In cases where a disaster involving an area of a municipality has occurred or is imminent, when the mayor of a municipality finds it urgently necessary for implementing emergency measures, the mayor may use temporarily the land, building, or any other structure belonging to other persons within the area of the municipality, use or expropriate stone, bamboo, and wood, or other objects, as provided for by Cabinet Order.
In cases where a disaster involving an area of a municipality has occurred or is imminent, when the mayor of a municipality finds it urgently necessary for implementing emergency measures, the mayor may remove any structures or objects on the site affected by the disaster and which may hinder the execution of emergency measures (hereinafter referred to as "structures, etc." in this Article) or take other necessary measures. In this case, when the mayor removes structures, etc., the mayor must keep custody of them.
When the mayor of a municipality has kept structures, etc. into their custody, pursuant to the provisions of the second sentence of the preceding paragraph, as provided for by Cabinet Order, the mayor must publicly notify the matters provided for by Cabinet Order in order to return the structures, etc., to the occupant, owner, or any persons having title to Structures, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "occupants, etc." in this Article).
When there is a risk of structures, etc., which have been kept in custody pursuant to the provisions of the second sentence of paragraph (2), being destroyed, lost, or damaged, or when their custody would incur undue cost or effort, as provided for by Cabinet Order, the mayor of a municipality may sell the Structures, etc., and hold the sales proceeds.
Costs of custody of structures, etc., their sale, public notices in connection with them, etc., prescribed in the preceding three paragraphs, are charged against the Occupants, etc. to whom the relevant Structures, etc., are returned, and as regards the collection of the expenses, Articles 5 and 6 of the Act on Substitute Execution by Administration (Act No. 43 of 1948) apply mutatis mutandis.
When the structures, etc., which have been kept in custody pursuant to the provisions of the second sentence of paragraph (2) (including sales proceeds under paragraph (4); hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph), cannot be returned after six months from the date of the public notice prescribed in paragraph (3), the ownership of the relevant structures, etc., is assigned to the municipality under the control of the mayor.
The provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to cases under paragraph (1) and the first sentence of paragraph (2).
Provided that neither the mayor of a municipality nor anyone able to exercise the authority of the mayor of a municipality prescribed in paragraph (1) or the first sentence of paragraph (2) above is present, the provisions of paragraph (1) and the first sentence of paragraph (2) above apply mutatis mutandis to the performance of the duties of SDF personnel of units under disaster relief operation. In this case, when SDF personnel of units under disaster relief operation have taken measures prescribed in the provisions of paragraph (1) or the first sentence of paragraph (2) above, they must immediately notify the mayor of a municipality to that effect.
When police officers, coast guard officers, or SDF personnel of units under disaster relief operation have removed structures, etc., pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to paragraph (7) or the first sentence of paragraph (2) as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to the preceding paragraph, they must present the relevant structures, etc., to the chief of a police station and others having jurisdiction over the original location of the structures, etc., or to the head of the units, etc. prescribed in Article 8 of the Self-Defense Forces Act and provided for by Disaster Management Agency Order (hereinafter referred to as "SDF unit commanding officer" in this Article). In this case, the chief of a police station and others, or SDF unit commanding officer must keep the relevant structures, etc., in custody.
The custody of structures, etc., by the chief of a police station and others, or SDF unit commanding officer pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph is governed by the provisions of paragraphs (3) through (6); provided, however, that the ownership of structures, etc., which cannot be returned after six months from the date of public notice governed by paragraph (3) are assigned to the prefecture to which the police station belongs if the relevant structures, etc., are under the custody of the chief of a police station, and to the State if they are under the custody of the head of the office of the regional coast guard headquarters provided for by Cabinet Order or the SDF unit commanding officer.
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disastermachine translation
「災害」
Damage caused by a storm, tornado, heavy rain or snow, flood, slope failure, debris flow, storm surge, earthquake, tsunami, soil liquefaction, volcanic eruption, landslide or other abnormal natural phenomenon, or by a large fire or explosion or another cause that a Cabinet Order (政令) specifies as causing damage on a similar scale.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1), item (i)· applies throughout the law
chief of a police station and others
「警察署長等」
In Article 59, paragraph (2) and Articles 64 and 66, the chief of a police station, or the head of an office of a regional coast guard headquarters that a Cabinet Order (政令) specifies.
Short name set inArticle 59, paragraph (2)· applies only in this paragraph and in Articles 64 and 66
emergency measures
「応急措置」
Fire-fighting, flood fighting, rescue and other emergency measures needed to fend off a disaster or stop it from spreading.
Short name set inArticle 62, paragraph (1)
SDF personnel of units under disaster relief operation
「災害派遣を命ぜられた部隊等の自衛官」
Members of the Self-Defense Forces in units or other formations under Article 8 of the Self-Defense Forces Act that have been ordered to deploy under Article 83, paragraph (2) of that Act.
Short name set inArticle 63, paragraph (3)
structures, etc.
「工作物等」
In Article 64, a structure (工作物) or object (物件) at the scene of a disaster that has been damaged and stands in the way of emergency measures, which the mayor of a municipality may remove.
Short name set inArticle 64, paragraph (2)· applies only in this article
occupants, etc.
「占有者等」
In Article 64, the occupant, owner or other person with title (権原) to a structure or object (工作物等) that has been removed to carry out emergency measures and taken into storage.
Short name set inArticle 64, paragraph (3)· applies only in this article
SDF unit commanding officermachine translation
「自衛隊の部隊等の長」
In Article 64, the head of a unit or other formation of the Self-Defense Forces under Article 8 of the Self-Defense Forces Act, as a Disaster Management Agency Order specifies, to whom structures and objects removed by Self-Defense Forces personnel and others are handed for storage.
Short name set inArticle 64, paragraph (9)· applies only in this article
chief of a police station
警察署長
The head of a police station (警察署). The Police Act (警察法) divides each prefecture's area into districts, each served by a police station, and places a chief in every station (Police Act, Article 53, paragraphs (1) and (2)). Under the direction and supervision of the officers above the station in the prefectural police — the Superintendent General (警視総監) of Tokyo's police, the chief of a prefectural police headquarters (警察本部長), or, in Hokkaido, a district headquarters chief (方面本部長), among others — the chief handles police work within the station's district and directs and supervises the station's police officials (Article 53, paragraph (3); Articles 48 and 51). Under the Road Traffic Act, a person who means to work on a road, put up a structure or a fixed stall on it, or use it in another way the prefectural public safety commission (公安委員会) has listed as greatly affecting traffic, needs the permission of the chief of the police station for that place (Road Traffic Act, Article 77, paragraph (1)). Under the Lost Property Act, a finder must promptly return a found item to its owner or hand it in to a police station chief, and must hand in items that are illegal to possess or appear to have been held by a criminal (Lost Property Act, Article 4, paragraph (1)); something found inside a facility such as a station or shop goes to the facility's operator instead (Article 4, paragraph (2)).
Written by AI using Police Act, Arts. 48, 51, 53, Road Traffic Act, Art. 77 and Lost Property Act, Art. 4 as a reference.