ICHARM FHM Text 1

LOCAL DISASTER MANAGEMENTAND HAZARD MAPPING

October 2008

Shigenobu TANAKAInternational Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management

ICHARM FHM Text 1

CONTENTS

1. Outline of FHM

1

1.1 What is Flood Hazard Map?

1

1.2 Objectives of FHM

2

1.3 Role of flood hazard map in IFRM

3

1.4 How to make FHM

4

1.5 Differences between anticipated inundation map and historical inundation map

6

1.6 Importance of correct recognition of hazard

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1.7 Self help, Mutual support and Public assistance7

2. Flood Hazard Mapping Manual
2.1 Background of FHM and its development

3. Legislation and Institution of FHM

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3.1 Development of disaster management in Japan

15[River Act](1896)

15[Erosion Control Act](1897)

16[Disaster Relief Act](1947)

16[Flood Control Act](1949)

17[Building Standard Law](1950)

17[Act on National Treasury Share of Expenses for Recovery Projects for Public Civil Engineering Facilities Damaged Due to Disasters](1951)
18[Meteorological Service Act](1952)

18[Seashore Act](1956)

20[Land slide Control Act](1958)

20[Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act](1960)

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3.2 Contents & Structure of Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act

22

4. Disaster management in administration and organization

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4.1 Roles of each administration and organization in Disaster Management28

4.2 Preparing FHM

31

4.3 Emergency Operation

31

5. Evacuation planning35

5.1 Objective

35

5.2 Evacuation Plan in legislation

35[Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act]36

5.3 Relation between evacuation planning and hazard map

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5.4 Evacuation area40

5.5 Evacuation places(shelters) and routes

40

5.6 Mobilization plan

41

5.7 Dissemination of information

42

5.8 Evacuation recommendations/orders

42

5.9 Education and drills

43

5.10 Example of Evacuation Plan

44

Points to be discussed !

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1. Outline of FHM
1.1 What is Flood Hazard Map?
In Japan, in the sense of legislation, Flood Hazard Map(FHM) is defined as a map
1) with anticipated inundation area2) with information for safe evacuation
3) made by municipality.
However, a map of past inundation with/without information for safe evacuation can also
be called “FHM”. It can be considered that the essence of FHM is “hazard” of floods.
Then, so-called “flood risk map” can also be included in FHM.
The web page of “Terminology of disaster risk reduction” in ISDR(UN/International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction) does not have “(Flood) Hazard Map” or “(Flood) Risk
Map”. See the following site.
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/library/lib-terminology-eng%20home.htm
In EU, Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks enteredinto force on 26 November 2007. The Directive includes “flood hazard maps” or “floodrisk maps”. See the following site.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:288:0027:0034:EN:P
DF
It is written in Chapter III, that Flood hazard maps shall cover the geographical areas
which could be flooded according to the following scenarios:(a) floods with a low probability, or extreme event scenarios;(b) floods with a medium probability (likely return period ≥ 100 years);(c) floods with a high probability, where appropriate.
For each scenario the following elements shall be shown:(a) the flood extent;(b) water depths or water level, as appropriate;(c) where appropriate, the flow velocity or the relevant water flow.
Flood risk maps shall show the potential adverse consequences associated with flood
scenarios referred to in paragraph 3 and expressed in terms of the following:(a) the indicative number of inhabitants potentially affected;(b) type of economic activity of the area potentially affected;(c) installations as referred to in Annex I to Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (1) which mightcause accidental pollution in case of flooding and potentially affected protected areas identified in Annex IV(1)(i), (iii) and (v) to Directive 2000/60/EC;(d) other information which the Member State considers useful such as the indicationof areas where floods with a high content of transported sediments and debris
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floods can occur and information on other significant sources of pollution.
In UK, the Environment Agency shows how to get information on flood risk. See the following site. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/?lang=_e
They use “Flood Map” in it.
The Japanese FHM is mainly focused in this text hereafter.

1.2 Objectives of FHM
The goal of the flood management is to minimize the damage of life and property and to
maximize the benefit from floods. Since the flood is a natural phenomenon that usuallytriggered by severe rainfall, it is difficult to get full control over it. History shows that thehuman being used to live away from natural hazards. While the society develops, city
expands and land becomes scarce commodity, then, people tend to live in unsafe zones
while pursuing comfortable way of living. Although some levels of countermeasures
have been adopted to mitigate the disaster risk, these are not enough and not a complete solution by any means.
The natural runoff process has been much affected by human activities. One of directly
influencing activities includes the construction of flood control facilities such as dams,
embankment. On the other hand, human activities such as urban development, deforestation etc are equally crucial to influence the natural runoff process. Further, the effect ofclimate change may worsen the situation of flood risk management since countermeasures for flooding are insufficient in general.
We have to know well what kind of phenomena will be brought by a flood in the situationof flood risk management in the above mentioned contexts. Floods are classified into
“flash flood”, “continental flood”, “inundation befind levees” and so on and they haveindividual characteristics in relation with rainfall patterns . Some of them change very
gradually and the others quickly. In case of quick flood, one cannot evacuate after noticing the phenomenon. Even in the gradually sweeping flood, for people such as the disabled and infant, it takes longer time to evacuate. In addition, safe evacuation needs asafer evacuation route and safe evacuation places therefore it is important for flood
managers to be well prepared for appropriate evacuation.
In order to deal with above mentioned issues adequately, FHM is usually developed insuch a manner that it displays clearly the inundation area(with water depth), dangerous
spots at floods, information on smooth and quick evacuation such as the location of
shelter, evacuation route, access point to flood information.
From this point of view, it becomes important not only to make easy-to-understand FHM
but also it must be familiarized broadly among the residents and to develop their resilience to manage evacuation by themselves.

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1.3 Role of flood hazard map in IFRM
The Integrated Flood Risk Management(IFRM) will provide ample knowledge on the importance of flood risk management to maintain natural harmony and promote sustainable use of the resources of the river basin.
The role of FHM is to let the residents recognize the risk of floods as well as ensuresmooth and quick evacuation at floods.
The information about inundation characteristics is important for recognizing the floodrisk and it has to contain the inundation area at the least. It might be helpful if it has theinformation such as inundation depth, flow direction of flood, flow velocity and so on.
With these information, one can know whether his house is located in safe zone against
floods or not. In the case of unsafe, one can know how to evacuate safely. It is very difficult to know how miserable flood disaster is as broadcasted by TVs or newspapers.
The work to recover an ordinary life after flooding is very harder than mere cleaning after receding flood water. In case of breach of embankment, it must be recognized thathouses near to the breach might be destroyed by the strong current of floodwater.
Once the threat to a community or a city is recognized, countermeasures to mitigate
them are sought. Establishment of some extent of flood control facilities such as embankments will certainly reduces the frequency of flood disaster, however, many people
might have misunderstood that their community or city is/has become completely safe
so will forget any possible disaster thereby will lose adequate judgment of flood disasterprevention. This leads to accumulation of asset and higher flood disaster potential in
the case of breach of structures and consequent flood. In this situation, the anual meandisaster damage may become larger than in the case without structural countermeasures.
In order to prevent from falling into and repeating such foolish and illogical situation, it isimportant that politicians, administrators, residents have to realize the flood risk of theircity and endeavor to achieve a wise and sustainable use of the river basin.
Generally speaking, development needs some extent of investment which is brought byaccumulation of surplus. It means no surplus yields no development. On the contrary, if
one has some asset, he needs a security system such as safe or lock. Similarly, a citywhich has achieved some development have to install a security system, otherwise adevastating disaster will deprive the city of most property including infrastructures andforce to be back to its initial stage. Most people of large cities in developing countries
are poor and living in flood prone areas without effective countermeasure. This situation
may cause issues to be solved while the administrators implement appropriate countermeasures corresponding its level of urbanization. Even similar problems can be seenin Japan. Though the degree of security or disaster prevention of a city must be raised

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according to its development or urbanization, it is very difficult to move people who once
settled even in high inundation risk area unless they are completely destroyed.

1.4 How to make FHM
The process preparing FHM is as follows;
1) The administrator of the river provides information on anticipated inundation areawith depth2) Show the anticipated inundation area and depth on the topographical map and discuss necessary information for safe evacuation (by municipal office)3) Stack above three kinds of information in a map (by municipal office)See Fig. 1-1.
Information for safe evacuation

Flood Hazard Map
stacking

Data of Anticipated
Inundation Area(by MLIT / pref.
Governor)

Map
Fig. 1-1 Process of preparation of FHM

In Japan, administrators of the river are classified into three patterns, i.e., Class A river,Class B river and others. Rivers subject to the River Law are classified into Class A andClass B rivers, depending on the importance of their roles. The Class A rivers are more
important than Class B rivers because the basin spreads over several prefectures anddue to other reasons. The administrator of Class A rivers is the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT). On the other hand, the governors of prefectures administrate Class B rivers. Most of the substantial works for Class A rivers arecarried out by the work office of MLIT. Several work offices are responsible for big andlong rivers, however, it is common for a work office to manage several smaller Class A
rivers. See Fig. 1-2.
The return period of the design flood in Class A river depends on the importance of theflood affecting area such as population and asset in it. It varies 200, 150 and 100 years.
Each work office calculates anticipated inundation area for its responsible flood affecting
area. The Class A and B rivers have installed levees on both sides in their flood affecting area generally. At this moment, the current altitude of levee is generally higher thanthe design high water level, therefore, no one knows where will breach by design floodor larger flood. To cope with this issue, it is assumed that breach will occur every 1 km
on both sides. This means several tens of inundation calculations are necessary. After
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Fig. 1-2 Classification of river administrators.
these calculations, the envelope of the peak inundation water levels is obtained and inundation depths for celles in flood affecting area are obtained. So, the inundation area
due to a breach does not coincide with the anticipated inundation map. In order to give
more detailed information to the residents, the work office often shows every chronological inundation change of every breach. This information will help residents to understand how the inundation area will spread in near future in case of actual breach. See
the following site as an example of movie(sorry in Japanese).
http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/tonejo/bousai/hanran/tone_1260_r_movie.htm

Fig. 1-3 Difference between inundation map using historical record and calculation
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1.5 Differences between anticipated inundation map and historical inundation map
In case that the flood affected area does not have levees for design flood and almost
same area is inundated by the floods of similar magnitude, historical inundation recordor map can be used. The largest historical inundation area is very helpful for residents
until continuous levees constructed. On the other hand, after construction of continuous
levees corresponding to design flood, the envelope type of anticipated inundation map
will be needed. Even in the case without sufficient continuous levees, the result of calculation of anticipated inundation area can provide useful information for emergency
operation. If you can know rainfall forecast, you can obtain very useful inundation information from the runoff and inundation calculation such as when flooding starts, howflood spreads and so on. Usually, inundation analysis takes longer time, so it should be
calculated beforehand. This information will help disaster weak to evacuate safely. See
Fig. 1-3.

