Barely more than 10% of municipalities in Japan have created evacuation plans for individual elderly and disabled persons

Extract from NHK

June 21 2025

JAPAN – Individual evacuation plans are plans that determine in advance where and how elderly and disabled people who have difficulty evacuating on their own will evacuate in the event of a disaster. It has been four years since municipalities became obligated to create individual evacuation plans, but a national summary has revealed that only just over 10% of municipalities have created plans for most of the residents who are eligible.

It has been a legal obligation for all municipalities for the past four years.

The national government has compiled a summary of the status of evacuation plans as of April 1st of this year, and only 253 municipalities, or 14.5% of the total, have created plans for most of the residents who are eligible.

The number of municipalities that are creating evacuation plans is gradually increasing, and the national government believes that the response is progressing in response to the Noto Peninsula earthquake.

However, 920 municipalities, or 52.8%, had formulated plans for less than 20% of eligible residents, highlighting the slow progress of efforts.

Additionally, as of April, 50 municipalities had not created any plans at all, with officials saying they “did not have enough manpower or budget.”

The national government aims to reduce the number of municipalities that have not created plans to zero by the end of this fiscal year, and plans to provide support by, for example, dispatching local government officials with know-how in creating individual evacuation plans.