Japan's Kawasaki Heavy to make ventilators for underground shelters

Kawasaki Heavy Industries

20/06/2024 10:19

TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd
 7012.T  said on Thursday it aimed to make Japan's first
ventilators to be used in underground shelters in 2026, as
neighbouring China intensifies a military buildup and North
Korea boosts its nuclear and missile arsenal.
    "First of all, these are for shelters for disaster response
in natural disaster-prone Japan. But they are for
defence-purpose shelters as well," a Kawasaki Heavy spokesperson
said.
    "It is assumed that there's going to be occasions in which
people will have to take refuge in shelters for such a purpose."
    Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has recently said that Japan
was in the severest security environment since the end of World
War Two.
    Referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kishida has also
said what's happening to Ukraine could happen in east Asia
"tomorrow". 
    The Kawasaki Heavy announcement comes a day after Russian
President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defence pledge.  
    Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, who is campaigning for a third
term, has pledged to set up shelters to protect 14 million
residents in the capital from potential missile attacks.
    Kawasaki Heavy, which, as a submarine manufacturer, already
has expertise in air supply control in confined spaces, said the
planned ventilators will be capable of removing poisonous gas as
well as small particles in the air.
    It has yet to be set how much the ventilators will sell for,
the spokesperson said.   

 (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Rocky Swift; editing by
Miral Fahmy)
 ((kiyoshi.takenaka@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 4563 2788;))