Japan plans to build sufficient underground shelters to protect 10 million people from bombs and missile strikes

The Japanese government plans to double the capacity of underground bombs across the country to 10 million people, in an attempt to better protect the public from missile strikes.

There are currently more than 58,000 shelters of bombs – including those above the ground and under the ground – all over Japan designed to accommodate people for an hour to two hours. This capacity is sufficient to cover 140% of the population.
But only 3900 shelters of these shelters, or 7%are underground shelters, which provide better protection from bombs explosions. Underground capacity is sufficient to accommodate about 5% of Japan’s population.
The government will put the final touches on a set of guidelines during the current fiscal year to urge local governments to define more shelters.
The Japanese Cabinet Secretariat recently wrote a report specifying 1,489 additional sites that could serve as underground shelters. New sites will add 4 million square meters to 4.91 million square meters already used.
With the government’s appreciation that each person needs 0.825 square meters of space for each person for short residence, the total shelter space will accommodate more than 10 million people. The expected total area will be twice the current capacity of about 6 million people.
In addition to short residency shelters, there are other shelters capable of accommodating people for about two weeks. These sites are located under public buildings and contain food reserves.
New shelters are being built for two weeks in Sakishima, a group of islands near Taiwan. The area will be at risk if a crisis broke out, including Taiwan. In such a scenario, evacuation options will be limited.
The national security strategy adopted by Japan in 2022 called for “securing various types of evacuation facilities”. This prompted the government to formulate a business path to add new shelters.
Japanese Prime Minister Shighgero Ishiba has insisted on developing shelters since before he took office, on the pretext that underground facilities, along with shelters above Earth, will serve as a form of deterrence against hostile countries.