The "Other Team" Supporting Disaster Response—How Does D24H Connect Information? [A-12]
In the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake, various health, medical, and welfare support teams such as DMAT, DWAT, DHEAT, and JMAT have been active in the disaster-stricken areas.
Previous articles have focused on the mechanisms through which these "people" operate.
However, there is one more essential element required to drive disaster response.
It is an information infrastructure that shares "what is happening, where, and right now."
One of the mechanisms fulfilling this role is the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "Disaster Health, Medical, and Welfare Activity Support System," commonly known as D24H.
D24H saw its pre-full-scale operational functions utilized ahead of time during the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and its development continued as it was used in actual disaster responses, such as the earthquake centered in the waters near the Tokara Islands.
The 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake was a disaster that occurred at a time when D24H, in the midst of its development process, had entered a more full-scale operational phase.
Here, while maintaining respect for the victims and those involved in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and the Tokara Islands earthquake, we will trace how D24H has been shaped, based on primary sources.
D24H as an Information Infrastructure
D24H is an abbreviation for Disaster Digital Information System for Health and well-being.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's D24H briefing materials from March 16, 2026, D24H is a mechanism that links with the Ministry's individual systems for health, medical, and welfare during disasters, as well as the new comprehensive disaster prevention information system "SOBO-WEB," to rapidly and in real-time aggregate health, medical, and welfare information along with disaster information from other ministries, such as flooded areas and road clearance information.
Furthermore, by organizing and analyzing the aggregated information and visualizing it on a map, it is intended to support decision-making by prefectural health, medical, and welfare coordination headquarters, such as the dispatch of support teams and the provision of supplies.
What is important here is that D24H is not a system that collects information on its own.
It links with EMIS for medical institutions, the Disaster Information Sharing System for nursing care facilities, and the Disaster Information Sharing System for disability and child welfare facilities.
On the other hand, information regarding evacuation centers is entered using "D24H Survey."
In other words,
Facility information is linked from existing systems, and evacuation center information is entered from the field.
The structure is such that this information is aggregated into D24H and visualized, for example, on a map.
This is positioned as an infrastructure for grasping "facilities" and "evacuation centers" not as separate pieces of information during a disaster, but from the single perspective of health, medical, and welfare.
Early Utilization Beginning with the Noto Peninsula Earthquake
Full-scale operation of D24H was scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2024.
The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred at that very timing.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's public relations magazine from March 2025, during the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, some functions of D24H, which were prior to full-scale operation, were released immediately after the disaster to grasp the situation at evacuation centers and were utilized by the Ishikawa Prefecture Health, Medical, and Welfare Coordination Headquarters and public health centers.
DMAT members, public health nurses, and others working in the field entered evacuation center information according to the items on the Rapid Assessment Sheet.
This sheet is a unified format for evaluating living environments such as toilets and lifelines at evacuation centers.
By sharing the entered information in real-time among health, medical, and welfare personnel, efforts were made to improve the sanitary environment of the evacuation centers.
In other words, during the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, D24H was not yet a "completed comprehensive information infrastructure," but was introduced into an actual disaster starting with the function of connecting evacuation center information.
This involves the aspect of developing the system while using it during actual disaster response, rather than building it first and then using it.
Phased Development Toward Full-Scale Operation
Even after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, the development of D24H continued.
On March 25, 2025, an administrative notice was issued by the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to inform relevant parties about the utilization of D24H.
On July 25 of the same year, training materials, videos, and Q&As regarding the overview and operation methods of D24H were compiled.
At this point, viewing authority was limited to the national and prefectural governments, and a policy was indicated to expand this to municipalities and others in the future.
Then, on July 3, 2025, the utilization of D24H was actually requested for the earthquake centered in the waters near the Tokara Islands.
Following the application of the Disaster Relief Act, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provided the necessary information for D24H utilization to Kagoshima Prefecture, and a mechanism was activated to use it for responding to health issues at evacuation centers.
Furthermore, on February 16, 2026, a request was made to each prefecture to register municipal accounts in order to expand viewing authority to municipalities.
And then, July 22, 2026.
A simple manual titled "How to Input and View Public Health Center Damage Information Using D24H" was published on the official D24H website.
Six days later, on July 28, the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake occurred.
Looking at this timeline alone, it can be seen that D24H was being developed as an infrastructure for use in actual large-scale disaster response through stages: early utilization in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, introduction into an actual disaster in the Tokara Islands earthquake, expansion of the viewing scope to local governments, and the development of operation methods.
Information Moves So That People Can Move
What is important when considering D24H is not to make the system itself the goal.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare states that during a disaster, a wide range of measures is required, including medical care, infectious diseases, dental health and medical care, lifestyle-related inactivity diseases, support for those requiring special assistance and those affected at home, mental health care, and food support and nutritional guidance.
And the Health, Medical, and Welfare Coordination Headquarters plays the role of comprehensively coordinating the multiple support teams responsible for each of these.
D24H is positioned to support that coordination from the information side.
