The following editorial appeared in Thursday’s Yomiuri Shimbun:
The threat posed by North Korea is growing. Every possible effort should be made to ensure the safety of people living in Japan in preparation for unexpected contingencies.
The government and concerned local authorities have conducted Japan’s first evacuation exercise for local residents in Oga, Akita Prefecture, based on the premise that a foreign nation had launched a ballistic missile.
Using a scenario in which a missile came down in the sea off the Oga Peninsula, the government relayed news of the launch to the city via the J-Alert nationwide emergency warning system. The city then called on residents to evacuate by messages sent through email and a wireless public address system.
About 100 people hurried to a nearby gymnasium and a community center. It is said that a North Korean missile would reach Japan in about 10 minutes, but the evacuation was completed in about seven minutes.
The best way to avoid damage caused by a missile is to make every effort to quickly take shelter inside a strong building. Widely sharing awareness of this point is essential.
The exercise was smoothly carried out because the residents were waiting near the evacuation shelters. Looking ahead, evacuation exercises based on more realistic scenarios should be repeated. This would lead to the crafting of a system in which responding flexibly to unexpected contingencies is possible.
The exercise was arranged following North Korea’s launch of a missile that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone off Akita Prefecture’s coast in August 2016. However, in 1998, North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew over the Tohoku region and came down in the Pacific Ocean. Wasn’t this evacuation drill rather too late to come about?
Take more precautions
North Korea’s Scud-ER (extended range) missiles can reach western Japan, and most of Japan is within range of its Rodong missiles. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government would urge local authorities to conduct similar evacuation drills. From the perspective of crisis management, this awareness of the problem is completely natural.
As North Korea launched four missiles that fell on the sea off the Noto Peninsula early this month, it referred to “an attack on U.S. military bases in Japan.” There are mounting fears North Korea could fit a miniaturized nuclear weapon on its missiles.
It is important that the government carefully explains to the public about this “new phase of the threat” presented by North Korea.
Supposing a missile directly struck Tokyo or Osaka, what level of human casualties would be caused? The government must consider measures in advance on the assumption there will be various degrees of damage – including the worst-case scenario in which the missile is fitted with a weapon of mass destruction.
Almost every local government has settled on civilian evacuation plans based on the civil protection law that was enacted in 2004. These plans broadly define how each local government will evacuate and rescue its residents in the event of a terrorist or military attack.
However, drills conducted by prefectural governments have been limited to terrorism-based scenarios. They need to turn their eyes to handling all emergencies, not just steps to counter a terrorist attack.
The government provides detailed information, both on websites and in booklets, about how the people can protect themselves in emergencies, but this is not generally known. The government must make sure the people are thoroughly familiarized with this information.
(c) 2017, The Japan News/Yomiuri ยท No Author
