As one of the key measures to be addressed, the restructure of a measure for supporting commuters encountering difficulties to return home at the time of disaster is listed in the Guidelines. The issue was brought to special attention earlier in the presentation by TMG at the 9th Asian Crisis Management Conference held in Seoul in September 2011 (see the 17th issue of Interaction Asia). Among specific approaches suggested in the Guidelines to achieve this goal are: establishing regulations to control overcrowding of commuters trying to get home; securing facilities to be used as temporary shelters for stranded commuters; reinforcing information communication infrastructure; and enhancing support and assistance for commuters trying to get home all at once.

The Guidelines also focus on mutual help among citizens in local communities, which becomes especially important when a local government is seriously damaged by a major disaster and becomes dysfunctional. On the Guideline, advanced and effective approaches which raise every citizen's awareness and revitalize power of self-help and mutual help within a local community will be recognized by the TMG as a model of "Disaster Management Neighborhood Units". TMG will disseminate such community-based mutual help approaches widely across Tokyo through introducing such activities among citizens.

The development of the community-based mutual help system was also included as one of the goals at the TMG Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill, which was held on October 29, 2011 (see the 18th issue of Interactive Asia). As a part of the drill, local citizens practiced together to rescue victims from a collapsed building.

Based on the Guidelines, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will continue its efforts to further improve Tokyo's disaster readiness by developing specific plans for disaster preparation and management.