Japan’s Self-Defense Forces Shares Disaster Relief Knowledge to Indo-Pacific Countries’ Militaries in Mutual Aid Effort

By Hiroshi Mizota / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

16:18 JST, September 17, 2025

The Self-Defense Forces are sharing knowledge and skills in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief with the militaries of Indo-Pacific nations and others.

The SDF’s track record in responding to various disasters in the past has drawn attention from various countries, and the aim is to deepen trust with other nations by imparting this knowledge.

Training with Philippine Army

On Sept. 4, the Ground Self-Defense Force and the Philippine Army jointly conducted a disaster relief drill on a riverbed in Minami Ward, Kumamoto, which recorded a seismic intensity of 6 lower during the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

Facing a building simulating a collapsed house, GSDF personnel called out, “Is anyone there?” and “Please move away because we are about to break through the wall.”

Philippine Army soldiers and GSDF members used engine cutters to slice through the concrete wall of the simulated collapsed building. Once a triangular hole was made in the wall, personnel of the Philippine Army and the GSDF entered the building carrying a stretcher. They laid down a GSDF member playing the role of a survivor on the stretcher and got out through the hole. Several personnel carefully carried the mock survivor to an ambulance parked nearby.

The drill was conducted as part of the Japanese Defense Ministry’s Defense Capacity Building Assistance in and around the Camp Kita-Kumamoto in Kumamoto.

The scenario of the drill was that after a major earthquake, landslides and river flooding caused by torrential rainfall are about to occur, and so an international emergency rescue team dispatched by the Philippine military and the GSDF jointly conduct search and rescue missions. A total of about 50 personnel from both nations participated. While communicating in English, they practiced rescuing individuals trapped in vehicles buried by mudslides and confirmed the procedures for using boats to evacuate victims from isolated communities.

A colonel of the Philippine Army said that typhoons, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters could occur anytime in both Japan and the Philippines. The colonel said that it is important for the two countries to unite and that the Philippine Army wants to learn more about the SDF’s advanced techniques.

Mutual aid in the future

Since fiscal 2012, the Defense Ministry has provided various forms of support in accordance with partner nations’ needs, including medical treatment for casualties, ship maintenance and cybersecurity. Among these, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief receives the most requests. Ten years ago, support was provided to just five countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam. Today, that number is 11 countries and organizations, mainly in Southeast Asia.

The Self-Defense Forces have accumulated a track record of activities, including lifesaving missions, medical care, disease prevention and water supply, after natural disasters such as earthquakes and torrential rains. For immediate disaster response, the SDF has initial response units are on standby in various locations. They also coordinate land, sea and air units and build cooperative frameworks with local governments. A Defense Ministry senior official said, “Countries prone to disasters seem to particularly expect the skills cultivated by the SDF.”

In 2013, the Philippines suffered extensive damage from a typhoon and the SDF’s international emergency relief unit conducted relief missions there. In 2015, the Defense Ministry invited Philippine military personnel to Japan for training at an SDF facility on aircraft transport and airdropping supplies. Since then, Japan has continued sharing insights on disaster dispatch mechanisms and teaching the operation of specialized equipment used in operations, such as hydraulic cutters and backpack fire pumps.

A senior officer of the GSDF expressed hope for mutual aid in the future. “Japan is providing assistance now, but someday when a disaster strikes Japan, we might need assistance from the Philippine military.”

Enhancing defense cooperation

The Capacity Building Assistance Program is a Defense Ministry initiative where the SDF provides personnel training and technical support to other nations’ militaries in security and defense fields, primarily in the Indo-Pacific region. To date, approximately 1,300 SDF personnel have been dispatched to the countries, providing training to about 7,600 individuals. Last fiscal year, the program was conducted in 14 countries, one organization and one region.

The program aims to build security circumstances desirable for Japan by strengthening cooperation in the defense fields through proactively engaging in the recipient countries’ capacity building.

For example, while continuing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief support for the Philippines, Japan has in recent years conducted tactical training exercises with naval vessels and held regular defense ministerial meetings. Amid China’s persistent aggressive maritime expansion in the East and South China Seas, the Defense Ministry aims to deepen cooperative ties toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The Philippines, like Japan, is a U.S. ally, creating an environment conducive to coordination with Japan. However, some Indo-Pacific nations are forced to maintain a difficult balance in their relationships with the United States and China.

“Support in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief is a soft approach, making it an easy entry point for building relationships,” said Hirohito Ogi, a senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based Institute of Geoeconomics and expert in security policies. “While analyzing the political systems and social conditions of partner countries, it is necessary to gradually develop defense cooperation.”