1.6 Importance of correct recognition of hazard
We must fear natural hazard correctly. A lot of people recorded tsunami attacking scene
in videos at the saddest Indian Ocean Tsunami. This tsunami was the first tsunami ofwhich hitting phenomena were recorded in so many videos. The videos have beenshared across the world through mass media so that many people became to knowwhat Tsunami is and how Tsunami attack coastal area. If you watch this movie, you willfind how difficult to survive from a tsunami. However, we donʼt have sufficient information to know what flood is and how flood sweeps. We can find considerable photos offlooded situation in books and on internet but they do not necessarily show us fear offlooding realistically.
Torahiko Terada, who is an eminent physicist in Japan, once wrote “it is easy to fear athing too much or little but it is difficult to fear it appropriately.” This is true for floods or
natural disasters. A FHM does not tell the fear of floods. You can find just whether you
are at inundation risk area or not. If you are at
risk area you have to imagine what kind of WYSIWYG
phenomena will happen on you by another ［What You See Is What You Get］
source and know how to avoid being a victim of denoting the representation of text on
flood. We should understand what flood is with screen in a form exactly correspondFHM and keep the knowledge until flood ing to its appearance on a printout.
comes.
If we have a time in an emergency, we should do somethings for the others such as
helping disaster weak people. However, generally, it is very difficult. In order to do suchactivities, we need drills until we can do it unconsciously or automatically. We aretrained to behave a good manner in a society such as greeting, not throwing away a
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piece of litter and picking it up. Like this, we have to train ourselves so that we can workand evacuate without manual in emergency case. To do so, it can be considered thatthe correct recognition of hazard is most important.

1.7 Self help, Mutual support and Public assistanceOn Junuary 17th in 1995, The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake devastated Kobe area.
At the disaster, 70 percent of rescued people rescued by them selves, 20 percent by
mutual support and 10 percent by public assistance. In case of large disaster, fire fighting rescue team or public assistance can not help many people.
In Japan, generally, the disaster management department of local municipality has justaround or less than 5 people. In case of disaster, they can do just information collection
and reporting. So, we cannot expect that they would help residents in emergent case.
As a result, Self help and Mutual support become very important. See Fig. 1-4.
While the magnitude of disaster is small andfew people need support, we can manage,
however, the magnitude become larger, more
people need support and less people can workfor the others, we cannot manage in that emergency. After all, we must prepare for the probable disasters. If a city has some extent of lives
and asset in flood prone area, the city should
protect it at considerable level or move theminto safer place and reduce the probable damage within manageable level.
Fig. 1-4 Three components in disaster management

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2. Flood Hazard Mapping Manual
2.1 Background of FHM and its development
Japanese natural conditions, such as its topography and climate, are severe. Besides,
about 50 % of its total population and about 75% of its assets are concentrated in flood
vulnerable areas in the alluvial plains, which account for only 10% of its total land area.
Furthermore, as a result of the recent trend of the nuclear family and the increasing urban population, more people, even those who live in a flood-prone area, have no pastexperience of floods. As the peopleʼs memories of floods fade over time, the awarenessto the potential flood risks is also fading away.
Consequently, there now is a higher risk that, once a levee breaks during a massive
flood, not only many lives and assets will be lost but also an unimaginable scale of social and economical confusion will occur. In recent years, torrential rainfall frequently
causes flood disasters, and a quite a few of them cause tremendous damage to the areas, such as inundation in a large urban area and in underground facilities.
In order to mitigate those flood disasters, it is important to promote structural measuresby constructing flood control facilities such as levees. It is also important, however, toprepare non-structural measures by improving ways to communicate disaster information and better evacuation as well as by enhancing public awareness towards disasterprevention, since there is always a possibility that a levee can breach if a flood exceeds
its design capacity.
For these reasons, flood records were disclosed as a part of the comprehensive flood
control measures, which has been carried out since 1980. In 1991, the river council issued a report entitled “Future Vision of River Development”. In this report, the council
argued the need for promoting non-structural measures including enlightening the public
on the possible disaster risks caused by floods, tidal waves, tsunami, mudslide, volcanic
eruption and others, in order to minimize the damage at the occurrence of a disaster. As
a result of this report, the map of flood risk areas along the major rivers throughout Japan was created based on flood simulations and disclosed from 1993 to 1994.
As these measures for warning possible flood risks have progressed, public demands
for measures to alleviate flood damages grew. Against the backdrop of such situation,“Promotion of Flood Hazard Mapping” and “Guidelines for Flood Hazard Mapping”(Manager of Flood Control Division, River Bureau, the Ministry of Construction) were
notified to municipal governments in 1994 to encourage preparation of flood hazard
maps. The preparation has been underway in the municipal governments with the support of the Regional Development Bureaus and prefectural governments.
Figure 2-1 shows significant effect of FHM. An extensive survey was carried out by Prof.
Katada of Gunma University after 1998 flood in Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture. This
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Watched FHM
Did not watch

Evacuation Order Issued and/or changed into

Fig. 2-1 Difference in evacuation between those who watched FHM and did not.
(from Prof. Toshitaka Katada, Gunma University)
figure shows that the evacuation rate was 10% higher than those have not watched.
Further, the peak time of those who watched FHM evacuated one hour earlier thanthose have not watched. And, the variance in time of those who watched(bleu curve) isnarrower than did not(red curve). Since this figure shows effectiveness of FHM well, it
has become famous and outstanding in Japan after its publication.
In 2000, just after the downpour in the Tokai area, the river council positioned flood hazard mapping as very effective measures for disaster prevention and presented a report
entitled “Future Role of Flood Prevention”, which underlined the need for active preparation and disclosure of flood hazard maps. Based on this report, the Flood Fighting Act
was partly amended in June 2001, and the inundation risk area system was established.
By this amendment, rivers under the control of prefectural governments were also included in the scope of designation as a flood forecasting river. Besides, designation ofinundation risk area and its disclosure became mandatory for the flood forecasting rivers. In addition, municipal disaster prevention plans are now required to include information for helping residents to evacuate quickly and safely, such as means of delivering
flood forecast information and evacuation sites, by each inundation risk area. Municipal
governments are also required to keep their residents informed of such information. For
these reasons, flood hazard maps were positioned as a means to inform residents of
information on flood risks and evacuation. Along with the partial amendment of the
Flood Fighting Act, “Flood Hazard Mapping Manual” was also amended, and consequently flood hazard maps have been prepared and disclosed by 301 municipalities
across Japan as of the end of fiscal year 2003. However, the progress is not necessarily
satisfactory.
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In 2004, a series of downpour that occurred in many places across Japan revealed several problems to be solved. To address such issues, it was decided to amend the FloodFighting Act so that the local capability of preventing disasters will be improved. The
amendment was promulgated in May 2, 2005, and went into effect in July 1 of the same
year. By this amendment, municipal governments are now required to designate inundation risk areas not only along large rivers for which flood forecasting is conducted but
along also major small- and medium-sized rivers. In addition, the municipal governments are required to keep their residents informed of means of delivering information
on flood forecasts and evacuation sites by distributing flood hazard maps that containsuch information. The purpose here is to provide residents with sufficient information on
disaster prevention so as to help them act appropriately at the occurrence of disaster.
To this end, flood hazard mapping is now considered to be even more important thanever.
“Flood Hazard Mapping Manual” was prepared as a technical reference to provide practical guidelines in flood hazard mapping, based on the amended Flood Fighting Act. The
manual is helpful for all concerned to successfully prepare and disclose flood hazard
maps.
Table 2-1 Development History of FHM in Japan
year

incident

323

The first levee was constructed in Mamuta, Japan.

1950s

Landform classification map of flood; Just after the tragic disaster due to the Ise Bay Typhoon, a newspaper
reported “A map has shown a nightmare”. This was about the landform classification map offlood. After this lesson, the Geographical Survey Institute(GSI) began to make the Landform
classification map extensively.

1976-1978

Landform classification map for flood control; The GSI made 861 peaces of these maps on a scale of
1:25000 for mainly flood control use. The target area is flood plain of A-class (National Government administrated) river in Japan. After using as basic information for flood countermeasure, it
has been opened to the public since 26 August 2005.

1980

Flood inundation records were disclosed as a part of comprehensive flood control measures.

1993

Maps of flood risk areas along major rivers in Japan were disclosed.

1994

Municipal governments started to prepare their own FHM based on the technical manual provided by MOC.

1998

Extensive flood in Koriyama, Fukushima Pref. occurred. FHM discriminated evacuation activities between
those who watched FHM and did not.

2000

Tokai torrential rainfall disaster

2001

The Flood Fighting Act (Enacted in 1949) was partly amended.
- Designation and disclosure of inundation risk areas became mandatory.
- Municipal governments were strongly encouraged to inform residents about

evacuation sites andmeans of providing flood forecast information.
- FHM was introduced as a tool to inform residents on flood risks and evacuation.
2003

FHM were prepared and disclosed by 301 municipalities across Japan.

2004

Serious flood damages due to 10 typhoons landfall

2005

The Flood Fighting Act was partly amended- From this amendment onward, Municipal governments are required to distribute Flood Hazard Maps toevery household in the municipality.
- The Flood Hazard Mapping Manual was also updated.
- In addition to major rivers, FHM was expanded to local rivers in Japan.

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Table 2-1 shows development history of FHM in Japan.

