fee-based transport to isolated areas based on registration and as of the end of fiscal year 2011, 2,959 organizations are implementing such services.

## 4 Promoting the Support of Pedestrian Travel

To create an accessible environment where everyone including the elderly and disabled can readily take part in activities toward a universal society, it is important to promote things from the perspective of soft measures and study groups including outside experts are used to utilize Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that can be used for accessible routing assistance to promote the support of pedestrian travel.

For this reason, a draft guideline implementable by local governments is being prepared for issues such as the maintenance and renewal of services to support pedestrian travel and rules for the distribution of costs between the public and

private sector based on the knowledge gained from demonstration experiments carried out in five locations nationwide starting with Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture.

## Section 2 Natural Disaster Measures

Japan’s national land is subject to severe conditions including climate, geography, and geology; almost every year natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and sediment disasters occur. Even in 2013, heavy disasters occurred due to Typhoon Man-yi, Wipha, and others leading to massive damages several locations. Also, the importance of natural disaster measures is more urgent in consideration of an increase of external force due to climate change and the experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake, dilapidation measures and proactive disaster prevention and reduction measures must be fundamentally bolstered by appropriately combining soft measures to solidify further infrastructure development urgently needed to protect the lives and living. There is an urgent need for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to compile actions to be implemented, especially for the great earthquake along the Nankai Trough and Tokyo metropolitan earthquake.

## 1 Shaping National Land that is Safe and Resilient to Disasters, Enhancing and Strengthening the Framework of Preparedness for Emergency Management

(1) Responding to the great earthquake along the Nankai Trough and Tokyo Metropolitan Direct Earthquake

It is predicted that as the result of the great earthquake along the Nankai Trough, a wide area from the Kanto region to Kyushu will experience strong shaking and a huge tsunami will attack the coastal area within a short period of time. Deaths will reach a maximum of 320,000 people and create a critical situation including the interruption of transport infrastructure and paralysis of urban functions along the coast. Also, the Tokyo Metropolitan Direct Earthquake is expected to cause strong shaking along the entirety of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Buildings will collapse, fires will occur, and there will be great human casualties in dense urban areas and it will drastically effect citizen's lives and economic activities due to the central functions of politics, economics, and administration being struck by disaster. As the authority in charge of handling the disaster site, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism established the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism great earthquake along the Nankai Trough and Tokyo