A government panel is looking at ways to minimize the damage from a tsunami caused by a possible major earthquake on the Pacific coast of northern Japan, according to a draft document compiled by the body.

The proposed countermeasures, compiled by the Central Disaster Prevention Council, include a system to evacuate residents before a tsunami hits and ways to better deal with the possible isolation of fishing villages and other communities that could be affected.

The provisions are written in an outline of measures against major quakes focused in the Pacific from offshore Hokkaido to the Tohoku region that could cause large tsunami. The council is expected to finalize the draft as early as February, after which the government is scheduled to come up with a basic plan for promoting measures against quakes by the end of March.

The government will then ask five prefectures in the region -- Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima -- to put together programs based on the council's outline and the government's basic plan.