In the recent series of natural disasters that hit Japan, the damage to infrastructure, resulting in large-scale blackouts in quake-hit Hokkaido and paralysis of Kansai International Airport's functions when the area was devastated by Typhoon Jebi, exacerbated the impact of the calamities. National and local governments across the country need to inspect the resilience of infrastructure against big disasters and take measures to repair and strengthen that which is found to be vulnerable to damage. Such a task is all the more urgent given the greater frequency of extreme weather, which is linked to climate change, and the fact that big disasters can hit anytime and anywhere in this country — as recent events have reminded us.

After southern Hokkaido was hit in the early hours of Sept. 6 by the magnitude 6.7 earthquake, which registered the maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic scale, the supply of electricity in the island prefecture was temporarily cut, affecting nearly 3 million households and disrupting medical service at hospitals, along with operations of airports and railways. The shutdown of the Tomato-Atsuma power plant near the quake's epicenter, Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s largest thermal power plant — accounting for roughly half its power generation — triggered a halt in operations at other power plants.

While the power outage has since been mostly resolved, concerns remain over power shortages — particularly as the winter season approaches in the northernmost prefecture — since the Tomato-Atsuma plant won't return to full operation until at least November. The government has ordered power companies across the country to examine their preparedness for big disasters to assess the risk of similar large-scale blackouts. Whether a system is in place to contain the effects of possible damage to power-generation facilities in the event of major disasters should be scrutinized. The viability of the system for supplying emergency power from other regions in the event disasters lead to power outages — which broke down in the case of the Hokkaido quake — needs to be verified.