TSU city meets international standard for disaster shelter space
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TSU City, in Mie Prefecture, Japan, announced it now provides at least 3.5 square meters of living space per person in its disaster shelters.
The city previously used a 2 square meter standard, but began working to meet the Sphere standards, international guidelines for minimum humanitarian aid, after a 2024 revision to national guidance on shelter conditions.
City officials had predicted up to 53,000 people would need shelter during a potential Nankai Trough earthquake, which would have created a shortfall of 15,288 square meters under the older standard. TSU City addressed this by designating two additional public high schools as evacuation sites, bringing the total number of shelters to 123. They also identified five temporary shelters, increasing capacity further.
