Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)
Visiting Researcher Program FY2015B

Study on Disaster Management with special focus on Landslideand Sediment related Disasters

Final Research Report

Andrew Lalhruaia
Deputy Director, Government of Mizoram
Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation Department, INDIA

0Disclaimer
This report was compiled by an ADRC visiting researcher (VR) from ADRC
member countries.
The views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of
the ADRC. The boundaries and names shown and the designations usedon the maps in the report also do not imply official endorsement or
acceptance by the ADRC.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTAs Disaster Management is not a single job and the nature that it has to be
managed in collective efforts is the foremost reason that challenged me tojoin Visiting Researcher program. I am very much thankful to Asian Disaster
Reduction Center, Japan, Government of India and my State Government forproviding me this opportunity to participate in the Visiting Researcher
Program. It gives me an excellent opportunity not only to study Japanese
Disaster Management System but also to focus specially landslide andsediment related disasters and make a comparison of disaster management
in both countries. As Japan is a well known country in term of Disastermanagement I want to study and learnt from their experienced. I would liketo convey thanks to the Government of Japan and many Japaneseorganizations which provided me this opportunity to visit their facilities andoffices and learn from their practices.
I am impressed and influenced by the ADRC staff who tirelessly arranged
numerous visits and facilitated my learning. Special thanks are due to Kondo
san, Executive Director, Shiomi san, Researcher and In-charge of the VR
Program and Arakida san, Senior Researcher and my Mentor. Without theirefforts it won’t have been possible for me to complete the program andcompile this report. I am also very thankful to my VR colleague Mr.
Liyanaarachchige Chathura and Mr. Inayath Mohamed for their cooperation,
support and suggestions.
I know that this research may not be useful greatly for Government of India,
Government of Japan and even for the Government of Mizoram but may
serve as something that can be referred and at least for a simple guide thatwill contribute idea in future in the field of Disaster Management specially
focusing landslide.

1

Table of content
chapter
0.
1.
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3.0
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.4
4.0
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
5.0
5.1
5.2
6.0
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5

Content
Acknowledgement
Objective of the Report
Disaster Management(DM) in General
Introduction
Disaster Summary
Institutional arrangement and responsibilities
Important tools for effective DM
Disaster management in India
Legal and Institutional set up
National Institute of disaster management
National Disaster Response Force
Emergency Services
National Policy on DM and disaster management Plan
Early warning and forecasting Agency and dissemination
system etc
Disaster management in Japan
Disaster Acts and its Legislation
Preparedness for DM
Governance system in DM
DM planning system in Japan
Early warning System in Japan
Landslide in General
Cause of landslide
Type of landside
Overview of landslide and sediment related disaster inJapan
History
Sabo law
Sabo Today
Laws for prevention of Sediment related Disasters
Broad Mechanism of various Measures
2

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4
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6
7
9
10
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20
22
24
25
32
32
33
34
35
37
37
39
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7.0
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9
8.0
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
8.8
8.9
8.10
9.0
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
10.0
11.0

Overview of landside in India
National Disaster Management Authority Guidelines onlandslide
Codes and guidelines related to landslide
Landslide Nodal Agency
Institutional Mechanism
Financial arrangement for landslide
Zonation and Causes of landslide
Most worst landslide in India
Landslide Remediation practices in India
Gravity Retaining Wall in India
Major sites visited related to disaster during the research
Nojima Fault musuem in Awaji Island
The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Tokyo Rinkai disaster prevention Park
Atomic Bomb Museum at Nagasaki
Mt. Unzen Fugen Active Volcano
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Osaka
Mikki Disaster Prevention Park, Osaka
Kamenose Landslide Mitigation Measures
Sabo works for Rokko mountain
Various functions and presentations attended
Broad observation and findings through the Research
Brief comparison of landslide in India and Japan
Effectiveness of Seismic design
Landslide/ sediment related disaster mitigation measures
works
Disaster can be larger than the expected
Preparedness for disasters
Enactment and Framing of relevant laws
Conclusion
References

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45
45
46
46
47
47
48
49
50
51
51
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52
53
53
53
54
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58
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60
61
61
62
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1.

