CASE STUDY OF THE FLOOD IN JAPAN (2015)

LOCATION: Japan is an island country in East Asia. Japan is one of the countries that are most affected by natural

disasters .

• CAUSES OF FLOODS IN JAPANHistorically, Japan has been prone to a variety of water disasters including floods which are either the consequences of:i. METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (weather conditions )ii. GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS (precipitation terrain and steep rivers)iii. SETTLEMENT CONDITIONS (cities on river plains)

CAUSE OF THE FLOOD(2015) IN JAPAN

• Severe Tropical Storm (Report :11 September, 2015 by flood list news in Asia)

• During early September 2015,torrential rainfall brought by Tropical Storm caused widespread flooding and landslides in Japan

•  The severe tropical storm caused extensive and destructive floods across eastern areas  

 • Some areas had recorded almost 50 cm (19.6

inches) of rain in 48 hours.

THE MOST EFFECTED AREAS

Record-breaking rains fell across Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, triggering destructive floods with multiple rivers over-topping their banks.•Flooding occurred in Jōsō city, around 50 km north of Tokyo, in Ibaraki Prefecture after a beam broke and the Kinugawa River overflowed. •Widespread flooding affected Miyagi Prefecture, especially around the town of Taiwa.

• According to Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), red level flood warnings remained in place for several towns and cities in Ibaraki and Miyagi Prefectures, including Taiwa and Joso

• Approximately 2.8 million people were advised to evacuate these areas

• Throughout Ibaraki Prefecture, 3,089 hectares of crops were damaged with losses exceeding ¥920 million (US$7.6 million).

• Homes and businesses were affected. • Residents were left stranded on rooftops.

People trapped in houses waited to be rescued in Joso, Japan, after water spilled out of a Kinugawa river.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN

One half of Japan’s population is concentrated in inundation zones which account 10% of the total nation’s area .

• The number of guerilla has increased. Therefore, Japan developed effective measures to mitigate flood

damageTHE MEASURES TAKEN INCLUDE:• STRUCTURAL MEASURES (SMs)Stressed infrastructure development such as construction of dams,

refuge shelters and so on.• NON STRUCTURAL MEASURES(NSMs) Considered as a set of mitigation and adaptation measures which

reduce damage.