Due to the geographic and geological characteristics of the Japanese archipelago, middle- to large-scale natural disasters can strike at any time. While military conflicts or terrorism may be thwarted through human efforts, typhoons and earthquakes are unstoppable, affecting all those residing in this nation.
Because natural disasters are inevitable, it is all the more important for the central and local governments, and the people, to make sufficient preparations in earnest to cope with them. The central government's fiscal 2005 white paper on natural-disaster prevention spells out measures designed to minimize damage from natural disasters, especially from large-scale earthquakes. In fiscal 2004, the annual white paper began projecting human and property damage expected from future earthquakes and setting down goals for reducing damage from estimated levels.
The latest paper says that large-scale earthquakes with a magnitude of 8 could happen anytime off the Tokai Region. They may also occur east of Kii Peninsula and off Shikoku sometime in the first half of this century.