GRIPS Online Lecture on International Policies of Japan

University of the Philippines Los Banos

Disasters in the World and Japan

Feb. 7, 2023

Masaru SUGAHARA
Professor, Director of Disaster Management Policy Program
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, JAPAN

M. SUGAHARA
 About GRIPS
• Founded in 1997 as a stand-alone graduate institute
• Around 400 students from 63 countries and regions
(70% outside Japan)
• 67 full-time faculty (16 outside Japan) and 121
adjunct Faculty
• Over 5000 alumni in more than 117 countries and
regions

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 About GRIPS

• Training of Policy Professionals and Researchers

• Degree programs
• Master’s programs
• Ph.D. programs
• Short-term training programs

• Policy Research

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 About this online lecture
This online lecture is a part of the project supported
by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan with the aim of
promoting better understanding of Japan’s policy
among specialists and students in other countries.
Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy
Studies (GRIPS) will provide an insightful lecture on
specific topic of Japan’s policy with the latest
information.

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 Disasters in the World and Japan
Prof. Masaru SUGAHARA, Professor; Director of
Disaster Management Policy Program, GRIPS

 Flood Disasters Resilience and Sustainability

under Climate Change
Prof. Toshio KOIKE, Exective Director of ICHARM,
Public Works Research Institute, PWRI

 Open Forum
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 Contents
1.Recent Disasters in the World

2.Recent Disasters in Japan

3.Actions to reduce water related damages to

buildings

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 1.Recent Disasters in the World

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 10 Worst Disasters (fatalities) in the last 30 years
Country Disaster Year Deaths/missing
1 Indonesia, others Earthquake/tsunami 2004 over 226,000
2 Haiti Earthquake 2010 222,600
3 Myanmar Cyclone/flood 2008 138,400
4 Bangladesh Cyclone/flood 1991 137,000
5 China(Sichuan) Earthquake 2008 87,500
6 Pakistan, others Earthquake 2005 75,000
7 Venezuela Flood 2000 30,000
8 Iran (Bam) Earthquake 2003 26,800
9 India Earthquake 2001 20,000
10 Japan Earthquake/tsunami 2011 19,000

Source: Prepared from White Paper on Disaster Management 2019

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Indian Ocean Tsunami
・2004. 12. 26 (Sunday) 7:58 AM
・Magnitude: 9.1
・Total deaths: 226,408 (Total)
・Affected countries：Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, etc Photo: UNCRD
Source: USGS, EM-DAT

Tsunami propagation

Africa Jan. 2005

Madagascar
Australia

Number of deaths Dec. 2014

Source: NIED Banda Aceh Photo: AFP
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Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar
・May 2008
・Total deaths: 138,366
・2.4 million are affected out of the
Myanmar's population 4.7 million

Source: CAO

Cyclone Nargis: Routes and affected areas

Source: CAO

Source: NASA Source: NASA Photo : jiji

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Cyclone (Bangladesh)
・April 1991
・Total deaths: more than 130 thousand people
・Since 1991, disaster prevention measures such as
the construction of cyclone shelters for evacuation,
early warning systems and embankments have been
taken with international support.

Photo: JICA

Cumulative number of shelters set

Number of deaths

Source: CAO
Source: CAO
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 2. Recent Disasters in Japan

M. SUGAHARA Map: https://frame-illust.com/ 12

Number of Deaths and Missing in Natural Disasters in Japan (1945-)
25,000
2011: Great East Japan Earthquake (22,252 (as of 2019.3.1))
22,515

20,000

1945: Mikawa EQ (2,306) TYP Makurazaki (3,756)

15,000

1959: TYP Isewan (5,098) etc

10,000

1995: Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (6,437)

6,062 5,868 6,482
5,000

0
1945
1947
1949
1951
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
Source: White Paper on Disaster Management 2019
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Great East Japan Earthquake 2011

・Disaster Name: The Great East Japan Earthquake

・Name of the earthquake: The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku
Earthquake