Objective of the Report

Disaster is nowadays really a global challenge in term oftechnology and resources. It becomes clearer and clearer that it can bepredicted (some) and forecasted, prevented, mitigated and there is apossibility of reducing the effect of disaster. It is also understood that thecommunity can be made resilient to it by effective effort. Experts have now
said that through proper planning, analysis, risk assessment and with the
involvement of community the consequences could be reduced. Addition,
there are some basic actions which can mitigate the impact of future disaster.
On the other hand disaster can be increased due to human actions. Some ofthese are really looks like unavoidable case of economics activities but someare based on short term gain and do not have technicality.
In today’s world. People are increasingly responsible for disasteras there are many man-made disasters. If there is no human action before,
many of our today’s disaster would not happens or would have smaller
impact to the communities. Deforestation had resulted in landslide during
rainy season, some land becomes desert due to overgrazing of cattle anduncontrolled housing leads to serious disasters during earthquake andlandslide.
At the same time it is the human who is responsible and could
reduce the impact of disaster. Early warning can alert coastal population soas to have time for evacuation in case of tsunami and flood. Zoning codeand building code if enforced properly can safe human from building collapse
during flood, earthquake, cyclone etc. Responsible land uses can reduce therisk of landslide due to deforestation. So a systematic study andapproach of disaster is very much necessary for administrators,
engineers, planners, disaster managers and even a community.

4

2. Disaster Management(DM) in general
2.1 Introduction
The word Disaster is derived from middle French ‘desaster’ and that from old
Italian ‘desastro’ which inturn comes from the Greek pejorative prefix‘dus’(bad) and ‘aster’ ( star). A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that
seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes
human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed thecommunity’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Thoughoften caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.
Disaster impact:
1. Alert phase- Warning phase
2. Response in the emergency phase
3. Reconstruction phase
4. Mitigation
5. Prevention
6. Preparation for next coming
While studying and talking about disaster there are few common words
regularly use. They are:Risk- The possibility of death, loss, injury etc.
Hazard- A destructive event or phenomenon
Exposure- Extend of a hazard or duration
Vulnerability- Susceptibility to damage or harm by a hazard
Management- The capacity to respond to need created by a disaster
2.2

Disaster Summary

Though there cannot be the same disasters but there exist always
similarities in every disaster which is human suffering and material losses. At
the same time there can be a common factor or actions which can mitigate
the future disaster. Till today there is a thinking that disaster is an accident
or event that con not be anticipated or reduced. This led to response insteadof prevention and reduction. Disaster management conveys the importantidea that protecting population and property also involves the estimation ofrisk, preparation activities which can mitigate the amount of impact and postdisaster reconstruction. Also an important element of disaster management5

is that giving awareness and changing the mind set of the community inorder to reduce economic and human loss due to it.
The management of disaster is not a single unit work, it requires
coordination and multi efforts done from various stakeholders. The effective
response to disaster starts from planning followed by many others steps.
While there cannot be a single unit responsible for disaster but the main is to
the government as it need to protect its people. In many countries the
management of disaster is taken up mainly by military action, some aresuccessful and in some places they lack public coordination.
Many efforts have contributed to the ability to manage the impact of disasterin a more systematic and effectively by building better resilience among
governments and citizens. The most popular are: UN international decade
for natural disaster reduction, the international strategy for disaster
reduction and its Hyogo Framework (HFA) and Sendai framework. The
Hyogo framework focuses on building national and community resilience todisaster. The Sendai Framework which is the successor of HFA aims thesubstantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods andhealth and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental
assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries.
2.3

Institutional arrangements and responsibilities:

