Every other article on this site is about “before the typhoon arrives.” This one is the only one that talks about afterward.
A storm shutter blew off. A carport was crushed. A tree fell on your car. When that happens, most people start by cleaning up. That’s the move you’ll regret most.
Before you clean up, take photos
Ginowan City writes the following as something it asks affected residents to cooperate with:
If you’ve suffered damage, before cleaning up or making repairs, we ask for your cooperation in photographing the damage and keeping the photos.
The reason is simple: the certificate that serves as your entry point to support exists to confirm “how severe the damage was.” You can’t confirm that after you’ve already cleaned up. Ginowan City also warns that, as time passes, it may become impossible to properly assess the extent of the damage.
Official guidance also exists on how to take the photos. For anyone requesting photo-based assessment, Ginowan City asks for “a full view of the property (all four sides)” and “photos that clearly show the damaged area.” Photograph the outside of the building from all four directions, then photograph the damaged spots — keep this in mind.
If your phone’s battery is running low from a power outage, the staying-in-touch article explains why you need to save battery for checking in with family — but taking the photos first is worth doing anyway.
A Disaster Victim Certificate and a Disaster Victim Notification Certificate are different things
The names are confusingly similar, but what each one covers is clearly different. Ginowan City’s explanation is the clearest, so here it is as-is.
| Disaster Victim Certificate (罹災証明書) | Disaster Victim Notification Certificate (被災届出証明書) | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Occupied housing (a building you actually live in) | Non-residential property (a business, vacant building, shop, warehouse), carports, vehicles, household goods, etc. |
| What it certifies | The degree of damage | That a report was made (does not certify degree) |
| Investigation | A residential damage assessment survey is carried out | No residential damage assessment survey (judged from photos) |
| Main use | Official disaster-victim support programs | Mainly for private insurance claims |
In other words, if a carport or a vehicle was damaged, that’s not a “Disaster Victim Certificate” case. Since this is exactly the kind of damage that’s common in a typhoon, getting this wrong means going back and forth at the counter.
For reference, in Ginowan City’s case, issuance takes 2 weeks to about a month, and there’s no fee. It’s not issued same-day. If you have something urgent riding on it, plan around that.
There’s a deadline
It’s easy to overlook, but applications have a deadline. Ginowan City states:
As a general rule, please apply within 90 days of the disaster occurring.
A re-investigation, if you’re not satisfied with the degree of damage you were certified for, must be requested within 60 days of the day after you received the certificate.
Deadlines can vary by municipality and by disaster, so the practically useful thing to remember isn’t the exact numbers — it’s “there is a deadline, so go to the counter early.”
Okinawa’s pitfall — the responsible department differs by municipality
This is the single most important thing this article wants you to take away.
If you assume “I just need to go to the city’s disaster-prevention counter,” you may come up empty.
Looking at the list of issuing offices Okinawa Prefecture compiled during Typhoon No. 6 in 2023, the responsible department is split this widely:
| Municipality | Department responsible for the Disaster Victim Certificate |
|---|---|
| Naha City | Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division |
| Ginowan City | Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Office |
| Urasoe City | Property Tax Division |
| Nago City | General Affairs Division |
| Itoman City | Secretariat and Disaster Prevention Division |
| Okinawa City | Citizens’ Affairs Division |
| Tomigusuku City | Tax Division |
| Uruma City | Crisis Management Division |
| Nakijin Village | Welfare and Children’s Division |
| Motobu Town | Property Tax Section |
| Chatan Town | Base Affairs and Security Division |
| Nishihara Town | Welfare Division |
It’s not always a disaster-prevention-type department — it’s scattered across tax, property tax, citizens’ affairs, and welfare divisions, differing by municipality. There’s a logic to it — assessing damage to a home is work similar to property tax valuation, which is why a property tax division sometimes handles it — but residents have no way to predict this.
What’s more, even within the same city, the department changes depending on what was damaged. Okinawa City’s own guidance splits it three ways:
- Damage to occupied housing → Citizens’ Affairs Division
- Damage to farmland, agricultural facilities, or agricultural machinery (for resident farmers/fishers) → Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Division
- Damage from fire → Fire Department Headquarters Prevention Division
Fire being handled by the fire department is the same in Ginowan City.
There’s exactly one thing worth doing during ordinary times. Search your municipality’s website for “Disaster Victim Certificate” and note down the responsible department’s name and phone number. That alone cuts down the time you’d otherwise spend being bounced between offices right after a disaster — a 5-minute task, same as registering for power outage information.
Note that the list above is specific to Typhoon No. 6 in 2023, and covers not all 41 municipalities in the prefecture but 34 (the municipalities to which the Disaster Relief Act was applied, discussed below). Organizational restructuring can also change which department handles this. Always confirm the current department with your own municipality.
A Disaster Victim Certificate is the entry point to support
The reason this article starts with the certificate is that the support that follows moves starting from it. The list Okinawa City publishes makes this clear.