After the first levee construc-tion, levees have been constructed almost all rivers in Japan. At the first stage, theybuilt small levees and discontinuous levees, but later, they have repeated damage andTable 2-2 Usage of Flood Hazard Maps

Situation

Public sector-Implementation of flood hazard maps into local
disaster prevention plans and flood prevention
plans-Promotion of building a flood-resistant community-Revision of evacuation sites/routes-Review of evacuation/rescue methods for disaster
vulnerable people including bedridden elderly
people and physically challenged people-Development of communication methods/systems
for evacuation information
Normal-Dissemination of knowledge about disaster pretime
vention-Promotion of public awareness toward disasterprevention-Nurture of voluntary disaster prevention groups-Information provision, advice, and guidance toflood fighting groups-Organization of flood fighting corps and fire fighting corps-Promotion of disaster education and evacuation
drills- Information provision (weather information, flood
forecasting, etc.)- Consideration for disaster-vulnerable people

Residents-Residents should try to:-Have a better understanding
about past inundation and inundation risk in their living areas.
-Minimize damage by preparing
emergency goods in case offlooding.
-Provide disaster education andconduct evacuation drills forthemselves.
-Choose land use and building
styles after considering possible
flood risk in their living areas.

- Confirm evacuation sites/routes
and emergency goods.
- Decide voluntarily to evacuate
based on weather informationand flood forecasting.
- Confirmation of inundation areas/depths andevacuation sites/routes in case of flooding

Before/Afterevacuationr e c o m m e ndation

Issuing of evacuation recommendation- Provision of evacuation information- Opening of evacuation sites- Evacuation guidance

Evacuate to a best possible
evacuation site by a safest possible route based on evacuation
recommendation/order. If notevacuating, residents are expected to take whatever measures available for them to protect
their own lives.

rehabilitation. As a result of the repetition, it is very common nowadays to see continuous levees along the both side of a river.

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Table 2-2 shows usage of FHM in both public sector and residents for normal time, before an event, on the event and after the event.
Figure 2-2 shows the relationship among articles concerning to FHM of Flood Control
Act.

Fig. 2-2 relationship among articles concerning to FHM of Flood Control Act.

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1) Flood forecasting rivers
According to Article 10 of Flood Control Act, a flood forecasting river is a river thatmeets the following:- Runs across two or more prefectures or has a wide basin area.
- Designated by MLIT as a river that may cause a serious damage to the national
economy if it floods.
- When the risk of flooding is recognized, MLIT must, with the cooperation of the Meteorological Agency chief, identify and notify the water level, flow rate and otherconditions of the river to the governors concerned.
- Once the river floods, MLIT must, with the cooperation of the Meteorological Agency
chief, identify and notify the water level, flow rate and other conditions of the river,as well as inundation risk areas and their inundation depth, to the governors concerned.
- MLIT must notify the public of such information on the river by calling for the cooperation of mass media, when necessary.
According to Article 11 of Flood Control Act, a flood forecasting river is a river thatmeets the following:- Not designated as a flood forecasting river in the above by MLIT, but has a wide basin area.
- Designated by the governor concerned as a river that may cause a serious damage
if it floods- When the risk of floods is recognized, the governor must, with the cooperation of the
Meteorological Agency chief, identify and notify the water level, flow rate and otherconditions of the river to the flood control/watermark administrator specified in theprefectural flood prevention plan.
- The governor must notify the public of such information on the river by calling for thecooperation of mass media, when necessary.
2) Water level information communication rivers
According to Article 13 of Flood Control Act, a water level information communication
river is a river that meets the following:- Not designated as a flood forecasting river, but is a class-A river that runs outside thezone designated by the River Act.
- Designated by MLIT as a river that may cause a serious damage to the national
economy if it floods.
- When the water level of the river reaches a specified special warning water-level,
MLIT must notify it along with the water level, flow rate and other conditions of theriver to the governors concerned.
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ICHARM FHM Text 1- MLIT must notify the public of such information on the river by calling for the cooperation of mass media, when necessary.
Also:- Not designated as a water level information communication river in the above by
MLIT, but is a class-A or class-B river that runs in the zone designated by the RiverAct.
- Designated by the governor concerned as a river that may cause a serious damage
if it floods- When the water level of the river reaches a specified special warning water-level, thegovernor must notify it along with the water level, flow rate and other conditions of
the river to the flood control/watermark administrator specified in the prefectural
flood prevention plan.
- The governor must notify the public of such information on the river by calling for thecooperation of mass media, when necessary.

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3. Legislation and Institution of FHM
3.1 Development of disaster management in Japan
In Japan, laws for water-related disaster countermeasure began to be established in
1896. See Table 3-1. Major laws before the World War II are River Act and Erosion control Act. Just before the establishments of these legislations there occurred many severe
disasters due to flood and debris flow.
Table 3-1 History of water-related laws
Year

Enacted Law

1896

River Act (1964,1997 major amendment)

1897

Erosion Control Act

1947

Disaster Relief Act

1949

Flood Control Act

1950

Building Standard Law

1951

Act on National Treasury Share of Expenses for Recovery Projects
for Public Civil Engineering Facilities Damaged Due to Disasters

1952

Meteorological Services Act

1956

Seashore Act

1958

Land slide Control Act

1960

Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act

Torahiko Terada, an eminent physicist in Japan, wrote an essay titled “Natural disasters
and National Securities” just after the devastating typhoon disaster in 1934. He meant“Disasters will come after we have forgotten. Further, disasters will evolve with society.”
As he mentioned, Japanese history of disaster evolved disaster by disaster, then Japanese Government and society have dealt with each disaster with upgrading the river
design.
See “Disaster Management in Japan” and “Natural disasters and National Securities” in Annex.

[River Act](1896)
The purpose of this law is to clearly define the responsibilities of the national and local
governments and other public organizations to take necessary measures for comprehensive river management, through which disasters due to floods and storm surges will

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be prevented, rivers will be in proper use, the regular functions of river water will bemaintained, and river environment will be improved and conserved, which will contributeto the conservation and development of the national land, and thus ultimately to enhance public welfare.
This law specifies the administration of rivers including classification of administrator.

[Erosion Control Act](1897)[There is no statement of the purpose in the Act.]
The purpose of this law is to clearly define the responsibilities of the national and local
governments and other public organizations to take necessary measures for preventing
sediment-related disasters from the generation and discharge of unstable sediment due
to natural events, such as heavy-rain induced landslides and river-bed erosion, to ensure a sound environment and maintain the functions of rivers in flood control and wateruse, and thus to contribute to the conservation of the national land and the stability ofthe peopleʼs livelihood.

[Disaster Relief Act](1947)
The purpose of this law is to allow the national government to take necessary emergency relief measures in case of disaster in cooperation with local municipal governments, the Japan Red Cross, other relevant organizations, and the people of Japan toprotect disaster victims and maintain social order.
Article 22 in Chapter of relief, the responsibility of the prefectural governor as follows;
The prefectural governor shall constantly endeavor to formulate required plans, establish powerful relief organizations, and provide for labor, facilities, equipment, supplies
and funding to ensure fully effective Relief Activities.
The types of Relief Activities provided are as follows:
1) Provision of accommodations (including emergency temporary housing)2) Distribution of cooked rice and other foods, supplies of drinking water;
3) Distribution and/or loan of clothing, bedding, and other basic necessities;4) Medical and natal care;5) Rescue of disaster victims;
6) Emergency repairs of housing subject to disaster;7) Distribution and/or loan of funding, equipment, and materials required to maintain
livelihoods;
8) Distribution of school supplies
9) Interment;10) Other matters in addition to those in the preceding sub-paragraphs as specified bygovernment ordinance.

16

ICHARM FHM Text 1[Flood Control Act](1949)
This law has been translated as “Flood Fighting Act”, too.
This law expects national and local governments and other public organizations to takenecessary countermeasures for floods and storm surges in terms of preparedness, prevention and mitigation, and thus to maintain public safety.
Article 14 The MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) and prefectural governors designate flood risk areas, which are located around specified rivers
and are likely to be flooded by design rainfall, in order to promote quick evacuation andmitigate flood damage in time of flooding.
2. When designating flood risk areas, the MLIT and prefectural governors need toclearly specify areas and their predicted inundation depths.
3. When designating flood risk areas, the MLIT and prefectural governors inform headsof local municipalities of the areas designated as such and their predicted inundation
depths. according to relevant MLIT ordinances.
Article 15
Local municipal disaster prevention organizations specify the following,when their municipal areas include flood risk areas designated by article 14.
i) How to disseminate flood forecasting/warnings.
ii) Necessary procedures to promote quick evacuation in time of flooding, including
evacuation routes/sites.
iii) Names and locations of underground facilities, such as shopping malls, as well
as facilities frequently used by those who need special help when evacuating,such as the elderly, handicapped, and infant.
2. How to disseminate flood forecasting/warnings to those facilities specified by itemiii) of article 15 to promote quick evacuation.
4. Heads of local municipalities distribute printed materials to inform residents of necessary information listed in the first paragraph of article 15 according to relevant MLIT
ordinances, when their municipalities contain flood risk areas.

[Building Standard Law](1950)
The purpose of this law is to specify the minimum standard of basement,structure, facilities and usage of buildings to protect life, health and property of the people of Japan,,and thus to contribute promoting public welfare.
In Article 39 of the law, the municipal government is allowed to designate the area withconsiderable risk due to tsunami, storm surge, flood and so on as “disaster prone area”
by its local ordinance. And it shall be determined in the above ordinance that necessary

17

ICHARM FHM Text 1

items for disaster prevention in the disaster prone area such as prohibition against
building a residence or restriction concerning to build a building.

[Act on National Treasury Share of Expenses for Recovery Projects for
Public Civil Engineering Facilities Damaged Due to Disasters](1951)
The purpose of this law is to lay down a set of ground rules to specify the national governmentʼs share of the expense for a post-disaster recovery project based on the financial situation of a local municipal government to promote prompt post-disaster recovery,
and thus to secure public welfare.
This law defines “disasters” as ones that can be caused due to extreme natural events,
such as wind storms, floods, storm surges, and earthquakes and so on.
This law defines “post-disaster recovery projects” as ones that become necessary due
to disasters and aim to build back damaged facilities to an original state (including ones
that aim to build facilities which can ensure people the same benefits as the previous
facilities did, if it is impossible to build back the damaged facilities to an original state.
The same will be applied hereinafter.)This law will be equally applied to projects which aim to build alternative facilities, aslong as the projects have become necessary due to disasters and if it is extremely difficult or unreasonable to build back the damaged facilities to an original state.

