Japanese Online Lessons using SKYPE

To everyone living in Japan, if you don’t want to die, look at the hazard map

July 10, 2020

Forty-four people died on July 4, 2020 due to the heavy rains that fell mainly in the Kyushu region. The damage is especially severe in Kumamoto Prefecture. Fourteen people died at a nursing home in Kuma Village.

Recently, it is not uncommon to see the heaviest rainfall in recorded history, probably due to extreme weather conditions. In addition, there are rivers all over Japan, so there is a risk of flooding all over the country. Japan is about to enter the typhoon season, so this is a good time to take precautions to prevent flooding in your area. It is strongly recommended that you check your flood risk.

The risk of flooding can be checked on the hazard maps operated by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

https://disaportal.gsi.go.jp/

This site will provide you with information on “flood risk,” “landslide risk,” and “tsunami risk” for your area. Just open the map and hover over your area to see how much of the above risk you are at.

And the accuracy of this hazard map is said to be extremely high.

Flooding in Nagano Prefecture, caused by a large typhoon in October 2019, has also been shown to have a high flood risk. And the floods that occurred in Kumamoto this time were also shown as dangerous on the hazard map.

The red point on the Google map on the left is where the nursing home where 14 people died is located. And the image on the right is a hazard map showing the flood risk at the same location. The area where the nursing home is located is pink, indicating the possibility of 10-20 meters of flooding.

And this image also shows a Google map on the left and a hazard map on the right. You can see that there are many places near Tokyo that are at high risk of flooding.

(The blue point on the right is the location of the flooding in Ibaraki Prefecture in 2015, which was also marked as high risk.).

We urge you to check out the hazard map to save yourself and your family’s lives.