Takaichi’s Inspection and Response to 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake

From the air over Mashiki Town, Kashima Town, Mifune Town, Kumamoto City, Uki City, Hikawa Town, Yatsushiro City, and Uto City, Prime Minister Takaichi inspected damage to public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and ports, as well as damage affecting businesses. She then visited an evacuation center in Hikawa Town, directly hearing from affected residents about evacuation conditions and concerns about the lives of younger generations. During an exchange of views with Governor Kimura, she received requests for further support for evacuation centers and financial assistance.

Regarding the timing of the inspection, the prime minister explained that rescue and lifesaving operations were given priority immediately after the disaster, and that she had refrained from entering the affected areas too early because doing so, including the security arrangements, could burden field operations and obstruct the initial response. After receiving a report that rescue operations had reached a certain stage, she visited to personally assess the damage and the conditions of evacuation under extreme heat and to address future measures. Hikawa Town was selected because a maximum seismic intensity of 7 was recorded there, extensive building damage was reported, and many people were still evacuating.

The government stated that it would rapidly and intensively advance push-type supplies, support for rescue operations conducted by prefectures, and disaster recovery including emergency restoration. It will take the necessary budgetary measures so that affected local governments can respond to emergencies and recovery efforts without hesitation over finances. The prime minister also said she had heard that seismic retrofitting had advanced after the previous Kumamoto Earthquake and that no houses had collapsed this time, and expressed a desire to promote nationwide seismic retrofitting and furniture anchoring efforts.

Designation as a specific extraordinary disaster will enable measures such as extending the validity periods of driver’s licenses and restaurant business permits from July 28, 2026, the date of the disaster.

An advance payment of ordinary local allocation tax totaling 61.6 billion yen has already been decided for affected local governments. The government will provide the necessary budgetary support and urged local governments to make every effort in emergency and recovery responses without hesitation over finances.

The PFI vessel Hakuo II will arrive at Yatsushiro Port tomorrow, expanding bathing, accommodation, and meal assistance and providing medical care in part of the vessel.

To make disaster recovery faster and more robust, the government said the Cabinet would approve tomorrow the use of reserve funds exceeding 20 billion yen and secure the necessary budget. For the extremely severe disaster program, disaster recovery projects for public civil-engineering facilities and farmland are currently expected to receive the full-scale designation, and the government will provide maximum support for local recovery projects. Local governments and relevant ministries are examining the extent of damage to small and medium-sized enterprises; national officials will be dispatched to accelerate the surveys, followed by an appropriate response based on the designation criteria.

Although electricity has been restored, the government said it would proceed rapidly and carefully, including restoring equipment inside individual homes. For water services, it plans to maintain uninterrupted supplies to evacuation centers and welfare and medical institutions and to present a restoration outlook by the end of this week. The government will strengthen water-supply arrangements, request cooperative dispatches of water and sewerage technical staff from local governments nationwide, and promote those efforts.

For gasoline and other fuel oil, the government has established a supply capacity four times that of normal times. By yesterday, more than 80% of gas stations in the three municipalities most heavily affected, Yatsushiro City, Uki City, and Hikawa Town, had already resumed operations. The government also expressed its intention to support the reopening of gas stations and eliminate concerns about obtaining fuel in the affected areas.

Regarding the provision of temporary housing, evacuation to hotels and inns began yesterday. Starting today, the 3rd, construction of prefabricated emergency housing began in Uki City and Hikawa Town. The government will work with local authorities to provide safe housing promptly so that affected people can live with peace of mind. During questions, the prime minister said that evacuation to hotels and inns had also begun in Uto City and called on people to use the arrangements.

Six days have passed since the disaster, and difficult evacuation conditions continue under severe heat, both mentally and physically. Police and firefighters are strengthening patrols of evacuation centers and people sleeping in their vehicles. In addition to taking necessary measures, including publicizing heatstroke prevention, authorities are concerned about crimes taking advantage of the earthquake, such as burglaries. Special mobile patrol units and riot police from prefectural police forces have entered the affected prefectures, strengthening the security and patrol system.

Kumamoto Prefecture announced the previous day that it had confirmed one person who might have died a disaster-related death. The prime minister said she took this seriously and that it was necessary to accelerate, in cooperation with relevant organizations including local governments, efforts to secure favorable living conditions for evacuees through cooling and water supplies, rapidly restore infrastructure such as water services, and provide outreach-based health, medical, and welfare support, including for people sheltering at home or sleeping in their vehicles.

The Disaster Management Agency will be established this year and will serve as the command center for disaster response. The prime minister expressed the view that, to protect the lives of people who avoided direct death from earthquakes, the government should coordinate forcefully as one from immediately after a disaster, while advancing preparations and public awareness alongside the agency’s establishment. To strengthen response capabilities in midsummer and midwinter, the government will work with relevant ministries to prepare air conditioners, portable coolers, heaters, power-supply vehicles, and emergency power sources, and build a system for rapidly providing them where needed.

The prime minister said that the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake caused enormous damage to roads, ports, water services, farmland, and other assets. She stated that the government would respond continuously so that people could return to their former lives as soon as possible and would make every effort as one government to address the current earthquake response and support the rebuilding of affected people’s lives and livelihoods.