[Meteorological Service Act](1952)
The purpose of this Act is to establish an underlying system concerning meteorologicalservices to promote the sound development of the services, contribute to progress inpublic welfare, such as disaster management, traffic safety control, and industrial prosperity, and provide the services to the international community.
(Forecasting and warning)

Article 13 The Japan Meteorological Agency, pursuant to the provision of cabinet orders, is responsible for providing the general public with forecasts and warnings relating
to meteorological phenomena, terrestrial phenomena (limited to earthquake motions interms of earthquake: hereinafter the same will apply in this chapter except article 16),
tsunamis, storm surges, wind waves, and floods.
2 The Agency, in addition to the forecasts and warnings prescribed in the preceding
paragraph, pursuant to the provision of cabinet orders, may provide the general publicwith forecasts and warnings relating to hydrological phenomena other than tsunamis,
storm surges, wind waves, and floods.
3 The Agency, when providing the forecasts and warnings prescribed in the preceding
two paragraphs, is responsible for voluntarily taking necessary measures, as well as requesting cooperation from the media, to inform the public of those forecasts and warnings.
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ICHARM FHM Text 1

Article 14 The Japan Meteorological Agency, pursuant to the provision of cabinet orders, is responsible for providing forecasts and warnings relating to meteorological andterrestrial phenomena, tsunamis, storm surges, and wind waves for aerial, riverine andmarine navigation.
Article 14-2 The Japan Meteorological Agency, pursuant to the provision of cabinet orders, is responsible for providing forecasts and warnings relating to meteorological phenomena, storm surges, and floods for flood fighting activities.
2 The Japan Meteorological Agency, in cooperation with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, who is in charge of the management of flood fighting
activities, is responsible for issuing forecasts and warnings for flood fighting activities by
providing the water levels and discharges of the rivers designated pursuant to paragraph 2 of article 10 of the Flood Fighting Act (Law No. 193: enacted in 1949). Assumed
inundation areas and their inundation depths also need to be provided in case of flooding in addition to the water levels and discharges.
3 The Japan Meteorological Agency, in cooperation with prefectural governors, is responsible for issuing forecasts and warnings for flood fighting activities by providing thewater levels and discharges of the rivers designated pursuant to paragraph 1 of article
11 of the Flood Fighting Act.
4 Paragraph 3 of article 13 is also applied to cases where forecasts and warnings areissued pursuant to the provision of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of article 14-2. When it is applied, it needs to be done in cooperation with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism or prefectural governors, respectively.
Article 15 The Japan Meteorological Agency, pursuant to the provision of cabinet orders, is responsible for informing the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Japan Coast Guard, prefectural offices, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
East Corporation, and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation of warnings as soon as issuing them relating to meteorological and terrestrial phenomena, tsunamis, storm surges,
wind waves and floods pursuant to the provision of paragraph 1 of article 13, paragraph
1 of article 14, or paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of article 14-2. The Agency also needs inform
those organizations when the warnings issued are no longer in effect except cases ofearthquake motions.
2 The National Police Agency, prefectural offices, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
West Corporation, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation need endeavor to promptly inform mayors of concerned local municipalities of the warnings issued pursuant to the preceding paragraph.

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

3 The mayors of local municipalities need endeavor to promptly inform the public andlocal public offices of the warnings that have been relayed to them pursuant to the preceding paragraph.
6
The offices of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation need endeavor to promptly
broadcast the warnings that have been sent to them pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article.

[Seashore Act](1956)
The purpose of this law is to clearly define the responsibilities of the national and local
governments and other public organizations to take necessary measures for protecting
seashores from extreme oceanic or geological events, including tsunamis, storm
surges, and high waves, and promoting the improvement and conservation of seashore
environment and the proper use of seashores, and thus to contribute to the conservation of the national land.

[Land slide Control Act](1958)
The purpose of this law is to clearly define the responsibilities of the national and local
governments and other public organizations to take necessary measures for preventing
landslides or slag heap collapses to avoid or mitigate damage from those hazards, andthus to contribute to the conservation of the national land and the stability of the peopleʼs livelihood.

[Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act](1960)
The purpose of this law is to improve and promote disaster management that is comprehensive and systematic to protect the national land, the lives and limbs of the peopleof Japan, and their property from disasters, and thus to maintain social order and ensure public welfare. To this end, the law aims to establish necessary systems to copewith disasters in national and local governments and other public organizations andclearly state corresponding responsibilities of those organizations. The law also aims toprovide fundamental frameworks for each essential aspect of disaster management, including disaster management planning, disaster preparedness, disaster emergency response, and financial measures for recovery and preparedness.
While this law is basic one and it has a role for the basis of disaster management, it wasestablished after all water-related laws enacted. The name of this law is “Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act”, however, it also includes important articles for disaster management and it is the most important and comprehensive law for disaster prevention
and mitigation in Japan.
The cornerstone of legislation on disaster risk reduction is the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act, enacted in 1961, which set out the basis for measures to reduce disaster risk in Japan. There are also organizations involved in disaster risk reduction, legis20

ICHARM FHM Text 1

lation on disaster risk reduction and emergency response to disasters, post-disasterrecovery and reconstruction, and all-round legislative provision regarding specific disaster risk reduction activities. Disaster countermeasures and risk reduction are comprehensively covered.
Under the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act, the Basic Plan for Disaster Management has been drafted, setting out comprehensive and long-term plans for disaster risk
reduction in Japan: based on this Plan, a comprehensive disaster-management planning system has been established. See National Report of Japan on Disaster Reduction
for the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe-Hyogo, Japan, 18-22, Jan 2005)
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/mdgs-drr/national-reports/Japan-report.pdf

21ICHARM FHM Text 1

3.2 Contents & Structure of Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act
Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act consists of following chapters.
1．Definition of responsibilities for disaster management (General Provisions)
2．Disaster management organizations
3．Disaster management planning system
4．Disaster prevention and preparedness
5．Disaster emergency response (including evacuation)
6．Disaster recovery and rehabilitation
7．Financial measures
8．State of Disaster Emergency
Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act specifies Disaster Management Planning System
including following three plans.
(1)Basic Disaster Management Plan: This plan is a basis for disaster reduction activities and is prepared by the Central Disaster Management Council based on the
Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act.
(2)Disaster Management Operation Plan: This is a plan made by each designatedgovernment organization and designated public corporation based on the Basic
Disaster Management Plan.
(3)Local Disaster Management Plan: This is a plan made by each prefectural andmunicipal disaster management council, subject to local circumstances and basedon the Basic Disaster Management Plan.
The structure of Basic Disaster Management Plan is shown in Fig. 3-1. For each disaster of four natural disasters and eight accident disasters, preparation before disastrous events, emergency response and rehabilitation stages are described respectively.
As a result, Basic Disaster Management Plan has 15 volumes including general volumes.
Each prefectural governments and municipal governments shall establish Local Disaster Management Plan according to Basic Disaster Management Plan. The local disaster management plan includes volumes related to disasters anticipated in the municipality. For example, in case of municipalities which do not have volcanoes, the volume forvolcano disaster countermeasures will not be included.
Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act specifies the disaster management system asshown in Fig. 3-2.

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

Natural Disasters
Earthquake Disaster
Countermeasures

Storm & Flood Disaster
Countermeasures

Volcano Disaster
Countermeasures

Snow Disaster
Countermeasures

Maritime Disaster
Countermeasures

Aviation Disaster
Countermeasures

Railroad Disaster
Countermeasures

Road Disaster
Countermeasures

Nuclear Disaster
Countermeasures

Hazardous Materials
Disaster Countermeasures

Large-scale Fire

Disaster Countermeasures

Forest Fire Disaster
Countermeasure

Accident Disasters(Addressing all the disaster phases)

Disaster Prevention& Preparedness

Disaster
Emergency Response

Disaster Recovery& Rehabilitation(Tangible countermeasures to be taken by each stakeholder)

National government

Local governments

Residents

Fig. 3-1 Structure of Basic Disaster Management Plan

The national government is responsible for establishment and execution of the basic
disaster management plan and supports prefectures and local municipalities with relevant management to protect the national territory and the citizens' lives and property(Article 3). The prefectural governments are responsible for establishment and execution of local disaster management plans and support local municipalities with relevant
management to protect prefectural territories and the citizens' lives and property (Article4) The municipal offices are responsible for establishment and execution of local disaster management plans to protect municipal territories and the citizens' lives and property
as fundamental governing units.

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ICHARM FHM Text 1［National level］
Prime Minister
Formulation and promoting implementation of
the Basic Disaster Management Plan

Central Disaster Management Council
Designated Government Organizations
Designated Public Corporations

Formulation and implementation of the Disaster
Management Operation Plan

［Prefectural level］
Governor
Formulation and promoting implementation of
Local Disaster Management Plan

Prefectural Disaster Management Council
Designated Local Government Organizations
Designated Local Public Corporations［Municipal level］
Mayors of Cities, Towns and Villages
Formulation and promoting implementation of
Local Disaster Management Plan

Municipal Disaster Management Council［Residents level］

Designated Government Organizations
23 ministries and agencies

Designated Public Corporations
63 organizations including independent administrative agencies, Bank ofJapan, Japanese Red Cross Society, NHK, electric and gas companies
and NTT

Fig. 3-2 Structure of Disaster Management System in JapanYou can see also that residents of the area under local government are obligated tocontribute toward the cause of disaster prevention by taking their own measures to prepare for disaster and by participating in voluntary disaster prevention organization etc.
Table 3-2 shows an example of storm and flood countermeasure volume of a Local Disaster Management Plan. In this example, the parts relating flood fighting and evacuation
are described in detail while the other parts rough.

