17-01-05 A number of major corporations have been stepping up preparations to minimize possible damage caused to their facilities and operations in the event of an earthquake as powerful as the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. With the temblor's 10th anniversary, the companies' efforts reflect bitter lessons learned from the devastation caused to production lines and facilities.
Earthquakes have been predicted for the Nankai and East Nankai regions during the first half of this century, prompting firms to compile manuals of procedures to follow in the case of a disaster, add production sites, secure facilities to take over headquarters' functions and improve communications networks.

Tokyo Electric Power is responsible for key operations of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The company built a new branch office in December 2003 at the old US Air Force base in Tachikawa, Tokyo, equipping it with a seismic-isolation system. An anti-disaster facility will be set up on the fifth to seventh floors of the seven-story building, which has two basement floors, from where the company will continue to conduct headquarters functions in the event of a disaster.
The facility is equipped with a central power centre that manages electric power supply and demand, and a central communications centre that monitors and operates a communications network. These functions are similar to those of TEPCO headquarters in Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo. TEPCO officials are expected to gather at the Tachikawa office in an emergency and continue operations there.

Tokyo Gas has increased the number of facilities that manufacture city gas using LNG to maintain supply to three with the construction of one such facility in Ogishima, Kawasaki. The three facilities are linked by offshore pipelines in Tokyo Bay and are expected to be able to meet demand, even if one of the three fails in an emergency.
Ajinomoto has equipped its building in Osaka with a seismic-isolation system to take over the functions of the main office in Kyobashi, Tokyo, if it were to collapse.
Nippon Steel also has moved its key computer system from Tokyo to an anti-seismic building at its ironworks in Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture.

Mitsubishi Electric has created a second private line to improve communications.
Lion Corp. compiled manuals for procedures to be followed in the event of an earthquake or other disaster. If its head office in Tokyo is affected by a disaster, the company plans to set up an emergency headquarters at a hotel in a neighbouring prefecture.
Major supermarkets and convenience stores also will contribute to providing a lifeline to people affected by a large-scale disaster by delivering food and daily necessities to them. Daiei Inc. was quick to set up an anti-disaster headquarters after the Hanshin quake, and delivered food and other items to quake-hit areas by helicopter and ferry. Its actions have provided a model for responses to such events.

Ito-Yokado has compiled a list of local transport operators it will ask to transport goods if main roads are severed in a disaster. It also has installed satellite cell phones at its stores that are expected to be hit by a Tonankai earthquake or other disaster following an in-house study of the possible effects of temblors.
Lawson Inc. and the Tokyo Fire Department signed a cooperation agreement under which the convenience store operator will provide fire-fighters with food and other necessities in the event of an emergency.

A large-scale disaster also could lead to a crisis in the financial sector. In 1996, a year after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, the Bank of Japan set up a system in Osaka to support its in-house communications network, the heart of the domestic settlement system, while installing satellite telephones at its branches. The central bank also compiled manuals in 2003 to enable the Osaka branch to take over the functions of its headquarters in Tokyo's Nihonbashi if the headquarter's communications break down.
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has selected branches whose functions will be restored first to ensure the early resumption of operations in quake-hit areas. Bank employees will be gathered and sent to such branches where they can continue work.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has reviewed the quake resistance of its buildings and facilities, and applied necessary reinforcements.
UFJ Bank has drawn up manuals to cope with earthquakes with a focus in Tokyo and the Tokai region.

Measures also have been taken in the automobile industry. Honda Motor Co. has established crisis-management and security systems to cope with a large-scale earthquake, designating its production department chief as a crisis leader.
Toyota Motor Corp. began studying last year ways to restore production in case its plants are hit by a major earthquake.