Japan’s space agency to advance earthquake damage estimation programme

TOKYO: Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has signed an agreement with Kumamoto Prefecture to further develop a programme that estimates building damage caused by earthquakes using satellite imagery, local media reported Friday. Under the partnership, JAXA will utilise approximately 200,000 data points on building damage from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake to refine and enhance the accuracy of its technology, which is expected to be deployed nationwide, Kyodo News reported.

The programme will compare satellite images taken before and after an earthquake to assess the extent of structural damage within 2-3 hours of observation.

The programme can function effectively during nighttime and adverse weather conditions, according to the report.

JAXA anticipated the programme will be operational within a few years.

Last month, Japanese media reported that the Cabinet Office's disaster management division plans to assign designated officers to each prefecture starting next fiscal year as a preparation for possible major disasters such as a Nankai Trough mega quake or a Tokyo metropolitan earthquake.

The Cabinet Office is moving forward with plans to deploy approximately 50 officers across prefectures to focus on promoting stockpile management and volunteer collaboration in normal times while taking charge of assessing damage and organising evacuation shelters during disasters, Xinhua news agency reported.

To support the initiative, the Cabinet Office plans to double its current staff of 110 and seek a corresponding increase in its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, according to national broadcaster NHK, citing interviews with government officials.

The latest initiative is part of the broader goal of establishing a "Disaster Management Agency" by fiscal year 2026.

Recent disasters, such as the Noto Peninsula earthquake, revealed challenges such as limited supplies in municipal stockpiles and delays in setting up evacuation shelters in Japan.

The Japanese government has an emergency broadcasting system called 'J-Alert.'. This system ensures that critical information reaches people in affected regions during various crisis, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, civil protection, and more. J-Alert employs various methods to communicate with the public. (IANS)

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