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On November 12, the DPJ submitted a “basic bill for measures to prevent and reduce disasters in order to increase people’s resilience” as a counterproposal to the ruling parties’ proposed “Bill for strengthening the resilience of the nation”. The proposal was submitted by Acting Secretary General Masaharu Nakagawa, who was accompanied by Taizo Mikazuki, Director of the Special Committee on Disasters in the House of Representatives, who had been central in drafting the DPJ bill, along with DPJ members of the House of Representatives Izumi Yoshida and Kazuko Koori.
In contrast to the ruling parties’ proposal, the DPJ proposal’s is characterized by the following: clearly indicating the need for maintain fiscal discipline and establishing facilities’ order of priority and importance, from the perspective of restoring fiscal health; clearly stating that speedy and appropriate rescue activities should be implemented within 72 hours of the outbreak of the disaster, based on the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake; establishing detailed regulations for revamping the organizational structure; and establishing vulnerability assessment checks, something not included in the ruling party proposal. The DPJ proposal is to be debated in the Special Committee on Disasters.
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