[4] Tatsuo Hirano, a native of Iwate Prefecture, served as the agency's first Minister of State for Disaster Management until he was replaced by Osamu Fujimura on June 4, 2012.

[6] The agency was originally planned to exist for ten years, the length of time estimated to fully restore the region after the disaster, and then be dissolved on March 3, 2021.

The agency also sought to work with business associations in Japan in order to establish or revive economic activity in the Tohoku region affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.

Kan acknowledged the slow pace of government response to the disaster on March 3, 2011, and pledged to speed up recovery efforts.

[4][20] Residents displaced by the tsunami have opposed Agency-led plans to rebuild towns on higher land away from the coast, and see it as a disconnect between the central government and the population in the Tōhoku region.