・Occurrence： 14:46 JST Friday, 11 March, 2011

・Magnitude 9.0 (Mw)
・Maximum seismic intensity : 7 Reference (2010)

Number of
・Deaths：19,729（Including disaster-related deaths） population households
Iwate 1.3 million 480,000
Missing：2,559 Miyagi 2.4 million 900,000
・House damage: Total collapse 121,996, Fukushima 2 million 720,000
Total 5.7 million 2.1million
Half collapse 282,941, Partly collapse 748,461 Source: Statistics Bureau

・Damage: Approx. 16.9 trillion yen (Cabinet Office estimate)

Source: Extreme Disaster Management Headquarters

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 Tsunami Observation Status
Tsunami Observations (Japan
Traces of the Tsunami Legend
Meteorological Agency)
Inundation height
Aomori Runup height

Iwate

Miyagi

Inundation height and Runup height

Inundation height

Fukushima

Runup height
Ibaraki

Source: Central Disaster Management Council

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 Damage to buildings, etc.
Wooden Steel frame

RC

non-structural
elements

Photo: NILIM/BRI
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 liquefaction

The house slopes down. Floating of buried pipe

Photo: NILIM/BRI

long-period seismic motion Long-period seismic table

Class Human experience and behavior
1 Most people in the room feel the
shaking. Some people are surprised.
2 Feeling large shaking indoors and
wanting to hold on to something.
Feeling difficulty in walking or other may fall off.
activities without holding something.
3 Difficult to stand.
4 Impossible to stand, and to move
without huffing and puffing. At the
mercy of the sway.
Photo: https://www.asahi.com
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indoor conditions
Blinds and other suspended items
shake significantly.
Castor fixtures move slightly. Dishes
on shelves and books on bookcases
Castor fixtures move significantly.
Furniture that is not secured may
move and unstable items may fall
over.
Some of the castor fixtures move a
lot and some fall over. Most of the
furnitures not secured move and
some fall over.
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency 17
 Cause of death and age structure

Cause of Death in the Tohoku- Comparison of the death and

Pacific Ocean Earthquake the population by age group
(Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures) (Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures)

Pressed, Injured, Burned

etc. 1.1%
4.4% Unknown
2.0%

Ratio by age group

Drowned
92.4% Death Population

As of 11 April 2011

Source: Central Disaster Management Council

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Typhoon No 19 of 2019, Hagibis
・Oct. 2019
Levee breach of the
・Amount of rainfall in 24 hours：942.5 mm
Chikuma River
(Hakone, Kanagawa)
・Wind speed：44.8m/s (Kozushima, Tokyo)
・104 deaths, 3 Missing, 384 Injured
・Houses: Total collapse 3,308, half collapse
30,024, partial damage 37,320, flood above floor
level 8,129, flood below floor level 22,892
Source: CAO

Flood of Nagano Shinkansen

Damage of power pole and electric wire Train Car Center

Photo: BBC.com
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Heavy rain on July, 2018

・July, 2018
・Amount rainfall in 24 hours：691.5mm (Umaji-mura, Aki-gun, Kochi Prefecture)
・237 deaths
・Total collapse 6,767, half collapse 11,243, partial damage 3,991, flood above
floor level 7,173, flood below floor level 21,296
Source: CAO

flood Landslide Debris flow

Mabi-cho, Kurashiki, Okayama Moji-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Yoshida-cho,Uwajima, Ehime

Photo: Central Disaster Management Council

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3. Actions to reduce water related damages
to buildings

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Amendment of River Basin Management related laws (2021)

 Recently, water related disasters have become more severe and

frequent throughout Japan. (e.g. Heavy rain on July 2018 and Typhoon
No 19 of 2019)

 Estimation of the effects of climate change

• Rainfall will be 1.1 times
• Frequency of flood will be doubled
(Japan, End of the 20th century → End of the 21st century)

 Key measures
• Strengthening of River Basin Management plans and systems
• Measures to prevent flooding as much as possible
• Measures to reduce damage areas (e.g. Promote relocation from
hazardous areas, develop evacuation bases against disasters, and
district level flood measures)
• Measures to mitigate damages, early recovery and reconstruction