In most cases all the countries established their national disastermanagement agency under the chairmanship of their President/ Prime
minister. This system is found effective and reasonable at the central level
as enactment of laws and legislation is always needed for disaster reduction,
response and mitigation. A national council or Executive council is always set
up to involve all organizations that can contribute to a country’s disastermanagement. This council usually develop national disaster management
plan by contributions of knowledge and ideas from locals and international
members.
As was mentioned earlier management of disaster could be done at thehighest success rate by collective efforts. Even though the national leveldisaster management is very important, the regional or the local levels are
the one who really work at the site. Therefore it is evident and clear thatthat the effective solution, mitigation, reduction and response can be doneby joint efforts at different levels.
Even there is lack of planning at the central level, effective planning at thestate, district and municipal level can protect the people and its property toa large extends. Organizations with extensive presence already at the local
6level are probably in the best position to help communities both prepare fordisasters and respond when it occurs. Therefore the development ofcommunity base planning on the appraisal of risk and vulnerability is thebest strategy to mitigate disaster.
The effective response and mitigation largely depends on the availability ofman power and resources. Disaster is not a tomorrow task and has to be
attempted today and thus requires immediate deployment of resources.
Hence it is always good that there should be set aside resources for disasterfor preparatory, training, workshop and response effort at the time of need.

2.4 Important tool for effective Disaster Management (DM)The community disaster management plan is one of the main importantelements of disaster mitigation. Identifying the person responsible fordisaster management in the specific administrative areas/ unit is mandatory
to have effective DM. It should also be necessary to constitute a disastercommittee. This committee may contain persons responsible for community
safety like fire, police, communication, civil works and administration etc.
Unless there is an active leadership or committee there is always confusions
and coordination problems.
There should be disaster management implementation plan. This plan should
broadly contain resources, responsible person and timelines etc. and should
point to plan of action to be taken in case of disaster. Also there should becommunity profile and map which will show the population, geographicalareas, vulnerabilities etc. Highlighted the specific person with contact
number is mandatory and the map should contain evacuation route, shelter,
fire, police facilities etc.
It is also very much required to have analysis on the possible hazards. For
this it may be good to do mapping of vulnerable geographical areas andlisting the vulnerabilities. This will show the level of how much thecommunity will could be affected and assessing the various possible
disasters. From the experienced and seeing the forecast and predictions
necessary calendar could be developed.
For some disasters it is possible to make prevention plan. If the building
regulation is enforce in such a way that all the house are build with seismic
proof and there is a restriction in building a house at the possible flood and7even tsunami, there can be a prevention actions. In short careful analysis ofpotential disaster can be used to stop future hazards.
There can be preparedness action and mitigation plan for disasters.
Preparedness activities may include early warning, alert system andmitigation plan may contains improving building codes, giving awareness tothe community, sheltering and stockpiling of essential commodities etc.
Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) is created for emergency purpose at
the disaster control site which will specify roles and actions to be taken incase of disaster. The Sop lists the specific actions needed to prepare, to alert
and to respond.
Disaster managers should know that the best time to review and learn thedisaster response is while the events are fresh in the minds of those affected
and those who are involve in the response. Evaluation of what went well,what failed and gap in the response can be conducted immediately after thedisaster. Through this analysis and lesson learnt the disaster management
approach can be strengthened to prepare for the next disaster.
Nowadays the undeniable truth for every missions or project is the more or
the larger community involvement, the high is the success rate. For disasteralso community participation before, during and after can greatly reduced
the overall mortality and improves the use of resources. The community if
involve at the time of preparedness will surely reduce the affect of any
disaster. Also it is to be noted that sometimes the community itself requires
motivation as they used to be not worry until disaster happens.
It is always effective that the community disaster management committee
carry out risk assessment. This involves gathering information about the riskthat a community most concern about such as fire, earthquake, flood etc
It is found very effective to have analysis of past disaster experiences. This
will help determine the priorities for future disaster response. For thiscommittee may be constituted from emergency services and community
itself. Disaster managers should always try to build community to cope with
future disaster. This can be done by analyzing past experiences, conducting
risk assessment and creating disaster preparedness plan.
One of the most important activities of disaster management is Recovery
and reconstruction. The recovery task of rehabilitation and reconstruction
starts soon after the emergency phase has ended. Recovery can be defined
shortly as the restoration and improvement activities including effort to
reduced disaster risk factors.
8

