The Cabinet Office is considering establishing a disaster preparedness program and soliciting volunteers to work for local governments as coordinators and contact points for victims, government sources said Monday.
Local governments would recruit the volunteers from among former firefighters, former government workers engaged in disaster preparedness and the general public.
Generally, local governments receive reports from disaster-affected areas. But in the past, they have often been unable to pass the information effectively on to residents.
Under the program, volunteers in an area affected by a natural disaster will be summoned to the local government's disaster measure headquarters to provide residents with information.