EMIS from medical institutions.
Disaster Information Sharing System from nursing care and welfare facilities.
D24H Survey from evacuation centers.
Furthermore, disaster information from other ministries through SOBO-WEB, etc.
Aggregate them and visualize them on a map.
What lies beyond that is decision-making such as:
"Where should support teams be dispatched?"
"Where are supplies needed?"
"What should be improved at the evacuation center?"
If DMAT and DWAT are "people who support the field," then D24H is positioned as the information foundation for those people to operate.
The Existence of D24H from the Perspective of BCP
In facility BCPs, the perspective of "reporting damage status" has tended to be the focus until now.
However, looking at the structure of D24H, reporting is not an end in itself.
It is a mechanism where damage status is aggregated through EMIS for medical institutions and through the Disaster Information Sharing System for nursing care and disability welfare facilities.
In other words, from the facility's perspective,
"Being in a state where damage can be reported" itself becomes the gateway to receiving support.
This is a point that is easy to overlook when considering BCP.
No matter how detailed a BCP is created, if the facility's damage status and support needs are not communicated externally, connection with external support becomes difficult.
Conversely, if you understand the information input mechanism during normal times and are in a state where you can organize the necessary information, it becomes a foundation for connecting the facility's situation to the external support system.
Of course, it is not possible to evaluate to what extent D24H facilitated the response in the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake based solely on the materials here.
What can be confirmed is the fact that D24H had some of its functions utilized ahead of time in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and subsequently, through repeated introduction into actual disasters, expansion of authority to local governments, and development of the operating environment, it was being developed as an infrastructure to handle broader information by the time the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake occurred.
"Information Infrastructure" is Also in the Middle of Development
In the DMAT article, we covered the "mechanism for people to move," and in the DWAT article, we covered the "process of creating systems."
D24H is a little different from those two.
This is a mechanism for connecting information.
And that mechanism, too, was not completed from the beginning.
It was used by releasing some functions during the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, operated in an actual disaster during the Tokara Islands earthquake, and since then, training, Q&As, development of municipal accounts, and manual updates have continued.
The 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake occurred while that development was ongoing.
That is precisely why, rather than viewing D24H as a "completed digital disaster prevention system," viewing it as an information infrastructure that is being developed along with the disaster response field allows for a more accurate grasp of its current position.
What is needed during a disaster is not just people, nor just systems.
People move.
Systems support.
And for that purpose, information is connected.
DMAT, DWAT, and D24H.
Mechanisms with different roles are overlapping within the same disaster response.
Instead of thinking of BCP as a "plan only within the facility," think of it including the flow of information that leads to external support.
The history of D24H seems to be one piece of material for considering that perspective.
And this information infrastructure is also currently in the process of being built.
Reference Materials
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Public Relations Magazine "Kosei Rodo" March 2025 Issue, Special Feature 2 (Part 2) "Origins and Initiatives of Health, Medical, and Welfare Support Teams Active Locally During Disasters"
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/houdou_kouhou/kouhou_shuppan/magazine/202503_002.html
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Minister's Secretariat, Health Science Division "Regarding the Response of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake" August 20, 2024, Material 5
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/12401000/001291023.pdf
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Minister's Secretariat, Health Science Division, Office of Crisis Management for Disasters, Administrative Notice "Regarding the Utilization of the 'Disaster Health, Medical, and Welfare Activity Support System (D24H)' During Large-Scale Disasters (Notification)" dated March 25, 2025
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001463038.pdf
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Material "Regarding the Disaster Health, Medical, and Welfare Activity Support System (D24H)" March 16, 2026 D24H Briefing
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001675031.pdf
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Minister's Secretariat, Health Science Division, Office of Crisis Management for Disasters, Administrative Notice "Regarding the Utilization, etc., of the 'Disaster Health, Medical, and Welfare Activity Support System (D24H)' During Large-Scale Disasters (Notification)" dated July 25, 2025
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10600000/001685325.pdf
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Minister's Secretariat, Health Science Division, Office of Crisis Management for Disasters, Administrative Notice "Regarding Response Toward the Utilization of the 'Disaster Health, Medical, and Welfare Activity Support System (D24H)' During Large-Scale Disasters (Request)" dated February 16, 2026
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10600000/001685328.pdf
D24H Official Website "How to Input and View Public Health Center Damage Information Using D24H" dated July 22, 2026
https://www.d24h.mhlw.go.jp/news/d24h%e3%82%92%e6%b4%bb%e7%94%a8%e3%81%97%e3%81%9f%e4%bf%9d%e5%81%a5%e6%89%80%e8%a2%ab%e5%ae%b3%e6%83%85%e5%a0%b1%e3%81%ae%e5%85%a5%e5%8a%9b%e3%83%bb%e9%96%b2%e8%a6%a7%e6%96%b9%e6%b3%95/
D24H Official Website Top Page / "About D24H"
https://www.d24h.mhlw.go.jp/ , https://www.d24h.mhlw.go.jp/d24h_intro/