A new report by The Yomiuri Shimbun has revealed that only five out of the 23 prefectures in Japan with designated volcanic disaster alert areas have ordinances in place that require climbers to submit their climbing plans to local authorities. This comes a decade after the eruption of Mt. Ontake, which claimed the lives of 58 people and left five missing.
In response to the 2014 eruption, the government implemented a revised law on Special Measures for Active Volcanoes, which obligated climbers to submit their climbing plans. However, it has been found that more than 40 percent of municipalities required to designate evacuation facilities under this law have failed to do so.
The survey conducted by the government also highlighted a significant disparity among local governments in terms of their sense of crisis and measures taken. The lack of climbing plan submissions made it difficult for authorities to confirm and rescue climbers during emergencies.
To address these issues, revisions were made to the law in April this year, specifying information that needs to be collected by local governments regarding climbers’ activities. Currently, only Nagano, Niigata, Gifu, Ishikawa and Yamanashi prefectures have ordinances requiring climbers to submit their plans. Gifu Prefecture even added active volcanoes as “mountains with the risk of accidents” in its ordinance.
Gunma and Toyama prefectures also have ordinances obliging climbers to submit plans but do not cover volcanoes specifically. The remaining 16 prefectures do not have such regulations due to difficulties in determining which mountains should be included.
Furthermore, out of 130 municipalities across these prefectures with designated evacuation facilities as per the revised law’s requirements, only 55 percent have actually designated at least one facility for use during volcanic eruptions.
Some local governments are hesitant about designating such facilities due to concerns about causing anxiety among residents or fueling a sense of crisis when there is no immediate threat detected.
this report highlights both gaps and progress in Japan’s efforts towards ensuring safety during volcanic disasters through effective planning and coordination between climbers and local authorities.