Date : November 20, 2008
Video Report:November 20, 2008【Press Tour to cover Influenza Outbreak Drill by Tokyo Metropolitan Government】
post date : 2013.08.23
■Mr. Rikiya Kondo, Director for Crisis Management, Disaster Prevention Department, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
It is expected that an outbreak of new strains of influenza will definitely happen somewhere in the world in future. If it happens in Tokyo, it is predicted as many as 15,000 will die.
Likewise, 2.36 million are likely to rush to medical institutions causing panic there.
Assuming that social functions will be unable to work normally, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been taking various measures to meet that emergency situation.
■Influenza outbreak drill at TMG Disaster Prevention Center
Drill begins.
(Tokyo News)
Since November 13, when WHO confirmed an outbreak of new strains of influenza in X Country, the Government of Japan called on four international airports including Narita Airport as well as three sea ports including the Port of Yokohama to strengthen border controls to check Japanese and other passengers coming from X Country…….
(Director General for Crisis Management)
The first meeting of Headquarters of Countermeasures to Combat Infectious Disease begins now.
On November 13, WHO confirmed an outbreak of a new strain of influenza in X Country and notified other countries.
The TMG is now connected with Nerima Ward through TV circuit and we will hear from the Director of Nerima Ward Healthcare Center.
(Headquarters of Healthcare and Crisis Management Department, Nerima Ward Office)
The suspected case is a 53-year-old male office worker living in Nerima Ward.
The ward office put out a TMG infectious disease alert and brought the patient to Tokyo Metropolitan Toshima Hospital, a designated medical center for infectious disease.
■Command Office, TMG Disaster Prevention Center
Assumption: 3 days after the first meeting of Headquarters of Countermeasures to Combat Infectious Disease
(Voice: Mr. Rikiya Kondo, Director for Crisis Management, Disaster Prevention Department, TMG)
When a pandemic occurs in Tokyo, the TMG starts up the plan “Phase 6-B”, which we will feature in today’s drill.
(The Governor’s comment)
The Governor made a comment at the beginning of his press conference starting at 8:30. “Since the spread of the influenza is greater than we expected,…
(TMG advises each municipal government)
This is the TMG’s advice. As we have confirmed the further spread of the disease….
(Voice: Mr. Rikiya Kondo, Director for Crisis Management, Disaster Prevention Department, TMG)
How should we treat infected patients who are seriously ill?
How can we maintain and secure vital “lifeline” utilities when social functions are unable to work normally and people are in a panic?
To stop the spread of the disease, we should ask private companies to voluntarily refrain from doing their business activities. How can we do this?
We hope to find for us to get some solutions for these issues from today’s drill.
■Mr. Toshiyuki Shikata, Counselor to the Governor of Tokyo in charge of Crisis Management
Whatever is the threat, e.g. earthquake, outbreak of disease, terrorism, we have only one single team to take action when any of them happens.
No specialized team for this kind of each case exists at the moment. So the team has to assume any sort of threat that may happen and prepare for it.
It is impossible for us to imagine what will happen to us when an outbreak occurs.
By conducting an exercise, we will be able to come up with the most appropriate solution step by step.
◎TMG’s contingency retention stock
TMG keeps a supply of food and drinking water for 3-4 million people to survive. Likewise the municipal governments in Tokyo reserve a certain amount of food and drinking water. However, Tokyo has a population of 12 million. We are unable to afford such huge stocks and ask people to make their own preparations.
◎Existing legislation for an emergency
In case of an outbreak of influenza, I think the Government of Japan will regard the situation as something similar to natural disasters and respond to it based on the Basic Law of Natural Disasters.
We have to respond to an emergency situation with only the legal structure for a normal situation. It means that we have no legal structure for an emergency situation in place in Japan.
That is because we don’t see any word which defines an emergency in the Constitution.
Therefore it is difficult for us to enact necessary legislation. While we need a law to respond to something new, we are unable to do it as there is no definition of emergency in the current Constitution.
◎Japan’s preparedness for potential crisis
The Japanese are able to come up with advanced ideas. They work hard and make intellectual efforts. For this I give them 60 points, a passing score.
However, they lag behind in practical terms, including producing medicines as well as enacting necessary legislation. I can’t give them even 40 points, ―fail.