Japan Draws Up Anti-Tsunami Guidelines for Airports

Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)--Japan's transport ministry on Friday drew up guidelines for anti-tsunami measures for airports that call on aircraft on runways and taxiways to return to the terminal buildings in principle for evacuation of passengers and crew members in the event of a disaster.

The guidelines that cover 17 airports in coastal areas and on reclaimed land also call for food to be stockpiled at the airports because there are risks that they will be isolated temporarily if hit by tsunami.

The airports will be asked to compile their own measures against tsunami based on the guidelines.

Thirteen of the 17 airports offer regular passenger flights, and the ministry designated six of them as facing a high risk of sustaining tsunami damage, including Sendai Airport in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Tokyo International Airport at Haneda, Central Japan International Airport in Aichi Prefecture, and Kansai International Airport near Osaka, western Japan.

The ministry sees lower tsunami risks at the seven other airports, including Wakkanai Airport in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and Niigata Airport in central Japan.

The 13 airports will set up respective committees comprising airport and terminal building operators, and airlines to work out their anti-tsunami measures.

The four remaining airports do not offer regular passenger flights, but will be covered by the guidelines.

In the guidelines, terminal buildings and airport offices are designated as possible evacuation areas.

The guidelines also assume a possibility of aircraft on runways or taxiways taking off without air traffic controllers' permissions, instead of returning to the terminal buildings, in case tsunami looks imminent, if the pilots judge it appropriate to do so.

Failure to follow the instructions from air traffic controllers will not be illegal in case of emergencies, according to the guidelines.

The transport ministry compiled the guidelines as Sendai Airport was badly damaged by the tsunami triggered by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11.END