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

Table 3-2 Example of Contents of Local Disaster Management Plan
第１節 基本方針

1. Basic Policy

第２節 迅速な災害応急活動体制の確立 2. Quick establishment of Emergency Op-

erating System
第１款 組織の設置
第２款 配備、動員
第３款 情報の収集・伝達及び報告
第１ 情報収集・伝達手段の確保
第２ 警報等の収集・伝達
第３ 災害情報の収集・報告
第４ 情報共有
第５ 被災情報の収集・伝達
第６ 被害調査
第７ 支援要請

第４款 防災関係機関等との連携
第１ 自衛隊への派遣要請
第２ 関係機関との連携

第５款 災害救助法の適用

第３節 円滑な災害応急活動の展開
第１款 水防活動
施設の監視、水防活動の段階、決壊の通知
通知後の処置、情報連絡第２款 救助・救急・医療対策
第１ 人命救出活動
第２ 救急医療活動
第３ 医療・助産対策
第３款 交通・輸送対策
第１ 交通確保対策
第２ 緊急輸送対策
第３ ヘリコプターの運航
第４款 避難対策
第１ 避難準備情報、勧告・指示
避難準備情報、勧告・指示、実施基準、
避難情報の伝達、避難誘導
警戒区域の設定
区、自主防災組織および住民等の協力

1. Setting emergency operation organization
2. Mobilization
3. Collection and dissemination of disaster
information, report
3.1.secure the route of information collecting anddissemination
3.2.collecting alert information and dissemination
3.3.collecting disaster information and report
3.4.information sharing
3.5.collecting damage information and report
3.6.investigation of damage
3.7.demand for support

4. Collaboration with disaster related organization
5. Application of Disaster Relief Act

3. Development of Smooth disaster emergency operation
1. Flood ﬁghting
1.1.patrolling ﬂood control facilities
1.2.stage of ﬂood ﬁghting
stand by, get ready, go into action
1.3.notiﬁcation of breach and measures to mitigate ﬂood damage
1.4.information transfer

2. rescue, relief, medical assistance
3. traﬃc and transportation
4. Evacuation
4.1.standby, recommendation and order of
evacuation
related organization, authorization and condition of issuance , criterion of issuance, dissemination of evacuation recommendation andorder, evacuation guiding, designation of limit
oﬀ area and its authorization, cooperation ofvoluntarily disaster management organization
and residents

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

第２ 避難所の開設・運営

4.2 Setting up and operation of evacuation
shelter
set up, operation, sanitation, health guidance,measures in case of large disaster

避難所の開設、運営、保健活動、衛生活動
大災害時の措置第５款 住宅の確保
第６款 食料・飲料水及び物資の供給
第１ 食料の供給
第２ 応急給水
第３ 物資の供給
第７款 保健衛生、感染症対策、遺体の火葬等第１ 精神医療
第２ 健康対策
第３ 食品衛生対策
第４ 感染症対策
第５ 遺体の火葬等
第８款 生活救援対策
第１ 救援物資の受入れ等
第９款 災害時要援護者支援対策
第１ 高齢者、障害者等の支援
第２ 外国人への情報伝達等

第１０款 愛玩動物の収容対策
第１１款 災害情報等の提供と相談活動
第１ 災害広報
第２ 市の広報第３ 災害相談第１２款 廃棄物対策
第１ ガレキ対策
第２ ごみ処理対策
第３ 海岸漂着ごみ処理対策
第４ し尿処理対策
第５ 廃自動車対策
第１３款 環境対策
第１４款 災害ボランティアの要請・受入れ
第１５款 海外からの支援の受入れ

5. Securing House
6. Supplying Food, Drinking water and Necessities of life
7. Sanitation, infection countermeasure
and cremation
8. Acceptance of relief
9. Relief of disaster weak
10.accommodation of pets
11.Dissemination of disaster informationand consultation for disaster victims
12.countermeasure for disaster waste
13.Environmental issues
14.Demand and Acceptance of volunteers'
applications
15.Acceptance of oversea relief applications
16.Emergency countermeasure for traﬃcand transportation facilities
17.Emergency countermeasure for lifelines
17.1.Securing electric power
17.1.Securing municipal gas
17.1.Securing telecommunications
17.1.Securing water supply
17.1.Securing sewage system

第１６款 交通・輸送施設の応急対策
第１ 鉄道施設における応急対策
第２ 港湾施設における応急対策
第３ 空港施設における応急対策第１７款 ライフラインの応急対策
第１ 電力の確保
第２ ガスの確保
第３ 電気通信の確保
第４ 水道の確保
第５ 下水道の確保

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

第１８款 教育対策
第１９款 警備対策
第２０款 旅客・帰宅困難者対策
第２１款 農林水産関係対策
第２２款 公共土木施設等の応急復旧
第１ 土砂災害
第２ 道路
第３ 河川
第４ ダム
第５ 港湾、漁港、海岸
第６ ため池第７ 森林
第８ 農業土木施設
第９ 宅地防災対策

18.education
19.Guard
20.Support for travelers and those who
can not come back to their home
21.Support for agricultural or ﬁshery issues
22.Emergency rehabilitation of infrastructure
22.1.Debris ﬂow disaster22.1.Road
22.1.River
22.1.Dam
22.1.Harbor, Fishery Port, Seacoast
22.1.Reservoir
22.1.Forest
22.1.Agricultural infrastructure
22.2.Disaster countermeasure for residential area

[References]
Disaster Management in Japan
http://www.bousai.go.jp/1info/pdf/saigaipanf.pdf
Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act
http://www.adrc.or.jp/manage.php?URL=./management/JPN/Japan_dcba.html&Lang=en&NationCode=392

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

4. Disaster management in administrationand organization
4.1 Roles of each administration and organization in Disaster Management
As previously shown, the Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act specifies that the national
government, prefectural governments and municipal governments have their roles indisaster management. Table 4-1 shows each role for the national government, prefectural governments and municipal governments.
Table 4-1 Roles of each stakeholder in Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act

Outline of the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act(organized from each stakeholder's role)

National Government
1. General
Provisions

2. Disaster
Prevention
Organization

Prefectures

Recommendations, supervision,
advice to local municipalities.

Local municipalities

Consistant area management andcoordination among local municipalities.
Establishment and execution of
Establishment and execution of local Maintenance of the municipal orderbasic plans and supports prefecdisaster prevention plans and support and secure the safety, health and weltures and local municipalities with local municipalities with relevant
fare of the citizens and visitors.
relevant management to protect
management to protect prefectural
the national territory and the citi- territories and the citizens' lives andzens' lives and property (Art. 3).
property (Art. 4).
Excution of necessary measures toprevent crimes and disasters, to rescue
and help disaster victims, and to retain
traffic safety.
Establishment and execution of local
disaster prevention plans to protect
municipal territories and the citizens'lives and property as fundamental
governing units.
Central Disaster Management
Prefectural Disaster Management
Local Municipal Disaster Management
Council (Art. 11, etc.)
Councils (Art. 14, etc.)
Councils (Art. 16)
Chair: Prime Minister
Chair: Governor
Chair and members are designatedMember: Designated from among Member: Heads of designated prefec- under municipal regulations.
ministers and people of experience tural administrative organizations,or academic standing
Ground Self-Defense Forces, prefectural police, fire department headquarters, etc.
Major Disaster Management
Disaster Management Headquarters Disaster Management Headquarters
Headquarters (Art. 24, etc.)(Art. 23)
(Art. 23)(in time of a large-scale disaster) (When a disaster occurs or is about to (When a disaster occurs or is about toChief: Ministeroccur)
occur)
Purpose: Coordination of disaster Chief: Governors
Chair: Heads of local municipalities
emergency responses taken by
Purpose: Disaster prevention, execu- Purpose: Disaster prevention, execuheads of local municipalities
tion of disaster emergency responses tion of disaster emergency responses

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ICHARM FHM Text 1

The chief gives necessary orders
to heads of designated local administrative organs and local municipalities.
The chief also sets up on-sight
management headquarters forlarge-scale disasters.

The chief gives necessary orders to
the prefectural police and other relevant organizations.

The chief gives necessary orders to themunicipal board of education.

The chief also set up on-sight disastermanagement headquarters.
Requests to heads of designated administrative organs for staff dispatch(Art. 29)

Urgent Disaster Management
Headquarters (Art. 28-2, etc.)(in time of disaster of extraordinary severity)
Chief: Prime Minister
Secretary: Head of a designatedadministrative agency
Purpose: Coordination of disasteremergency responses taken byheads of local municipalities
The chief gives necessary orders
to heads of designated administrative agencies and local municipalities.
3. Disaster Basic disaster management plan
Prefectural disaster management
Manage(Art. 34, etc.) formulated by Cen- plans (Art. 40, etc.) formulated byment Plan- tral Disaster Management Council prefectural disaster managementning
councils
Disaster management plan is for- Prefectural disaster management
mulated from a comprehensive
plans are general principles for opand long-term standpoint
eration and clerical work to be conducted by prefectures or local municipalities within designated areas.
The plan sets priorities for disaster The plans consist of individual plansmanagement operation plans and for disaster prevention, disaster
local disaster management plans
emergency response, and disasterrecovery in specific local areas
Disaster management operation
plan (Art. 36)
4. Disaster Execution of disaster prevention
Execution of disaster prevention
Prevention based on regulations (Art. 46)
based on regulations (Art. 46)
5. Disaster Execution of emergency responses Issuance of evacuation
Emergency based on regulations (Art. 77-1)
recommendations/orders on behalf ofResponse
the local municipalities (Art. 60)
Issuance of orders to governors
Execution of emergency measuresand heads of local municipality for based on regulations (Art. 70)
emergency measures (Art. 77-2)
Issuance of orders for businesses Issuance of orders with respect toin the production, sales and trans- health and hygiene, emergency transportation sectors to store materials portation, etc.
necessary for emergency measures; or requisition of such materials by designated administrative
agencies (Art. 78)
Issuance of orders for those in medicine, civil engineering and transportation to join rescue efforts
Issuance of orders for residents tocooperate for rescue efforts

29

Requests to heads of designated administrative organs for staff dispatch(Art. 29)

Municipal disaster management plans(Art. 42, etc.) formulated by municipal
disaster management councils
Municipal disaster management plans
are general principles for operationand clerical work to be conducted by
local municipalities
The plans consist of individual plansfor disaster prevention, disaster emergency response, and disaster recovery
in local municipalities

Execution of disaster prevention basedon regulations (Art. 46)
Discoverer's responsibility to report an
unusual event which may lead to adisaster (Art. 54)
Issuance of warnings and dissemination of received warnings to local residents (Art. 56)
Issuance of mobilization orders to fire
departments and requests for police
dispatch (Art. 58)