3. Disaster Management in India
Due to the physio-graphic and climatic conditions India is one of the mostdisaster prone areas of the world. It is vulnerable to windstorms from both
the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, flood, Earthquake, drought, landslide,avalanches, tsunami, forest fire etc India has the highest mountain chain on
earth, the Himalayas, which are formed due to collision of Indian andEurasian plate, the northward movement of the Indian plate towards China
causes continuous stress on the rocks rendering them friable, weak andprone to landslides and earthquakes.
The slow motion of the Indian crust, about 5 cm/year accumulates stress towhich natural disasters are attributed. Some landslides make unique, andunparalleled catastrophes. Landslides and avalanches are among the majorhydro-geological hazards that affect large parts of India besides theHimalayas, the Northeastern hill ranges, the Western Ghats, the Nilgiris, theEastern Ghats and the Vindhyans, in that order, covering about 12-15 % of
the landmass. The Himalayas alone count for landslides of every fame, nameand description- big and small, quick and creeping, ancient and new. The
Northeastern region is badly affected by landslide problems of a bewildering
variety. Landslides in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal as also those in
Sikkim, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal
Pradesh pose chronic problems, causing recurring economic losses worth
billions of rupees. A different variety of landslides, characterized by alateritic cap, pose constant threat to the Western Ghats in the South, along
the steep slopes overlooking the Konkan coast besides Nilgiris, which ishighly landslide prone.

93.1 Legal and institution set up
The legal and institutional arrangement of disaster management in India is
improves with the enactment of Disaster Management Act 2005. The
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was initially constituted on
May 30,2005 under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister. Following enactmentof the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the NDMA was formally constitutedin accordance with Section-3(1) of the Act on 27th September, 2006 with
Prime Minister as its Chairperson and nine other members, and one suchmember to be designated as Vice-Chairperson.
10The NDMA has been mandated with laying down policies on disastermanagement and guidelines which would be followed by different Ministries,
Departments of the Government of India and State Government in taking
measures for disaster risk reduction. It has also to laid down guidelines to befollowed by the State Authorities in drawing up the State Plans and to takesuch measures for the management of disasters, Details of these
responsibilities are given as under :(a) Lay down policies on disaster management;(b) Approve the National Plan;(c) Approve plans prepared by the Ministries or Departments of theGovernment of India in accordance with the National Plan;(d) Lay down guidelines to be followed by the State Authorities in drawing
up the State Plan;(e) Lay down guidelines to be followed by the different Ministries or
Departments of the Government of India for the purpose of integrating themeasures for prevention of disaster or the mitigation of its effects in theirdevelopment plans and projects;(f) Coordinate the enforcement and implementation of the policy and planfor disaster management;(g) Recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation;(h) Provide such support to other countries affected by major disasters as
may be determined by the Central Government;(i) Take such other measures for the prevention of disaster, or the mitigation,or preparedness and capacity building for dealing with the threatening
disaster situation or disaster as it may consider necessary;(j) Lay down broad policies and guidelines for the functioning of the National
Institute of Disaster Management. Besides the nine members nominated by
the Prime Minister, Chairperson of the Authority, the Organizational
structure consists of a Secretary and five Joint Secretaries including one
Financial Advisor. There are 10 posts of Joint Advisors and Directors.

11

State Policies on Disaster Management
At the State Level the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), headedby the Chief Minister, lays down policies and plans for disaster managementin the State. It is also responsible to coordinate the implementation of theState Plan, recommend provision of funds for mitigation and preparedness
measures and review the developmental plans of the different departmentsof the State to ensure integration of prevention, preparedness andmitigation measures. The State Disaster Management Department (DMD)
which is mostly one of the departments of the state is nodal authority.

12

State Relief Codes/ DM Codes
Many States have manuals and codes for management of drought, floods
and other disasters and relief measures to be taken, etc. Now many states
are in the process of changing their State Relief codes into Disaster
Management Manuals.

