The landslide disaster in Hiroshima City could happen anywhere in the country. There is the potential for heavy rain to fall anywhere, and we must therefore assume that people living below hills and cliffs could experience a landslide. Obviously, the ideal is to have a country where we can all live in safety and confidence, but Japan is a place of many mountains and hills where land suitable for residential development is fairly limited. It is our fate to be a "disaster-prone country," and we must therefore, at a minimum, enact policies that will save lives.
The former DPJ government cut back on public works to protect lives under a policy of switching spending "from infrastructure to people," and this is something we need to rethink.
(Tuesday, August 26, regular press conference)