Issuance of orders to remove buildings
or materials likely to spread a disaster
Issuance of evacuation
recommendations/orders (Art. 60)

ICHARM FHM Text 1

Issuance of orders for businesses in
the production, sales and transportation sectors to store materials necessary for emergency measures; or
requisition of such materials by designated administrative agencies
Issuance of orders for heads of local
municipalities to execute emergency
responses (Art. 72)

Execution of emergency responses infire fighting, flood control, rescue efforts, etc. based on regulations

Establishment of restricted areas (including evacuation); Execution of suchduties by police or self-defense force
on behalf of heads of local municipalities
Traffic restriction or prohibition by
Temporary use of land, buildings andpublic safety commissions (Art. 76) other structures (Art. 64)
Request to governors for support (Art.
68)
Request to governors for a disasterdispatch of self-defense forces (Art.
68-2)
6. Disaster Execution of disaster recovery
Execution of disaster recovery based Execution of disaster recovery based
Recoverybased on regulations (Art. 87)
on regulations (Art. 87)
on regulations (Art. 87)
7. Financial Financial responsibilities for
Financial responsibilities for disaster- Financial responsibilities for disastermeasuresdisaster-related projects (Art. 91) related projects (Art. 91)
related projects (Art. 91)
Financial responsibilities based on Financial responsibilities for municiregulations (Art. 94)
pal spendings based on Art. 72 (Art.
93) or Art. 28 (Art. 95)
Financial responsibilities for municipal spendings based on Art. 28(Art. 95)
8. State of Declaration of state of emergency
Emergency (Cabinet Conference) (Art. 105)
(In time of an extraordinary disaster whose repercussions on thenational economy and public welfare are serious and far-reaching)
Installation of headquarters forurgent disaster management (Art.
107)
Issuance of ordinances concerning
urgent measures (Art. 109)
(when the Diet is not in session or
the House of Representatives has
been dissolved, and further, when
the situation does not allow time
to call the Diet in session or request an emergency session of theHouse of Counselors for action)
Distribution of daily necessities,
setting of the highest consumer
prices, postponement of paymentof financial debts

The municipal government has fundamental roles in disaster management because it
has direct relationship with residents. For example, it is responsible for establishing local(municipal) disaster management plan(Article 42), emergency operation such as dissemination of flood related alerts(Article 56), issuance of evacuation recommendation
and/or order(Article 60) and execution of flood fighting or relief activities(Article 62). In
case that a municipality happens to be devastated so widely and severely that it can notcarry out most of its primary roles, prefectural government shall issue evacuation rec30

ICHARM FHM Text 1

ommendation and/or order instead of the municipality. Look into Chapter 5 of Disaster
Countermeasure Basic Act.
The followings are more detailed explanations of organizations relating to FHM andemergency operation.

4.2 Preparing FHM[river administrator]
As shown in Fig. 2-2, the river administrator is responsible for designating anticipatedinundation area, clear indication of inundation risk areas and predicted depth and Notifying inundation risk areas/depth to municipalities.
[municipal office]On the other hand, the municipal office is responsible for describing the following items
concerning to each anticipated inundation area in the local disaster management plan of
the municipality (by municipality)
・Dissemination method of flood forecasting etc.
・Dissemination of necessary information such as evacuation sites for smooth andquick evacuation
・Names and locations of underground spaces and facilities for the old, handicappedand infant who need special care upon evacuation
These information should be informed to residents by any means such as FHM

4.3 Emergency Operation
Chapter 5 of Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act specifies emergency response of national government, prefectural government and municipal office. Article 62 specifies the
responsibility for emergency response of municipal governor implementing necessary
response according to local disaster management plan. Table 4-2 shows an example ofroles of city, district, voluntary disaster management group, business company, residents and employees of private companies. Most of the activities are prescribed by
Flood Control Act.
Figure 4-1 shows the Communication System and flow of Weather Information of thecity of which local disaster management plan shown in Table 3-2 as an example. Fig. 42 shows Communication System and flow of Flood Forecast and Water Level Information. Fig. 4-3 also shows Communication system and flow of Prefectural Flood Fighting
Order. You can see

31

ICHARM FHM Text 1

Table 4-2 activities in municipality in each stage of emergency response
Metrological conditions, etc.
○Appearance of Typhoon, activation ofrain front, etc.

○Watch for heavy
rain, flood, or storm
surge○Alert for heavy rain,
flood, or storm surge○Flood fighting order
No. 1

Municipal offices■Preparation○Checking the stock of emergency supplies and equipment○Monitoring conditions of typhoon, other meteorologicalevents, and rivers.
○Checking chain of communication■Level-0 Emergency deployment

Districts, voluntarydisaster management Residents, employees
groups, businesses○Checking the stock ○Checking emerof emergency supgency items to takeplies and equipment ○Collecting meteoro○Collecting meteoro- logical information,
logical information,
checking radio comchecking radio com- munication systems
munications systems○Checking evacuation sites and routes○Checking evacuation sites and routes■Level-1 Emergency deploy○Monitoring flood○Monitoring floodmentstatus and precursors status and precursors■Setting up a disaster warning of landslides, etc.
of landslides, etc. inheadquarters (if necessary)○Checking district
the neighborhood○Informing the public and adresidents who need
○Checking neighministrators of districts and imhelp for evacuationbors who need help
portant facilities about warnings, ○Helping flood fight- for evacuationetc.
ing activities○Checking districts and facilities
for potential dangers○Taking traffic control measures○Informing the public aboutdamage status and countermeasures for the damage○Getting evacuation sites readyto open for evacuees, and open
them if necessary○Starting flood fighting activities○Flood fighting order■Level-2 Emergency deploy○Advising residents ○Helping evacuation
No. 2
ment
and those using the of those who need
○Flood forecasting■Setting up a disaster mandistrict's facilities tohelp (family members(advisory)
agement headquarters (if neces- prepare for evacua- and neighbors)
sary)
tion
○Advising the public and admin- ○Helping evacuation
istrators of districts and majorof those who needfacilities to prepare for evacua- help (district resition
dents and those us○Helping people who need help ing the districts' facilifor evacuation
ties)○Starting rescue and relief efforts○Flood fighting order■Level-3 Emergency deploy○Leading evacuation ○Communicating
No. 3
ment
of residents andamong evacuees,○Flood forecasting○Issuing an evacuation recom- those using the disincluding neighbors(warning)
mendation or order
trict's facilities○Completing*Major damage is likely ○Requesting dispatch of Selfevacuation
to occur at this stage. Defense Forces

32

ICHARM FHM Text 1○Removal of warnings, ○Preventing secondary disasetc.
ters○Conducting Damage assessment○Starting post-disaster relief
efforts for disaster victims○Coping with disaster wastes○Starting health care efforts○Accepting disaster-aid groups
and volunteers○Starting temporary restorationof municipal facilities○Monitoring precur- ○Monitoring precursors of landslides,
sors of landslides,
etc. in the district
etc. in the neighbor○Helping damagehoodassessment○Helping damage○Helping distribution assessmentof emergency sup○Helping distribution
plies in the districtof emergency sup○Starting an evacu- plies in the neighborees's association inhoodeach evacuation site ○Participating in anfor proper site man- evacuees's associaagementtion to cooperate for○Cooperating forproper site manageproper management mentof garbage collection ○Separating garbage
stations
properly■Setting up a disaster recovery
and rehabilitation headquarters○Assisting recovery of livelihood○Starting full restoration of municipal facilities

E(#0!
!"#"$%$&$'()*&+,-."%/*#$%0!

1%"2")#3%"!

E(#0+K(%"+5"*8L3*%#"%!
1%"2")#3%*&+,A)"M+<$)*&+-%*;)?+!

E(#0+C$&()"+N!
456+7%$*8)*.#+9#*:$;+!

E(#0+C$&()"+J!
!<=>+4*:$;*&+5('?@*0+,A)"!

!<=>+F(/"%+G8D(;(.#%*:$;+H$%I+,A)"!

B&")#%()+C$@"%+)$DC*;0!

F(/"%+G8D(;(.#%*:$;+H$%I+,A)"M+<$)*&+-%*;)?!

>"&")$DD3;()*:$;+
E$DC*;0+Fig. 4-1 Communication System and flow of Weather Information

33

ICHARM FHM Text 1!"#$%&'()*%+,-'.'/0*123.%43*5%
678)!
E:33,%E3*)81/0%%
M3'.0%+..3B.8)-).0!

!)0)3*3:3='81:%
6;/)*(103*>!

&'()*%+,-'.'/0*123.%43*5%678)9%"381:%;*1.8<!
I*)J)80B*1:%E:33,%E'=<2.=%
F)1,GB1*0)*!

KB/%83-@1.>!

C'0>!
I*)J)80B*1:%678)9%%"381:%;*1.8<%!

?:)80*'8%@3A)*%83-@1.>!

C'0>%E'*)%F)1,GB1*0)*!
C'0>%@3:'8)%D!
C'0>%@3:'8)%H!

$):)83--B.'8123.%C3-@1.>%!),'1%3*=1.'L123./!

&1':A1>%83-@1.>%D!
&1':A1>%83-@1.>%H!

410)*%")():%#.J3*-123.%6.:>!
E:33,%E3*)81/0%#.J3*-123.%6.:>!

Fig. 4-2 Communication System of Flood Forecast and Water Level Information!"#$#%&'"()*+),,-*+./012/*
3#(-4'("&#"!

!"#$#%&'"()*56%#7*8,%()*9"(2%0*!

?.&@!

:8A=*B.C#"*D-E.2.<&"(1,2*F,"G*56%#!

:#-.(*,"/(2.;(1,2<!
="(2<>,"&*,"/(2.;(1,2<!

Fig. 4-3 Communication system and flow of Prefectural Flood Fighting Order

34

ICHARM FHM Text 1

5. Evacuation planning
5.1 Objective
The objective of the evacuation planning is to secure the residentsʼ lives etc. against
floods.
The Fig. 5-1 shows the hydrograph of the water level of Miya River at the flood on 29
September 2004. You can see the water level rose very quickly. Cities along this kind ofriver need accurate flood forecasting. It can be said that “Evacuation(planning) is a fightagainst time”. In order that residents can evacuate safely, the evacuation plan should beestablished considering the behavior of anticipated hazard and necessary time for
evacuation.

