The Japan Designated Cities Mayors Association (JDCMA) Action Plan

The JDCMA formulated its action plan in 2013 as a framework by which designated cities can work closely together and as a unified body to provide support for disaster-stricken areas. Based largely on experiences from the Great East Japan Earthquake, we hope that this plan will allow designated cities to utilize their “comprehensive strength as a major city” and “disaster response capabilities as a basic local government.”

1. The JDCMA Action Plan for Wide-Area and Large-Scale Disasters (Action Plan)

The Action Plan stipulates that designated cities—with their comprehensive strengths as basic municipalities—will work in close cooperation to support disaster areas, particularly during emergency and recovery periods when urgent support is required, such as in the event of an earthquake with an intensity of Six low or more on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, the announcement of heavy rain emergency warnings, or other equivalent disasters (such as a wide-area, large-scale disaster caused by a typhoon or the rainy season front).

2. Application of the Action Plan and Support for Affected Local Governments

Based on the information gathered from the affected area block by the city in charge, the chair of the JDCMA will initiate the Action Plan if it is judged necessary in light of the difficulty for the prefecture and neighboring municipalities to provide sufficient support with consideration for the scope and scale of the disaster.

If the Action Plan is enacted, based on the scale of damages and the needs of the affected municipality, each designated city will provide support through a counterpart system (allocating a specific municipality as a partner of an affected municipality) for the affected municipalities in coordination with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications the National Governors' Association.