possibility of extreme damage by earthquakes in the near future, and the perspectives about the current and future prediction of such earthquakes.

The interim report predicted that a major trench-type earthquake occurring along the Sagami Trough, similar in type to the Great Kanto Earthquake, would not bit the region for another 100 years or 200 years. However, the report warned that an earthquake measuring about 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale could occur in the near future, considering the complicated power concentration beneath the region caused by the meeting of the Eurasian Plate, the Philippine Sea Plate and the Pacific Plate.

The final report of the task force in August 1992 pointed out that there was undoubtedly the growing possibility of an earthquake right below the region and that there would be several such earthquakes until an earthquake originating along the Sagamni Trough next hit the region. The report also sald that such earthquakes would cause extreme damage and that intensified earthquake disaster prevention measures would be necessary in the metropolis and 6 prefectures (Tokyo , Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama, Kanagawa and Yamanashi) where the seismic intensity scale could be over 6 when the earthquake hit the region.

Based on the experiences of the Great Kanto Earthquake and other earthquakes foreign and domestic, we have prescribed various countermeasures, such as an "Action Plan for Promoting Countermeasures to Earthquake Disaster in Big Cities," "About lmmediate Disaster Prevention Countermeasures," Operational Plans for Disaster Prevention prepared by Designated Administrative Organs, and Local Plans for Disaster Prevention prepared by the prefectures and Metropolis concerned.

Among them, as an emergency measure, the Central Disaster

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