In the district level the District Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) is headed by the District Magistrate, with the elected
representative of the local authority as the Co-Chairperson. DDMA is theplanning, coordinating and implementing body for disaster management at
district level. It will, inter alia prepare the District Disaster Management Planand monitor the implementation of the National and State Policies and the
National, State and the District Plans. DDMA will also ensure that theguidelines for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response measureslaid down by the NDMA and the SDMA are followed by all departments of theState Government at the district level and the local authorities in the district.
The Local Authorities include both the rural local self governing
institutions (Panchayati Raj Institutions) and urban local bodies(Municipalities, Cantonment Boards and Town Planning Authorities). Thesebodies will ensure capacity building of their officers and employees for
managing disasters, carry out relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction
activities in the affected areas and will prepare DM Plans in consonance withguidelines of the NDMA, SDMAs and DDMAs.
3.2

National Institute of Disaster Management

The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) was constituted
under an Act of Parliament with a vision to play the role of a premierinstitute for capacity development in India and the region. The efforts in thisdirection that began with the formation of the National Centre for Disaster
Management (NCDM) in 1995 gained impetus with its re-designation as the
National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) for training and capacity
development. Under the Disaster Management Act 2005, NIDM has been
assigned nodal responsibilities for human resource development, capacity
building, training, research, documentation and policy advocacy in the fieldof disaster management.

13

3.3 National Disaster Response force (NDRF)
The DM Act has made the statutory provisions for constitution of National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for the purpose of specialized response tonatural and man-made disasters. Accordingly, in 2006 NDRF was constituted
with 08 Battalions (02 Battalions each from BSF, CRPF, ITBP and CISF). As
on date NDRF is having strength of 10 Battalions. Each NDRF Battalion
consists of 1149 personnel. Union cabinet has also approved theconversion/up-gradation of 02 Battalions from SSB.
3.4

Emergency Services

In India there is no centrally managed Emergency service or it is not
integrated. The existing emergency services are maintained by variousorganizations like Police, Fire and health department at the state level.
Except for the police there is no uniform system of management of these
services. The Police works under the state governments but fire andambulance services are differently managed and run. In some states fireservices are run by the ULBs whereas in some states it is run and managed
by the state governments. Many public and private sector organizations also
maintain their own fire services. Ambulance services are run by multiple
agencies such as Red Cross, health department, private health careorganizations, charitable organizations, civil defence, etc. In the recent past
many states have started integrated ambulance services mainly under the
National Rural Health Mission and are being run and managed byoutsourcing. At the state level it is health department which is providing
funds for these services.
Department of Fire: Like it is done and practiced in other countries Fire
Department not only worked for fire but also for other emergency service
too. In the year 1956 Government of India formed Standing Fire Advisory
Committee (SFAC) under the Ministry of Home. The SFAC has given various
recommendations to the government for improvement of fire services. The
SFAC had recommended re-organization of fire services in India way back in
1956 and also recommended uniform fire service legislation in all states. The
SFAC had also prepared a Model Fire Service Bill and the same wascirculated to all the state governments in 1958. Some states have still notenacted any Fire Act of their own. The SFAC has laid down norms for setting
up of fire stations based on the following parameters:i)
Response time (3 to 5 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes inrural areas);ii)
The scale of population to be served; and
14

iii)

The number of minimum standard equipment that are needed andmanpower required for its operation.

On the basis of above norms laid down by SFAC, the existing deficiencies asregards fire stations, fire fighting vehicles and personnel in India are as
follows:a) Fire stations – 97.54%;b) Fire fighting and rescue vehicles – 80.04%; andc) Fire personnel – 96.28%.
(Source: NDMA Guidelines.)
During their regular deliberations, the SFAC have noticed the following
shortcomings in the fire services in India. Lack of:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)
viii)
ix)

Unified fire services in some of the states;
Proper organizational structure, training and career progressionof its personnel;
Adequate modern equipment and their scaling, authorization &standardization;
Appropriate and adequate funding;Training institutions;
Infrastructural facilities – fire stations and accommodation of
personnel etc.;
Vulnerability analysis;
Public awareness (DOs & DON’Ts), conduct of regular mockexercises and evacuation drills; andUniform fire safety legislation in some of the states.
(Source: NDMA Guidelines, 2012)

