Photo/Illutration Mini trucks form a line at a temporary disaster waste station after heavy rain hit Kumamoto Prefecture in 2020. The photo was taken in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, on July 8, 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Arriving soon to disaster-hit areas are National Police Agency mini trucks that can traverse damaged roads and more efficiently transport relief supplies and evacuate residents.

The NPA has decided to utilize mini trucks as police vehicles for the first time starting from early 2025.

The agency focused on the rugged and versatile vehicles that can travel off road more readily than regular police cars in the wake of the New Year’s Day earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula.

The NPA will deploy a total of 61 mini trucks, focusing on areas with peninsulas where there are risks of residents being isolated in natural disasters.

Mini trucks that are equipped with all-wheel drive and a cargo bed in the back. 

The trucks will not be painted in the traditional police vehicle colors of black and white.

Instead, they will be adorned in colors including white or silver, along with each police department name such as “XX prefectural police,” to help the public recognize them as police vehicles.

Following the Noto Peninsula earthquake, it took time for police and supply vehicles to enter the disaster-hit area because some roads on the peninsula were impassable or destroyed. 

The NPA deploys most police vehicles nationwide through national funds, and it was considering introducing more suitable vehicles that can maneuver through damaged areas. 

In addition to their low prices, mini trucks are not only easier to navigate through poorly maintained or narrow roads, but they are also convenient for carrying supplies such as emergency generators and food.

The NPA expects to use the vehicles not only during natural disasters but also to transport abandoned bicycles or animals, which, it believes, would broaden police activities.

The NPA will provide three mini trucks each to Aomori, Chiba, Shizuoka, Ishikawa, Wakayama, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures, and one each to every other prefecture and to Tokyo.

It will also provide a total of 150 light wagons across the nation by the end of this fiscal year.

Twenty-three of the 150 vehicles will be equipped with four-wheel drive, and be deployed to the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions where heavy snow accumulates in the winter.

INVALUABLE FOR EVACUATIONS

Mini trucks have been utilized in natural disasters nationwide.

Following the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula quake, the Japan Car Sharing Association provided mini trucks for free to disaster victims and support organizations.

An association official said demand for mini trucks is high when a disaster strikes because they are suitable for carrying luggage and supplies.

Some municipal governments have secured such vehicles to prepare for natural disasters.

Since 2013, Ebina in Kanagawa Prefecture has been recruiting volunteers to transport supplies to evacuation shelters with the volunteers’ vehicles in the event of a natural disaster.

So far, 88 vehicles have been registered on the municipality's volunteer list, with 52 of these being mini trucks.

Toyoake, Aichi Prefecture, has been undertaking a similar recruitment drive and so far 20 mini trucks have been registered.

Another municipal government is trying to utilize mini trucks not only to carry supplies but also to save people’s lives.

Residents of the Funakoshi district of Minami-Ise town in Mie Prefecture established a plan in September to evacuate people if a tsunami hits the area due to the expected Nankai Trough earthquake.

Takashi Oka, 69, the head of the district, said residents believe it is quicker to carry elderly people having difficulty walking and wheelchair-users by mini trucks rather than riding in the back seats of cars if they need to evacuate.

“The most important thing to do is to get away before the tsunami arrives,” Oka said.

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