Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (September 16)
- Published:
September 16, 2026, 10:00 We would like to inform you of the current situation.
1. System in Digital Agency
- July 28, 2026 (Tue) 18:20 Digital Agency disaster response head office established
2. System Operation Status
(Updated August 4, 2026)
August 4, 2026 (Tue) 09:00 Regarding the governmental information system under the jurisdiction of Digital Agency, we have confirmed that it is operating normally.
3. Dispatch of D-CERT
(Updated September 16, 2026)
From Wednesday, July 29 to Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the Digital Assistance Team for Disaster Response (D-CERT) was dispatched to help smooth the response to disasters in the disaster-affected areas. This was done by proposing a menu of digital support measures that are considered necessary based on the needs of the disaster-affected areas and fleshing out the details of this support.
Since September 16, we have continued to provide support online and elsewhere.
Details of activities
- 1. We proposed a tool to improve the input efficiency of the new supply system (B-PLo), in which employees of disaster-stricken local governments share information necessary for procurement and transportation of supplies.
- 2. For guests staying on the private vessel "Hakuo II" leased by Ministry of Defense, we have developed and operated a dedicated application to streamline the reception procedure at the time of temporary disembarkation.
- 3. From August 30, we have also implemented efficiency support using a dedicated app for the reception procedure at the time of boarding and disembarking
We will continue to work with Kumamoto Prefecture and others to provide support that will lead to improved convenience for disaster victims and a reduction in the administrative burden on the ground.
Number of employees dispatched
- July 29 to September 15:253 man-days in total (Digital Agency staff: 223 man-days (30 persons); private sector: 30 man-days (8 persons))
4. Provision of government AI GENAI
(Updated September 16, 2026)
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 In order for disaster-stricken local governments to be able to use AI to collect, organize, and share disaster-related information, the Government AI GENAI began to be urgently provided to disaster-stricken local governments, related local governments, disaster response organizations, etc.
For details, please check 's "We will urgently provide government AI GENAI to local governments affected by the Kumamoto earthquake" .
The emergency response period for GENAI was originally scheduled to end after about three weeks, but it has been extended until September 30, and for some affected municipalities that have received requests to extend the period again until the end of fiscal 2026.
Providing function
- (1) AI applications useful for disaster-response duties: 16 applications (of which three were urgently developed and provided in response to requests from disaster-affected local governments, etc.)
- •When you type in a commodity you want to search for, this app answers the formal items and units defined in B-PLo (New Commodity System).
- •This is an app that allows you to simply enter a declaration of necessary materials using everyday expressions, and the AI will normalize the material names, and organize and output them in a format that can be read by B-PLo.
- •An application that can create a dashboard of the rapid assessment sheet (Excel) output from D24H (healthcare and welfare activities support system for disasters) and analyze the data
- (2) Collection of use cases and prompts for disaster response: 80
- (3) Normal chat (interactive AI) function (Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Haiku 4.5, Nova Lite)
- (4) AI agent usage environment "Agent Chat" (function where users can continuously execute multiple tasks using AI agents, and can organize, investigate, and analyze data, and manipulate and create files)
Actual results (as of August 28, 2026)
| Whole country | Kyushu Region | In Kumamoto Prefecture | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of registered accounts (* 1) | Total 247 units | Total 77 (21 organizations and groups) | Total 57 (7 organizations and groups) |
| Execution Count (* 2) | Total of 847 times | Total of 481 times | Total of 457 times |
| Number of chat sessions (breakdown) | Total of 665 times | Total of 376 times | Total of 357 times |
| Number of AI app executions (breakdown) | Total of 182 times | Total of 105 times | 100 times in total |
| AI Agent Usage Count (* 3) | 37 sessions in total | Total of 14 sessions | Total of 14 sessions |
| Number of agent turns | Total of 192 turns | 48 turns in total | 48 turns in total |
- Note 1: Out of the user accounts distributed to disaster-stricken local governments, etc., the number of accounts that logged in. This includes cases where multiple persons in charge use one account. Employees of Digital Agency are excluded.
- * 2 The number of times prompts have been entered, excluding the number of times when Digital Agency Employees have used them experimentally for app development, etc.
- * 3 A session is a unit of work carried out by users who provided a series of instructions to the AI agent. A turn is a unit of the number of times in a session that users provided instructions to the AI agent (The AI agent carries out inference and tool execution multiple times within a single turn, and autonomously carries out work until the instructions given by users are achieved.). The number of times when Digital Agency Employees used the system on a trial basis for application development, etc. shall be excluded.
Breakdown of users
- Prefectures: 39 organizations and groups
- City: 131 organizations and groups
- Town: 33 organizations and groups
- Villages: 2 institutions and organizations
- Special wards: 3 institutions and organizations
- Country (government organization): 26 organizations and groups
- Corporations (universities, broadcasting, incorporated associations, etc.): 13 institutions and organizations
5. My Number Card Utilization Initiatives
(Updated September 16, 2026)
Regarding the disaster victim certificate required when applying for various support measures for disaster victims, such as Livelihood Recovery Support Grant for Disaster Victims benefits and reduction or postponement of taxes, insurance premiums, and utility bills, we have started to provide information on online applications using the systems of Mynaportal and various local governments.
For details, please check about online application for 2026 Kumamoto Earthquakes disaster victim certificate (risai shomeisho).
Number of applications (number of applications issued by Mynaportal submitted to the affected municipalities through disaster victim certificate)
5,890 (cumulative total from July 28, 2026 to September 14, 2026)
Related Information
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (September 7)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (September 4)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (August 31)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (August 27)
- Press Conference by Minister Matsumoto (August 25, 2026)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (August 20)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (August 4)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (July 31)
- Press Conference by Minister Matsumoto (July 31, 2026)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (July 29)
- Response to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (July 28)
- Prime Minister's instruction concerning an earthquake with an epicenter in the Kumamoto area, Kumamoto Prefecture (16:29)
- Press conference concerning the earthquake with its epicenter in the Kumamoto area, Kumamoto Prefecture