Civil Defense and home guard: With a view to the requirements andnecessity of well trained and organized group for disaster response action
the Ministry of Home Affairs gives approval to the state government toutilized the service of Civil defence and home guard for disaster prevention
etc. besides their normal duty. Thereafter they are largely utilized by all thestates not only in response action but also in prevention, awareness,
mitigation etc. of disaster. Nowadays they are the main work force for any
kind of disaster in all the states. Further the Civil Defence Act 1968 has been
amended in 2009 and disaster management has been added as one of theactivities of CD organization. This amendment has been notified on 21st
January, 2011. However, the CD set-up is also not in good shape in the
country. As per the High Powered Committee Report on Revamping of CD,
only 121 towns have CD set up in the country and against the target of 1.29
million volunteers, only about 0.66 million have been enrolled so far. Only15

17 states are having Central Training Institutes (CTIs) to train CD volunteers
and most of them are combined training institutes for Civil Defense andHome Guards and many of these training institutions are virtually nonfunctional because of lack of funds and infrastructure.
Response Force: In compliance with the DM Act 2005, 10 Battalions of NDRF
drawn from the CPMFs have been trained in advanced search and rescue(SAR) and stationed in different parts of the country for responding to large
scale emergencies. Their services are regularly being used for disaster
response of large scale or where specialized response is needed. But keeping
in view the size of the country there is huge response time lag in the
response of NDRF and need is being felt to raise such forces at the statelevels so that maximum lives can be saved in golden hour.
3.5

National Policy on DM and Disaster Management Plans

The National Policy on Disaster Management prepared by the NDMA wasapproved by the Union Cabinet on 22nd October 2009. The vision of thispolicy is to build a safe and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic,
proactive, multi disaster oriented and technology driven strategy through aculture of prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response. The National
Disaster management Plan (DMP) though approved by the National
Executive Council in the year 2013 is about to be finalized by the National
Government and is going to lay down the broad outline of how the nation
manages disasters. At the same time as per the guideline of NDMA, thestates governments are in the process of preparing their own State Disastermanagement plan and some states already have their own State Disastermanagement Plan. Also the model framework for District Disaster
Management Plan had already been issued by the central government which
is presently utilized by many districts. An SOP for Responding to Natural
Disasters, 2010 has also been issued. The state governments have beenadvised to formulate the similar kind of the CMP and SOPs. As per theprovision of Act, DMPs have been formulated by some states and districts. In
some cases plans have also been prepared at the local and institutional levelsuch as schools, hospitals, industries and offices. But the national DMP is yet
to be finalized. The national response plan has been drafted but yet to be
finalized. In order to make DMPs functional and useful their thorough testing
and regular updation and improvement is needed. Besides, formulating
separate plans for DM and crisis management is against the principles ofholistic management of disasters.

16

3.6 Early Warning and Forecasting Agencies and Dissemination
SystemAs per the DM act the state government has the responsibility of setting up
the mechanism for early warning and dissemination thereof to the public.
Steps have been taken to institutionalize EW system in the country but thesystem of EWS is at nascent stages in India. The SOPs, 2010 under para
4.1.1 lists the following agencies table for forecasting and issuing EW:Name
Disaster
CycloneTsunamiofthe

AgencyIndian Meteorological Department (IMD)
Indian National Centre for Oceanic Information
Services (INCOIS)
FloodsCentral Water Commission (CWC)
Landslide
Geological Survey of India (GSI)
Avalanches
Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE)
Heat and Cold Wave
Indian Meteorological Department
Nodal Early Warning Agencies in India
As above even though early warning or prediction of earthquake is notpossible but the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is responsible fordetecting and monitoring the earthquakes and the after-shocks. IMD
operates an Earthquake Operational Centre on a 24X7 basis with theoperational responsibility of keeping a round-the-clock watch of seismic
activity in and around the country. The SOPs say that the Operation Centre
shall retrieve waveform data from remote field stations either in real time or
through VSAT/dial up communication facilities, data analyses and quickly
disseminate earthquake information to various user agencies including stateand national government departments dealing with relief and rehabilitation
measures.
In the same manner it depends on the type of disaster that the agency
responsible changes. Though the MHA is responsible for collection anddissemination of information in term of issuing alerts, the state DM
authorities are to ensure early warning networks availability in theirrespective areas. At present regarding issuing EW even the above agencies
are not fully equip and requires improvement as the information issometimes not exact and lately arrive. Despite having laws oncommunication in the country the utilisation of private electronic operators
to broadcast early warning seems very poor. In this way the provision madein the DM Act that the Central Government after receiving recommendationfrom state etc. for control of private broadcasters is needed to utilise.
17

