ALFRED — An ambassador to an international emergency management organization and a former minister of defense in Japan stopped by the York County Emergency Management Agency Monday to view operations there and talk a bit about how Japan prepares for disasters and emergencies ”“ and how all countries should prepare for the unexpected.

Yuki N. Karakawa, of the Karakawa Foundation and ambassador to the International Association of Emergency Managers, along with Kazuo Aichi, Japan’s defense minister in the 1990s, are both members of the Japan Resilience Initiative. The two visited at the behest of Rep. Andrea Boland, and had spent time in Boston before coming to Maine and before heading to Washington, D.C.

Karakawa said he became interested in legislation proposed by Boland that addressed electromagnetic pulses and solar storms ”“ emergencies that could severely impact the electric grid ”“ and consequently, how agencies and people respond. Boland’s legislation, as originally presented, would have had the Public Utilities Commission require utilities to put protections in place. The bill passed, but in a modified form that requires the PUC to examine measures to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic pulses on transmission lines.

While the talk of electromagnetic pulses, called EMP, is relatively new to many, what happened in Japan on March 11, 2011 is familiar to all: An earthquake triggered a tsunami that resulted in equipment failures at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, triggering what has been called the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

“Maybe you have a plan” for stopping disasters, Karakawa said. “But it’s not complete. Maybe you need a plan B.”

He said the disaster at Fukushima will be felt in Japan for a long time, and that there will be long-term medical effects ”“ something he claims the country hadn’t put into their planning systems. Because the country had planned for coping with tsunamis, by building a dike for example, it felt a plan for long-term care following a tsunami wasn’t necessary, Karakawa said. Japan prepared for one disaster at a time, not multiple hazards, he said.

He estimated it will take 150 years for decontamination around Fukushima to be complete.

Former York County Emergency Management Agency Director Bob Bohlmann said he’d known Karakawa for 15 years, and that he’s done a lot to spread the word about emergency management globally.

Leo Rogers, named the county’s emergency management agency director a few months ago, said the county is prepared and trains frequently using a number of different scenarios. He told the guests of how municipal, county, state and federal agencies work together to deal with emergencies and disasters.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.