Japan launches National Disaster Management Agency under Takaichi

Key facts

• The agency will set up regional hubs to coordinate with local governments on disasters, including potential megaquakes.
• Hub locations will be chosen in summer 2027 and the hubs will open by July 2028, the government said.
• The disaster management minister can issue recommendations to other ministries, which must respect them if their efforts are deemed insufficient.
• The agency will handle recovery and reconstruction starting from the Noto Peninsula and Kumamoto Prefecture.
• It is the first agency directly under Cabinet supervision since the Digital Agency was established in September 2021.

Japan's government launched the National Disaster Management Agency on Monday, November 2, 2026, creating a body to oversee disaster response and prepare damage reduction measures in a country exposed to earthquakes, torrential downpours and volcanic eruptions. The agency is headquartered in Tokyo.

The agency will establish regional hubs to improve coordination with local governments on disasters, including potential megaquakes along the Japan Trench, the Chishima Trench and the Nankai Trough, and directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area. Hub locations will be selected in summer 2027 and the hubs will open by July 2028.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi heads the agency. Reconstruction Minister Goshi Hosono will serve concurrently as disaster management minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference on Monday. The disaster management minister will have authority to make recommendations to other ministries and agencies, and those judged to have made insufficient efforts will be obliged to respect them.

The government said a key challenge will be expanding support to municipalities with limited budgets and poor access to disaster management experts. Megaquakes along the Nankai Trough, which stretches southwest off the Pacific coast of central Japan, or in the Tokyo metropolitan area are expected to produce large numbers of evacuees, requiring better shelters and measures to reduce disaster-related deaths.

The agency will also handle recovery and reconstruction of disaster-hit regions starting from the Noto Peninsula, struck by an earthquake in 2024, and Kumamoto Prefecture, which experienced a magnitude 7.1 temblor in July 2026. It will treat increasingly intense floods as a critical issue, following heavy rainfall in Chiba prefecture in August 2026 that caused urban flooding. The launch is the first of an agency directly under Cabinet supervision since the Digital Agency was established in September 2021.