2004 Flood in Miyagawa River
12

water level(m)Level 1

10

Level 2
Water Level(m)86Level 3

dangerous
patrolling4
ﬂood ﬁghting2

corps stand by

22:55 Evacuation recommendation canceled0
13:30 evacuation recommendation issued-2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Time

Fig. 5-1 Hydrograph of the water level of Miya River at the flood on 29 September 2004

5.2 Evacuation Plan in legislation
In Japan, the Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act specifies that prefectural and municipal government have to establish each local disaster management plan which includes
evacuation plan in article 40 and 42, respectively. And article 60 specifies the responsibility of municipal governor to issue a recommendation and order of evacuation to theconcerning residents.

35

ICHARM FHM Text 1[Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act]
(Prefectural local disaster management plan)
Article 40 A prefectural disaster management council shall formulate an local disastermanagement plan involving the area of the prefecture, based on the basic disastermanagement plan, and shall review the area plan every year, and revise it when
deemed necessary. In such cases, the prefectural local disaster management plan may
not be in conflict with any appropriate operational disaster management plan.
2 A prefectural local disaster management plan shall provide for the matters listed below:(1)general outline of business or operations relating to disaster management involving
the area of the prefecture and falling under the purview of a designated local administrative organ having jurisdiction over the area of the prefecture, in whole or in part, the prefecture, and the cities, towns and villages within the area of the prefecture, a designatednational or local public corporation, and administrators of public organizations or establishments within the area of the prefecture concerned.
(2)plans by category of operations within the area of the prefecture: creation or improvement of disaster management establishments, investigation and research, education, drills and other preventive measures, collection and transmission of information,issuance and transmission of forecasts and alarms evacuation, fire fighting, flood prevention, rescue, sanitation, other emergency measures and rehabilitation efforts.
(3)plans for coordination, stockpiling, procurement, distribution, shipment, communication with reference to labor, establishments, equipment, materials, funds etc. required
for measures relating to disaster management involving the area of the prefecture, as
provided under the preceding item.
(4)in addition to what is listed in the preceding items, matters which the prefectural disaster management council may deem necessary for disaster management involving theprefectural area.
3 When the prefectural disaster management council wishes to formulate a prefectural
local disaster management plan or revise it provided under paragraph 1, the council isrequired to consult in advance with the Prime Minister, who in turn shall consult theCentral Disaster Management Council.
4 When the prefectural disaster management council has formulated or revised its prefectural local disaster management plan provided under paragraph 1, the council is required to release a summary of said plan or revision.
(City, town or village local disaster management plan)

36

ICHARM FHM Text 1

Article 42 A city, town or village disaster management council (for a city, town or village without a disaster management council, the mayor of the city or town, or the headof the village; applicable herein under) shall formulate an local disaster management
plan involving the area of the city, town or village, based on the basic disaster management plan, and shall review the area plan every year, and shall revise it when deemednecessary. In so doing, the city, town or village local disaster management plan may not
conflict with any appropriate operational disaster management plan or any prefectural
local disaster management plan of the prefecture comprising said city, town or village.
2 A city, town or village local disaster management plan shall provide for the matterslisted below:(1)general outline of business or operations relating to disaster management involving
the area of the city, town or village and falling under the purview of the city, town or village concerned and of the administrators of public organizations or important establishments for disaster management within the area.
(2)plans by category of operations within the area of the city, town or village: creation or
improvement of disaster management establishments, investigation and research, education, drills and other preventive measures, collection and transmission of information,issuance and transmission of forecasts and alarms, evacuation, fire fighting, flood prevention, rescue, sanitation and other emergency measures and rehabilitation efforts.
(3)plans for coordination, stockpiling, procurement, distribution, shipment, communication with reference to labor, establishments, equipment, materials, funds etc. required
for measures relating to disaster management involving the area of the city, town or village, as provided under the preceding item.
(4)in addition to what is listed in the preceding items, matters which the city, town village
disaster management council may deem necessary for disaster management involving
the area of the city, town or village.
3 When the city, town or village disaster management council intends to formulate orrevise its local disaster management plan provided under paragraph 1, the council isrequired to consult in advance with the governor of the prefecture, who shall in turnconsult with the prefectural disaster management council.
4 When the city, town or village disaster management council has formulated or revised its local disaster management plan provided under paragraph 1, the council is required to release a summary of said plan or revision.
5 The provisions of art. 21 shall apply, where and as necessary, to the formulation orrevision of a city, town or village disaster management plan by the mayor of the city or
town or the head of the village, as provided under paragraph one.
(Mayor's orders for evacuation)
37

ICHARM FHM Text 1

Article 60 In the interest of protecting life and limb from disaster or of preventing the
spread of a disaster when it has occurred or is believed imminent, the mayor of the cityor town or the head of the village may, when deemed necessary, make recommendations to the local residents, temporary residents and others of an area concerned toevacuate, or may, when deemed urgent, give instructions to these persons to evacuate
for safety.
2 When the mayor of a city or town or the head of a village makes recommendations
or give instructions for evacuation under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, hemay, if deemed necessary, specify a point to which evacuees will proceed.
3 When the mayor of a city or town, or the head of a village has recommended or instructed evacuation for safety under the paragraph 1, or when he has specified the point
to which the evacuees will proceed, he shall report promptly to the governor of the prefecture.
4 When there is no longer the need for evacuation, the mayor of the city or town or thehead of the village shall immediately make public the fact. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply to this case, where and as necessary.
5 When a disaster occurs in the territory of the prefecture and a city, town, or village isunable to perform all or the majority of its duties because of the disaster, the governor of
the prefecture shall implement on behalf of the mayor of the city or town or head of thevillage all or a part of the measures to be implemented by the mayor of the city or townor head of the village in accordance with the provisions of para. 1, para. 2, and para. 4
above.
6 The governor of the prefecture must make it public when he begins and ceases toperform the duties of the mayor of the city or town or head of the village under the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
7 Necessary matters related to the performance by the governor of the prefecture ofduties on behalf of the mayor of the city or town or head of the village under the provisions of para. 5 above shall be set forth in government ordinance.
(Orders for evacuation by police and others)
Article 61
In cases provided for under the first paragraph of the preceding article,
when the mayor of the city or town or the head of the village is found unable to orderevacuation for safety under said paragraph, or when there has been a request from themayor or the head, the police or maritime safety officials may order the evacuation forthe safety of the residents, temporary residents or other persons in an area for which
evacuation is deemed necessary. The provisions of para. 2 of the preceding article applies to this case, where and as necessary.

38

ICHARM FHM Text 1

2 When the police or maritime safety officials have ordered evacuation for safety under
the provisions of the preceding paragraph, they shall report this fact immediately to themayor of the city or town or the head of the village.
3 The provisions of paras. 3 and 4 of the preceding article shall apply to the mayor of acity or town or the head of the village who has received a report under the preceding
paragraph, where and as necessary.

5.3 Relation between evacuation planning and hazard map
As shown in the outline of the Flood Hazard Map (FHM), FHM is usually developed insuch a manner that it displays clearly the inundation area(with water depth), dangerous
spots at floods, information on smooth and quick evacuation such as the location of
shelter, evacuation route, access point to flood information. Consequently, the essenceof the evacuation plan should be shown on the FHM. On the contrary, the evacuation
plan should be established so that residents can know necessary information from
FHM. (Fig. 5-2)
It must be noticed that residents generally have slight idea of flood event or how toevacuate safely while experts on FHM or flood risk management have a common
knowledge of flood. This cause different understanding of FHM. And it happens oftenthat residents in the flood prone area complain that the FHM has not sufficient information or uneasy to understand. (Fig. 5-3)

Fig. 5-2 Essence of the evacuation plan should be included in FHM understandably
39

ICHARM FHM Text 1

Fig. 5-3 Difference between residents and experts or officials

5.4 Evacuation area
The evacuation area or evacuation needed area is designated based on the anticipatedinundation area or the record inundation area with information of past inundation records, witness and so on. The residents and other people such as visitors and tourists
in that area should evacuate when flooding or possible flooding. The evacuation area isusually wider than the anticipated inundation area. One of the reasons is the uncertainty
of calculation of inundation area and the other is relation to the area of issuance ofevacuation recommendation and order, wider areas than anticipated areas are basicallydesignated. Also the condition of public support after evacuation should be considered.
For example, if there is a spot with a few houses surrounded inundation area, it is difficult to distinguish them from others at the issuance of evacuation recommendation andto save them or serve public help in an emergency. Further, usually, inundation analysis
does not have sufficient accuracy to judge safe or not against so small area because of
the accuracy of topographic data and assumption of modelling of inundation and so on.

5.5 Evacuation places(shelters) and routes
Evacuation places shall be designated as to secure the evacuees in an emergency.
They must be also installed with functions for evacuation life of evacuees. Evacuationroutes shall be safe and easy to understand and shown with signs. It must be noticed
that they are sufficiently safe and broad and have detours in case. In the case of tsunami anticipated area, bridges shall be earthquake-resistant and roads along coast and40

ICHARM FHM Text 1

rivers shall not be designated. In the case of debris flow anticipated area, it should benoticed that bridges with insufficient clearance might be flown away.
Because it depends on residents which route is safest for evacuation, major evacuationroute for each evacuation area is shown on FHM.
Since we have, in general, several kinds of hazards, it is desirable that evacuation
places can be used for any kind of hazard. However, in practice, public facilities were
often built with little consideration of several kinks of disasters and it is common that
there are evacuation places for a specific hazard and disaster. For example, if a
evacuation place for fire or earthquake is located in the anticipated inundation area ofriver flood, it cannot be designated as a evacuation place for flood. In this situation, theother facilities in flood proof area have to be designated. Further, since it may occurthat traffic jams may happen if people use cars in evacuation and even the evacuees onfoot may not be able evacuate in a limited time, evacuation on foot is a basic rule generally.
You must remember that an extreme flood will be caused by intense and wide abnormal
weather which bring complex hazards. For example, because typhoons and cyclones
cause intense rain and strong wind simultaneously, it becomes more difficult to evacuate safely. Further, it may bother people to evacuate soon.
[Ref.: Tsunami Hazard Map Manual]Evacuation sites and routes shall be quickly constructed in coastal areas by appropriately utilizing projects of various kinds and giving priority to areas of the greatest need.
Also, facilities for quick evacuation, such as evacuation signs, shall be quickly installed.
In areas where evacuation sites are difficult to construct, evacuation sites shall bequickly ensured by utilizing private buildings and other structures that have enough resistance to predicted tsunamis.