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 Article 39 of the Building Standards Law (Disaster Risk Area)
Article 39. A local public organization may designate areas with a frequent danger of tidal waves,
high tide, flood, etc. as Disaster Risk Areas by ordinances.
2. With respect to Disaster Risk Areas, the prohibition of construction of buildings for use as
houses and other restrictions relating to the construction of buildings, which are necessary for
disaster prevention, shall be stipulated by ordinances as mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

• Wooden structures are prohibited

Nagoya city
Area 1
• More than 2 floors required in principal
• Flat house requirements
• 1rooms on 1st floor is more than N･P(+)3.5m
Area 2 • Buildings with two or more stories in the same site
• Evacuation rooms and equipment for 100 m2 or less

Area 3

• More than 2 floors required in principal

• Flat house requirements
• 1rooms on 1st floor is more than N･P(+)3.5m
Area 4 • Buildings with two or more stories in the same site

Source: Nagoya city

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 Guidelines for anti-inundation measures of
electrical equipment in buildings
• Heavy rainfall during Typhoon No. 19 in eastern Japan in 2019 caused internal water inundation in the
basement of high-rise condominiums in the Tokyo metropolitan area, flooding the high-voltage
transformer equipment installed in the basement, resulting in power outages that rendered lifelines such
as elevators and water supply facilities unusable for a certain period of time.
• In light of this flood damage to buildings, the MLIT and the METI collaborated to establish the study group
with academic experts and related industry organizations to study the best way to deal with flood damage.
• Guidelines was compiled and publicized to relevant organizations on June 2020.

1．Target buildings
・Buildings that require the installation of high-voltage power receiving and transforming equipment, etc.
・New construction, renovation of existing buildings, etc.

2．Setting target levels

・Owners and managers, with the support of professional engineers, set the target level.
・Assume inundation depth and duration of flooding, taking into account the necessity to continue
functioning. (e.g., a flooding depth of XX cm)
✓Estimated flooding areas designated by the national and local governments
✓Municipal hazard maps (assuming an average of once-in-a-millennium floods)
✓Topographic information (to understand the detailed flooding risk of the site)
✓Record of maximum rainfall, inundation, etc.
・Set a target level of inundation prevention measures necessary to continue functioning against the set
scale of inundation.

M. SUGAHARA Source: MLIT

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3．Measures against inundation
①Installation of electrical equipment in areas with low risk of flooding (Upstairs)
②Measures to prevent inundation in the building (Inundation prevention lines are set up around the perimeter of
buildings, etc., and the following measures are taken for all flooding routes along the line)
(Entrances and exits)
・Mound up, Installation of flood barriers, watertight doors and sandbags
(Openings)
・Installing water stoppage boards around the KARABORI.
・Installation at a high position in a vent or other opening, etc.
(Countermeasures against backflow and overflow) Mound up
Detachable
waterstopper
・Backflow from the sewage system (e.g., installing a valve)
・Inundation from storage tanks (e.g., sealing of manholes)
③Measures to prevent inundation of rooms with electrical equipment, etc.
(Building block level)
・Formation of watertight areas by installation of a watertight door, etc. watertight door waterstopper

・Filling of watertight material to pipe penetrations, etc. High voltage substation, Emergency
Set electrical
(Electrical equipment) generator, Battery, Solar power
equipment on
the roof
・Set electrical equipment upstairs
・Adoption of water-resistant electrical equipment
(Reduce the inundation)
・Installation of a storage tank to allow rainwater, etc.
Uplift pumps
4．Measures for early restoration of electrical equipment and power
panels
(Ordinary times)
・Establishing a liaison system of owners/managers, etc.
Uplift the first floor
・Preparation of drawings of equipment
(Measures to be taken during and after the disaster) Water tank Water level
・Drainage operations, cleaning, inspection, and restoration methods
・Restoration work, etc.

M. SUGAHARA Source: MLIT

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 Thank you

M. SUGAHARA