前首相石破茂表示，国家防灾厅应在积累防灾制度专业知识和培养专业人才方面发挥关键作用。
The National Disaster Management Agency should play a key role in building institutional expertise and developing specialized personnel for disaster preparedness and responses, former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said.
石破茂是该机构设立的倡导者，他在最近接受时事通讯社采访时说，日本需要让该厅“具备积累和传承防灾知识与经验的能力”。
The country needs to make the agency “capable of accumulating and passing on knowledge and experience” of disaster management, Ishiba, who advocated its creation, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.
石破茂指出，内阁府防灾担当部门是新厅的前身，其工作人员由多个机关派遣而来，通常每两年轮换一次。这种制度无法让官员积累或传承知识与经验。
The Cabinet Office’s disaster management section, the predecessor of the new agency, was staffed by officials seconded from multiple agencies who typically rotate every two years. This system did not allow officials to accumulate or pass on knowledge or experience, Ishiba said.
他呼吁加强对地方政府首长和官员的培训，以在计划设立的防灾学院强化防灾准备和应急响应工作。
He called for enhanced training for local government leaders and officials to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts at a planned disaster management academy.
“具备知识的地方首长即使在社交媒体上流传虚假信息时，也能发出适当指示并提供准确信息，”他说。
“Local leaders with knowledge can issue appropriate instructions and provide accurate information even when false information spreads on social media,” he said.
石破茂批评日本的灾害应对体系。“自关东大地震以来几乎没有改变，”他说，指的是1923年在东京及周边地区造成约10.5万人死伤失踪的7.9级地震。
Ishiba criticized Japan’s disaster response system. “It has changed little since the Great Kanto Earthquake,” he said, referring to the 7.9-magnitude temblor that left about 105,000 people dead or missing in Tokyo and nearby areas in 1923.
“我从未在一个像样的国家见过疏散民众并排睡在体育馆地板上，”他说。
“I’ve never seen evacuees sleeping side by side on gymnasium floors in a decent country,” he said.
为改善避难所条件，石破茂呼吁系统性储备应急厕所、炊事设施和床位，并更好地组织志愿者活动。
To improve conditions at evacuation centers, Ishiba called for systematic stockpiling of emergency toilets, cooking facilities and beds as well as better organization of volunteer activities.