Politics & Government

Offices for Japan’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team to be Established in Hokkaido, Kyushu

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
DMAT members deliver relief supplies to welfare facilities in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake struck the area in January 2024.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, April 6, 2026

The government has decided to establish new secretariats for the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), which provides emergency treatment and transport at disaster sites, in Hokkaido and Kyushu in fiscal 2026.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry aims to ensure that DMAT members can smoothly reach affected areas in the event of a large-scale disaster by increasing its number of offices, which serve as command centers during disasters, from two to four. There are also plans to establish additional secretariats in regions such as Tohoku and Shikoku starting in fiscal 2027 and create an eight-hub system.

DMAT members enter disaster-stricken areas immediately after a disaster occurs to treat the injured, transport them to well-equipped hospitals and procure medical supplies. Doctors, nurses and other personnel generally operate in groups of four. As of April 2025, 18,909 were registered as members.

There are currently DMAT offices in Tokyo and Osaka as part of the Japan Institute for Health Security. When a disaster strikes, members including doctors go to prefectural government offices in the affected areas to coordinate the dispatch of team members from across the country and provide operational support.

The new offices will be in Hokkaido, where earthquakes along the Japan and Chishima Trenches are anticipated, and in Kyushu, where flooding frequently occurs. They will collaborate with local government officials to quickly assess the damage and ensure team members can be dispatched to areas in need of assistance. In normal times, it will also be easy to facilitate the implementation of training tailored to local needs, such as responding to needs in isolated communities. The ministry has set aside the necessary personnel and establishment costs in the fiscal 2026 budget proposal.

Staff were dispatched from Osaka and Tokyo after the Kumamoto and Noto Peninsula earthquakes, however concerns have arose over access to the affected areas being delayed due to disrupted transportation networks in the event of future earthquakes or floods in remote areas.