- Disaster condolence payment — “available to those who have received a Disaster Victim Certificate”
- School attendance assistance (school supplies, school lunch fees, etc.) — “in addition to the usual application documents, a Disaster Victim Certificate or similar is required”
- Livelihood welfare fund loan (via the city council of social welfare) — “required documents: Disaster Victim Certificate, and photos showing you were affected”
Okinawa City also offers reductions of National Health Insurance premiums, Late-Stage Elderly Healthcare premiums, and nursing-care insurance premiums; reductions of and deferred collection of childcare fees; reductions of property tax; deferred collection of city taxes; reductions of water and sewerage charges; reductions of general waste processing fees; and temporary provision of vacant municipal housing units (up to 3 months), among others.
You don’t need to memorize the names of these programs. It’s enough to remember these two:
- Get a Disaster Victim Certificate (or Disaster Victim Notification Certificate).
- Ask at the counter, “I was affected by the disaster — are there any programs I can use?”
Amounts, conditions, and deadlines change depending on the disaster’s scale and the fiscal year. This site does not cover amounts. Always confirm with your municipality’s counter.
Okinawa City also notes, regarding its property tax reduction, that the reduction amount can change depending on the relationship between your application date and the payment deadline, so it advises inquiring early. Acting sooner can work in your favor in this respect too — another reason both the pre-cleanup photos and an early application matter.
In Okinawa, the Disaster Relief Act has been applied for a power outage alone
The “Disaster Relief Act” is widely thought of as a law for major disasters where buildings are destroyed. In Okinawa, however, there is an actual case where it was applied specifically because of a power outage.
Regarding Typhoon No. 6 in 2023, Okinawa Prefecture announced:
Because the power outages caused by the effects of Typhoon No. 6 (2023) put a large number of people at risk of harm to life or body, Okinawa Prefecture decided to apply the Disaster Relief Act in 10 cities, 9 towns, and 15 villages within the prefecture.
The application took effect on August 1, 2023, under Article 1, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the Order for Enforcement of the Disaster Relief Act. At the time, the prefecture recorded that by August 4, up to 34% of all households — roughly 210,000 households — had lost power (out of roughly 630,000 households total).
In the power outage article, we wrote about “building a setup that’s fine even if it lasts several days” — this is exactly why: a power outage from an Okinawa typhoon can reach a scale where formal relief measures kick in. Once the Disaster Relief Act is applied, the eligible relief can include setting up shelters and emergency temporary housing, providing food and drinking water, providing clothing and bedding, emergency repairs to housing, and clearing debris — with the cost borne by the national and prefectural governments.
Whether it’s applied is a case-by-case decision for each disaster. Don’t judge this yourself — consult your municipality first.
Disaster volunteers don’t always show up
A Disaster Volunteer Center, which helps with cleaning up homes and hauling away disaster debris, is set up by bodies such as the Okinawa Prefectural Council of Social Welfare (a social welfare corporation) or municipal councils of social welfare, when they judge it necessary. These are not government agencies.
And importantly, one is not necessarily set up every single time a typhoon hits. Regarding its response to Typhoon No. 9 on July 10, 2026, the Prefectural Council of Social Welfare announced:
While the Sakishima region experienced damage such as fallen trees, power outages, and damage to some facility equipment, the large-scale casualties, housing damage, and flooding initially feared were not confirmed. In light of the damage situation and the progress of recovery, we have decided to forgo setting up a Disaster Volunteer Center.
In this case, a relief headquarters was set up and an advance team was dispatched, and even so, the decision was made not to set one up.
In other words, it’s risky to make a plan on the assumption that “volunteers will come help.” Plan around what you and your family can realistically clean up on your own, and treat a Volunteer Center being set up as a bonus if it happens. Check whether one has been set up via official announcements from the Prefectural or your municipal Council of Social Welfare, each time.
Summary — three steps right after being affected
- Take photos before you clean up. A full view of the building from all four sides, then the damaged spots
- Apply for a certificate at your municipal counter. A “Disaster Victim Certificate” for occupied housing, a “Disaster Victim Notification Certificate” for a vehicle, carport, or household goods. There’s a deadline
- Ask at the counter, “Are there any programs I can use?” Reductions and condolence payments move starting from the certificate
And during ordinary times, look up just the name of your municipality’s responsible department in advance.
What this article does not cover
For an ongoing disaster, whether the Disaster Relief Act has been applied, whether a Disaster Volunteer Center has been set up, or whether support programs are currently accepting applications, is not covered by this site. Always check official up-to-date information and announcements from your municipality.
This article does not cover the amounts or application deadlines for relief payments, condolence money, or emergency repairs. These change by disaster and by fiscal year, and an individually run site cannot guarantee they’re current. Always confirm with your municipality’s counter.
This site does not make determinations about whether a program applies to you, or about damage assessments. If you’re unsure, consult your municipality’s responsible department.