Japan revises megaquake plan for Tokyo area

revised megaquake – Japan has revised its decade-long basic plan for a possible powerful earthquake directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area, setting new targets to cut deaths and destroyed or burned buildings to at most half of the December 2025 estimates. The update also pu

Friday’s decision landed with a blunt kind of urgency: Japan is planning again for a quake that would strike directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The government revised its basic plan outlining measures for the next decade. and the numbers it chose are harder to look past. In the revised plan. it aims to reduce the number of deaths and the number of buildings destroyed or burned down due to the earthquake to at least half of the latest estimates released in December 2025—up to 18. 000 deaths and around 400. 000 destroyed or burned buildings.

The shift is not just cosmetic. This is the first revision of the plan since 2015. The earlier target was only “roughly halving” the figures. Now, the government raised the goal to “reducing to half or less,” signaling a tighter bar for how much damage officials want to prevent.

To reach that tighter target. the plan expands the machinery of policy itself: the number of specific policy goals laid out in the plan increases from 47 to 189. including a new emphasis on electrical protection during shaking. The government prioritizes installing seismic circuit breakers—devices that cut off power when tremors are detected—at almost all households in Tokyo and in nine prefectures in and around the Kanto region covered by the plan by fiscal 2035. That is up sharply from 20% in fiscal 2024.

The reason sits at the heart of the revised strategy. The government says about 70% of earthquake-related damage is caused by fires. That’s why the plan’s fire prevention measures are being boosted alongside the focus on keeping power from turning dangerous when the ground moves.

Alongside hardware and infrastructure, the revised plan leans into what households can do before any quake ever arrives. It sets a new public preparedness target for food storage: expand the share of homes that stockpile at least three days’ worth of food from 60% in fiscal 2025 to 100%. It also pushes for a 100% rate of securing furniture.

The plan also adjusts how residents are supposed to think about where safety will come from. With the number of shelters in the Tokyo metropolitan area expected to fall short, it promotes sheltering at home.

For buildings where residents live together, the government introduces a clear expectation for drills: disaster drills should be conducted at least once a year in all condominium buildings.

The revised plan reaches beyond households and apartment blocks, setting goals for companies as well. It aims to achieve completion of business continuity plans by 100% of major firms and 80% of midsize companies.

There is also a harder problem acknowledged directly: what happens to people who may have difficulties returning home after a disaster. The plan includes securing temporary accommodation facilities and providing necessary information for those who try to go home on foot.

Finally, the government builds in a way to keep these promises measurable rather than symbolic. The plan calls for the government to annually track progress against these numerical targets and carry out follow-up measures as the decade moves forward.

Japan megaquake Tokyo Tokyo metropolitan area Kanto region seismic circuit breakers fire prevention disaster drills sheltering at home business continuity plans