The Central Disaster Management Council (Chairman, the prime minister) is taking initiatives on planning basic schemes and promoting execution of disaster countermeasures in Japan. Recently, the council and the specialists committees, which are constituted under the council, carried out studies for the major subduction zone earthquakes along the Suruga and Nankai trough. The results are summarized and used for designation of the areas to strengthen and promote disaster management, damage estimation, and emergency response operations.