and public authorities through ongoing engagement, as well as developing infrastructure that serves multiple functions in both everyday use and emergency situations.
We also received a range of insightful comments from UK participants. While the types of disasters faced in the UK and Japan differ, there was clear value in mutual learning. In the UK context, it is standard practice to establish comprehensive plans in advance that define roles and responsibilities across local authorities and partner organisations, ensuring coordinated responses during emergencies. As the focus was on local resilience, the content of the seminar did not include discussion of how things are arranged at the national level in Japan, perhaps resulting in some participants questioning whether comparable frameworks exist in Japan, so it may be helpful to clarify this point.
In Japan, disaster preparedness is underpinned by the Basic Act on Disaster Management. Under this framework, the national government formulates a Basic Disaster Prevention Plan, which is then used by prefectures and municipalities to develop regional plans tailored to local conditions. For example, Kobe City’s Regional Disaster Prevention Plan integrates common measures across different types of disasters, while also setting out specific responses for scenarios such as earthquakes and tsunamis, wind and flood damage, and large-scale accidents.
Importantly, this plan is reviewed annually by the Kobe City Disaster Prevention Council, which brings together lifeline operators and subject-matter experts. Through this process, stakeholders regularly reaffirm their roles, share updated information, and ensure that the plan evolves in line with emerging risks and lessons learned.
Overall, while there are clear commonalities between the UK and Japanese approaches, each system also has distinct strengths. Identifying elements of UK practice that have proven particularly effective and exploring how these might be adapted within the Japanese context, represents a valuable next step. To that end, further efforts to gather detailed, practical examples will be important.
Akira Matsutani, Director-General JLGC London (translated by Keith Kelly, Head of Public Affairs and Communications)
