WASHINGTON--The governments of Japan and the United States are weighing the merits of setting up a council that will automatically activate in times of natural disasters, according to sources.
WASHINGTON--The governments of Japan and the United States are weighing the merits of setting up a council that will automatically activate in times of natural disasters, according to sources.
The idea was prompted by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan that triggered a nuclear crisis.
The mechanism would be similar to the one that is already in place to react to potential military emergencies involving Japan under their joint defense cooperation guidelines. The proposed emergency council for disaster-related issues would consist of not only Japanese government and Self-Defense Forces officials but also U.S. military personnel and Foreign Service staff from the U.S. Embassy, the sources said.
The proposal will be incorporated into and expand the “Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation” framework that is scheduled for review by the end of 2014, they said.
The current “Bilateral Coordination Mechanism (BCM)” in the framework is designed for the two sides to share information involving military emergencies, as stipulated in revisions made to the guidelines in 1997.
At the time of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, it took the Japanese and U.S. governments about a week before they were able to coordinate their efforts to deal with the reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Learning from that experience, the two governments started discussion aimed at automatically activating the joint council when disaster strikes.
Kurt Campbell, who served as an assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs in the Obama administration, said the Fukushima nuclear crisis heightened the necessity for closer coordination.
Irrespective of whether the joint council becomes a reality, the two sides have already taken steps to improve their abilities to coordinate their response to natural disasters.
Since 2012, Japanese ministries and agencies concerned with disaster response have been taking part in joint Japan-U.S. maneuvers designed to better integrate their command structures and operations, including drills providing logistical support to U.S. forces involving the use of ports and commercial airports.