4.0 Disaster management in Japan

Japan is located in the circum Pacific mobile belt where seismic and volcanic
activities occur constantly. Also due to the geographical, topographical andmeteorological conditions the country is subject to frequent natural disasters
such as earthquake, tsunami, typhoon, rain and snow fall. The four plates i.e.
Philippine Sea plate, Eurasian plate, Pacific plate and North American plates
which collide around Japan island causes frequent earthquake in the area.
With the progress of societies in awareness, prevention, mitigation andadvancement in technology and forecasting the damage due to disaster has
been declining. Also there is a report which is submitted every year as‘White paper’ to the National Diet by the National government about theoverview of occurrence of disasters and action taken by the government.
Even at such an improvement and preparations the effect of The Great
Hanshin Awaji Earthquake and The Great East Japan Earthquake andTsunami was so disastrous.

184.1 Disaster Acts and its legislation
The disaster management of Japan has been developed and strengthened
following the bitter experience of large-scale natural disasters and accidents
over the years. The country has 7 basic acts, 18 disaster prevention andpreparedness legislations, 3 legislations governing disaster emergency
response and 23 disaster recovery and reconstruction and financial
measures acts. The first act i.e. Disaster Relief Act dates back to 1947
passed after the 1946 Nankai earthquake. Thereafter every disaster led tolearning and experience and it led to passing of new legislation. There isalmost a separate legislation for each disaster and separate legislation forevery aspect of disasters such as prevention, preparedness, response,
rehabilitation and recovery, building standard, financial measures,
earthquake insurance, etc. The turning point for strengthening the disastermanagement system came after the immense damage caused by the Isewan Typhoon in 1959, and led to the enactment of the Disaster
Countermeasures Basic Act in 1961, which formulates a comprehensive andstrategic disaster management system in Japan. The DM system has further
been strengthened following the lessons learnt from large-scale disasters
such as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, 1995. The learning of the 201119

Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) and nuclear disaster has
been incorporated in the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act by amending it
in June, 2012 and by making changes in Basic Disaster Management Plan in
December, 2011. The most notable piece of legislation is the Act passed in
2002 namely ‘Act on Special Measures for Promotion of Tonankai and Nankai
Earthquake Disaster Management’. The country is expecting big earthquake
which may arise out of Tonankai and Nankai troughs and this legislation
aims at reducing possible impact from these earthquakes and preparing thecountry to face them.

4.2 Preparedness for DM
Not only as a review but as a preparatory and preparedness, the Technicalinvestigation Committees of Central Disaster Management Council under
National government prepared the estimation on possible damaged causedby the next Tokai earthquake as well as Tonankai and Nankai earthquake as
below:

20

Tokai EQ

Maximum Cases

Victims(Persons)Tonankai &Nankai EQ

Kobe EQ 1995

9200 (7900 by 18000 (8600 bystrong Tremors)tsunamis)

6436

House Destroyed

260,000

360,000

105,000

Economic Loss
( Billion Yen)

37,00057,00010,000Estimation of Damage caused by possible EQ

Response Mechanism in Japan
National Government
Direction
Overall coordination
Recommendation and advice
Designated Government agencies,
Designated Public Agencies
Request for support
Other Prefectural
Prefectural
Government
Requestfor
Self Defense
Goverment
Dispatch of personnel
RequestF
Direction
Support and overall coordination
Other Municipalities
Prefectural Police
Request for support
Municipalities
Headquarter
Order

Request for call out

Call outFire station/
fire volunteer

Police station

Affected Areas and Residence
21

4.3 Governance System in DM
At the national level Central Disaster Management Council, the apex bodyfor DM in Japan is housed within the Cabinet Office headed by the Prime
Minister. Along with a series of reforms of the central government system in
2001, the post of Minister of State for DM was newly established to integrate
and coordinate disaster reduction policies and measures of ministries andagencies. In the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for securing cooperationand collaboration among related government organizations in the widerazing issues, the Director-General of Disaster Management is mandated toundertake the planning of basic disaster management policies and response
to large-scale disasters, as well as conduct overall coordination.

