The government decided Friday to strengthen monitoring systems in preparation for the likelihood of major earthquakes, especially in the Tokai region, government officials said.

The Central Disaster Prevention Council, led by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, agreed at a meeting to review the current monitoring sites around Suruga Bay in Shizuoka Prefecture and to step up disaster preparedness in anticipation of a strong earthquake hitting the Tokai region. All round-the-clock monitoring sites and areas subject to earthquake disaster preparedness plans are expected to come under review, the officials said.

The council decided to draw up disaster preparedness measures to cover a wider area, which includes the Kinki and Chubu regions.

The measures against probable major earthquakes in southern Kanto and Tokai regions will also be reviewed and action plans will be drawn up stipulating precisely what measures ministries and local governments should take in the event of disaster striking, the officials said.

These reviews apparently reflect the recent opinions of some experts that the focus of the major earthquake likely to hit the Tokai region is actually located further west of current estimations.

The council aims to appoint a special research committee within the next six months to examine this issue. If it is judged to be west of the current position, the intensified monitoring areas could be changed to incorporate some areas in Aichi and Gifu prefectures.

At present, the intensified monitoring areas consist of 167 cities, towns and villages in Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Aichi and Gifu prefectures.

The basic disaster preparedness plans in the intensified monitoring areas in the Tokai region were drawn up in 1979, and similar measures were devised for the southern Kanto region in 1992.

The council, established in 1961, draws up plans in accordance with the Disaster Prevention Basic Law, while each prefectural government adopts regional disaster preparedness measures.

Bunmei Ibuki, state minister in charge of disaster preparedness, said it is important to gather and select the right information and to learn from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

The council was placed under the Cabinet Office as part of the Jan. 6 rearrangement of government ministries and agencies.

In addition to Ibuki, all other Cabinet members and two other Diet members -- a senior vice minister and a parliamentary secretary -- are included on the council.

The council also includes Shizuoka Gov. Yoshinobu Ishikawa and Megumi Mizoue, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and a leading expert on earthquake prediction.