Overview
- The Volcanic Research and Investigation Headquarters finalized a draft 10-year basic policy on May 29, 2026 that sets a national framework to assess and rank active volcanoes by eruption risk.
- The policy directs the government to form an expert evaluation panel soon and says individual volcano assessments will take several years to complete.
- Risk rankings will use clear scientific criteria including past eruption history, subsurface structure, and continuous monitoring of crustal deformation, earthquakes, and volcanic gases.
- The plan commits to strengthening monitoring for 51 priority volcanoes with borehole seismometers and at least four GNSS stations per volcano, wider use of satellites and drones, and a volcanic ejecta analysis hub in Tsukuba by fiscal 2028.
- The policy covers Japan’s 111 designated active volcanoes but allows adding newly identified systems, and the draft will be referred to the Central Disaster Management Council before formal adoption so local governments can use the findings in disaster plans.