Towns, villages to get missile, disaster alert devices

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency is planning to provide every city, town and village in Japan with devices to receive a dedicated signal transmitted via a satellite that warns of a ballistic missile attack by another country as well as natural calamities such as earthquakes and tsunami, agency sources said Saturday.

The agency is planning to start running the J-ALERT nationwide instantaneous warning system next fiscal year, which begins April 1, after local governments ready themselves to receive signals amid growing concern over North Korea's missile launches and nuclear test. The agency is planning to provide the device — a satellite modem that can receive signals transmitted by the agency — to around 1,400 cities, towns and villages equipped with wireless communications systems for disaster preparedness over two years from next fiscal year, the sources said.