5.6 Mobilization plan
In an emergency, since time is very short, it is necessary to establish a mobilization plan
beforehand which describes mobilization of officials, criteria for mobilization. In mobilization plan, when, who and what to do should be specified for each level of disaster ordisaster forecasting respectively. In addition, telephone contact chain should also be determined and updated always and contain alternatives in case of accident on someone
in ordet to function appropriately.
Because disaster management officials in a municipal office and other relating organizations are key persons in an emergency, they should be standby sufficiently beforehand.
To secure the smooth and quick evacuation, disaster management office have to disseminate necessary information to residents as well as related organizations in time. In
rainy season, successive strong rainfall often hit a river basin, then it becomes difficult
to allocate appropriate officials. When a very huge typhoon approached our country,
41

ICHARM FHM Text 1

telecommunication system failed since a lot of call concentrated in a short time. Hence,these lessons should be taken into account in the mobilization plan. Further, it is betterto have redundancy in communication system.

5.7 Dissemination of information
The level and scope of disaster-related information and the following activities dependon the kind of hazards. How to collect the information and to whom and in what way the
information should be transmitted shall be determined and shared to public as well as
among officials. The information on evacuation should be disseminated as soon as possible after its issuance.
In Japan, the meteorological information such as intense rainfall warning or forecast andpredicted path of typhoon are issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA). Concerning to water level in an A-class river, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(MLIT) and JMA cooperate to forecast it and are responsible to issue the flood warning. These information are transmitted to the local government by own route via prefectural government as well as to the residents through mass media. After these information arriving at the municipal government, officials responsible for dissemination will inform them to whom in the chain list, organizations and residents. Fig. 4-1,2,3 show information tree of warnings.
See Table in Annex which shows Reference water level of rivers which run throughToyooka city. Toyooka city was devastated by the breach due to the flood in 2004.

5.8 Evacuation recommendations/orders
In Japan, the Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act specifies that the mayor of local municipality is primarily responsible for issuing the evacuation recommendation/order inarticle 60. And it is also specified, the prefectural governor shall issue them in case thatthe mayor of local municipality become difficult to issue them due to the disaster.
The general criteria of issuance of evacuation recommendations/orders are as follows.
1)when the meteorological observatory issues warning of disaster and it is judged that
evacuation is necessary2)when disaster related warning or information is issued by the disaster management
organizations and it is judged that evacuation is necessary3) when it is anticipated that the water level in rivers will exceed the warning level andbe about to flood,4) when the upstream area is flooded and the downstream area become danger, andso on.
The evacuation recommendations/orders shall be disseminated to the residents throughdisaster management radio communication network, public announcement vehicle,
mass media and community networks and so on. In an emergency, it is important to disseminate through several methods in order to secure that the disseminated information
reach residents certainly. In the cancellation, it must be done in the same way. And for42

ICHARM FHM Text 1

the aged people and disabled people who are difficult to hear the announces or dissemination in night time it is necessary to pay attention. The dissemination route should
be determined beforehand.
When an evacuation recommendation/order is issued, the people in the evacuation area
shall be guided to evacuate with collaboration of police station, fire department, firefighting corps and community based disaster management team in order to secure peoples lives primarily,

5.9 Education and drills
The most important thing in disaster management is the awareness and preparednessof the people. And it is necessary for people to have basic knowledge in an emergency
because persons in charge of disaster management are usually very few in local municipalities and cannot help people evacuate quickly and safely in an emergency. Especially, in tsunami case in which we have very short time to evacuate, it is important that
one has to save oneʼs life by oneself and it is a general rule for each one to evacuate
without any consideration of others if he feel the strong earthquake along the coast.
In this point of view, it is important toenlighten people about what happens
in flood and what one should do. It isconsidered that utilization of mass
media, pamphlets, videos, internet or
training at community center and“Town watching” are useful. The itemsof enlightenment are preparedness,
records of disaster, success and failure stories, characteristics of flood
events and contents of evacuation
plan such as classification of forecast
and warning, evacuation
recommendation/order, evacuationsite and routes.

Tsunami TenDenko
Sanriku coast in Touhoku area of Japan has
a lot of tsunami lessons. Most of the tsunami
along Sanriku coast hit the coastal villages
about 30 minutes after the earthquake.
However, half an hour is not sufficient forresidents to evacuate with their belongings
and families. In the past tsunami, many people killed when they got back to search or
take members of their families and friends.
In huge tsunami, it was not few families lost
all of the members.
Nowadays, they have an oral lesson “Tsunami TenDenko” which means “Evacuate by
yourself without thinking the others in caseof Tsunami”. It tells you not to care even yourfamily.

In order to ensure the evacuation, it isalso very useful to implement theevacuation drills. The drills should be
carried out periodically by organizations relating to the area. In an emergency, visitors cannot evacuate properly and it is necessary for the residents to help
visitors evacuate smoothly. Therefore, it is desirable to implement drills with wider participation including visitors. It should be also included the evacuation of the aged people, infants and people who need support in an emergency.
43

ICHARM FHM Text 1

The contents of the drills should consist of information collection, issuance and dissemination of evacuation recommendation/order, confirmation of evacuation routes, sites
and necessary time and the way to check whether all people evacuate safely.
At the tsunami prone area in Japan, they usually carry out tsunami evacuation drill at
least once a year. It is not so seldom that voluntary disaster management group conducts an evacuation drill in night or several drills in a year.
On the other hand, these kind of activities are not so common for the river flood in Japan.

5.10 Example of Evacuation Plan
The following shows an example of evacuation plan. It is the one for tsunami of Hachinohe city which is located along Sanriku coast.
１．Objective of tsunami evacuation plan

６．Issuance of Evacuation
recommendation/order

1.1 Objective of tsunami evacuation plan

6.1 Person in charge for issuance

1.2 Scope of tsunami evacuation plan

6.2 Criteria for Evacuation

２．Anticipated tsunami inundation map ofHachinohe City

recommendation/order
6.3 Dissemination of Evacuation

2.1 Guideline of preparing the Map

recommendation/order

2.2 Anticipated tsunami inundation map

6.4 How to evacuate and evacuation guide

３．Designation of evacuating area

７．Education and enlightenment oftsunami disaster prevention

3.1 Designation of evacuating area
3.2 Anticipated tsunami arrival time
3.3 Temporary shelters

7.1 Preparedness for tsunami

3.4 Evacuation routes

7.2 Media of enlightenment of tsunami disaster prevention

3.5 Shelters

7.3 Contents of enlightenment of tsunami

3.6 Areas hard to evacuate safely

disaster prevention

４．Mobilization plan

7.4 Opportunities of enlightenment of tsu-

4.1 Criteria for mobilization

nami disaster prevention

4.2 Mobilization of oﬃcials

５．Collection and transmission of tsunami
information

８．Evacuation Drill
8.1 Organizations and participants of Drill
8.2 Items of Drill

5.1 Classiﬁcation of information and meanings

９．Matters that require attention

5.2 Collection of information

9.1 Matters for establishing visitorsʼ

5.3 Collection of other information

evacuation

5.4 Routes and methods of transmitting

9.2 Care for who needs help in an emer-

tsunami and earthquake information

gency

44

ICHARM FHM Text 1

Points to be discussed !
We had a bad experience that some people were killed on the way to evacuation sitewhile they would survive if they stayed their home during the flood in Niigata prefecture
in 2004. On the contrary, in the case of Enza area of Ise city at 2004 flood, taking roll of
the residents triggered the rescue of 4 person who were about to be killed by inundation.
What should we do in an emergency of flood? It is not necessary to evacuate all thepeople from evacuation area, isnʼt it? Or is it still necessary in order to check number of
evacuees easily?
How do you think according to your countryʼs situation?

居安思危 Be aware of risk while you are safe
思則有備 Awareness leads you preparedness
有備無患 Preparedness leaves you no worry
Source： Zuo Qiuming “Zuoshi Commentary”
in Confucius ed. ”Spring and Autumn”, 480BC

Important things in time of peace
Countermeasure for Normalcy bias
Develop a sense of unity in the community
Practice judging and acting by oneself
Acquire correct knowledge on what “Flood” is45

ICHARM FHM Text 1

拾う人は捨てないA person picks up garbage will not throw it away.
Power of a person
by Satoshi Tani

A person picks up a piece of garbage.
That doesnʼt seem to make any diﬀerence.
A person throws away a piece of garbage.
That doesnʼt seem to make any diﬀerence.
A person who picks up garbage will not throw it away.
A person who throws away garbage will not pick it up.
There emerges a huge diﬀerence between the two.

This verse makes one think about the ownership ofsociety and a sense of belonging to society.

46Annex
Reference water level of rivers (MLIT, Hyogo Prefecture)
SpecialWarning
Dangerous Design highwarning
water level water level water level water level Assigned area
Nakagawa Weir
2.80
2.80
-Kado Bridge

River

Gauging
StationWatching
level

Upper Izushi
River
Lower Izushi
River

Yane

2.20

Hirohara

0.60

2.40

Inaba River

Ibu

1.70

2.30

Yashiro River

Fujii

1.10

1.60

Akasaki

2.00

8.62

Fuichiba

2.00

6.91

Tateno2.50

4.50

Dasaka1.90

2.80

Lower Maruyama River

Roppou River

4.30

5.27
Dojo Weir Arakawa Bridge

2.30

7.10

Upper Nasa
River

Nogaki

1.80

2.60

2.60

Lower Nasa
River
Lower Maruyama River

Miyai

2.10

3.20

4.10

Kinosaki

1.00

Morimoto

1.30

2.20

Tateno

1.30

2.00

8.16

Nasazaka
BridgeDirect management terminal
line

5.09
3.64

2.38

Takeno River

Todoroi Weir Sansyo River
confluence*Lower Maruyama River and Lower Nasa River are managed by MLIT. Hyogo Prefecture manages the rest.

47