TOKYO: Japan's Foreign Ministry plans to set up a mobile team that will help Japanese expatriates return home if an infectious disease breaks out or a terrorist attack occurs overseas, informed sources have said.

The move is based on lessons learned from the experience of evacuating Japanese nationals from Wuhan, China, the initial epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak.

The ministry will stockpile necessary supplies, including medical goods and protective suits, as well as build a system that will allow the government to swiftly send employees with knowledge of the affected region and fluent in the area's language in the time of an emergency.

In the recent evacuation efforts, the Japanese government sent five chartered planes to the capital city of the inland China province of Hubei between January and February to take 828 Japanese nationals and their family members back to Japan.

During the operations, the ministry sent employees working at the Japanese embassy in Beijing to Wuhan by land.

The ministry's employees working at its headquarters in Tokyo were on the chartered planes to head up support activities.

Pressed to take prompt measures, the ministry struggled to secure necessary human resources.

According to the sources, the ministry had to hastily round up staff who understood Chinese as there were not enough employees fluent in the language at its Consular Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of operations to protect Japanese nationals.

After going through such hardships, the ministry judged that it needs to establish a permanent team working solely on helping Japanese people return home.

In a fiscal 2020 supplementary budget, which was enacted on Thursday, the ministry earmarked 3.5 billion yen as expenses to beef up efforts in protecting Japanese people, including costs for the stockpiles and travel expenses of the new team.

The ministry is currently considering creating a unit consisting of around 20 members for each region.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi had previously told a press conference that he felt the strong need to reinforce protection and support measures for Japanese expatriates and tourists, based on the lessons learned from such efforts in Wuhan.

JIJI Press