This paper examines the administrative capacity to implement disaster prevention measures, focusing on the organizational structure of disaster prevention and crisis management departments. Using the dataset from staff records between 1999 and 2022, it investigates the factors that characterize the organizational patterns. The main findings are as follows: Firstly, the most prominent organizational structure that grants control to the disaster prevention and crisis management department is observed when the governor has a background outside central government bureaucracy, members of parliament, or local politicians. The second significant factor is when the region has experienced a strong earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher. On the other hand, when disaster management is positioned under the general affairs department or as an independent department, the most significant features include the governor’s long tenure (three terms or more), a high fiscal balance rate, and a comprehensive business continuity planning process. Secondly, according to the hypothesis, if a local government has more financial resources, it tends to have a control-oriented organizational structure. Conversely, if there are more human resources, it will likely adopt a coordination-oriented structure. In terms of path dependency, the longer the governor’s term, the more likely it is for the region to have a coordination-oriented structure, while regions with a history of experiencing a strong earthquake tend to adopt a control-oriented structure. Regarding central government-led initiatives, even if a region is designated as a high-priority earthquake disaster area or is actively involved in developing government-led business continuity plans, it does not adopt a low-spread control-oriented structure. From these findings, it is evident that while a control-oriented organizational structure is ideal, in practice, the emphasis is placed on inter-departmental coordination. Therefore, it can be concluded that many prefectures adopt a coordination-oriented structure.
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