Disaster countermeasure Basic Act 1961
Central Disaster management Council chaired by the Prime Minister
National Coordinating Body with all relevant Ministers and Japanese Red
Cross, Public Broadcasting, Semi Public Sector
Annual Gov’t Official Report on Disaster Countermeasures
The cabinet must officially report the Disaster Countermeasures to the
National Diet
Formulation on “ National Basic Disaster Management Plan For
Disaster Prevention”
The Disaster Management Operational Plan (Sectoral)
The local Disaster Management Plan

22

Central Disaster Management Council in Japan
Prime Minister or Minister of state for Disaster Management
Inquiry

ReportOffer opinion

Central Disaster Management Council, Chairman- Prime Minister,Members of the Council:
1. Minister of State for Disaster management and all cabinet Ministers(less than 17)
2. Chief of Designated Public Corporations( 4 numbers)a). Governor of Bank of Japanb). President of Japanese Red Crossc). President of Japan Broadcastingd). President of Nippon Telegraph
3. People of Experience or Academic Standing (4 persons)Technical Investigation
Additionally, taking into account the lessons learned from the Great HanshinAwaji Earthquake, 1995, the Cabinet Secretariat system was also
strengthened, including the appointment of the Deputy Chief Cabinet
Secretary for Crisis Management and the establishment of the Cabinet
Information Collection Center, to strengthen risk management functions toaddress emergencies such as large-scale disasters and serious accidents.

4.4

DM Planning System in Japan

Planning for DM is done in three levels as follows:

23

i)

National Level: Basic Disaster Management Plan - This plan is a basis
for disaster reduction activities and is prepared by the Central
DisasterManagement
Council
based
on
the
DisasterCountermeasures Basic Act, 1961. The Basic Disaster Management
Plan states comprehensive and long-term disaster reduction issues
such as disaster management related systems, disaster reduction
projects, early and appropriate disaster recovery and rehabilitation,
as well as scientific and technical research. The first Basic DMP was
prepared in 1963 and subsequently revised several times. The plan
was revised entirely in 1995 based on the experiences of the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. It now consists of various plans for eachtype of disaster, where tangible countermeasures to be taken by eachstakeholder such as the national and local governments, public
corporations and other entities are described for easy reference
according to the disaster phases of prevention and preparedness,
emergency response, as well as recovery and rehabilitation. Changes
were effected in the plan in December, 2011 based on therecommendations from the Central Disaster Management Council’s
technical committee for reviewing earthquake and tsunami measures
based on the lessons from the GEJET. The plan, it has been decided,
shall be continuously revised in future in order to reflect further policy
development based on the GEJET and other disasters.

ii)

Department/Organizational Level: Disaster Management Operation
Plan - Disaster Management Operation Plan: This is a plan made byeach designated government organization and designated public
corporation based on the Basic Disaster Management Plan.

iii)

Prefectural/Local Level: Local Disaster Management Plan: This is aplan made by each prefectural and municipal disaster management
council, subject to local circumstances and based on the Basic
Disaster Management Plan.

The plans at all levels have been prepared and regularly revised and updated
incorporating the lessons learnt and changes made in the Basic DMP
prepared at the national level. DMP is the main document which is referred
to for disaster management and emergency response.

244.3 Early Warning System in JapanEWS Agency - Japan Meteorological Agency - Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) is the sole national authority responsible for issuing weather/tsunami
warnings and advisories, earthquake early warning/alerts, and other disasterwarning and is required to provide reliable and timely information to
governmental agencies and residents for the purposes of natural disasterprevention and mitigation. Within the structural framework of Japan’s central
government, the JMA is placed as an extra-ministerial bureau of the Ministryof Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). When a Heavy Rain
Warning is issued, Sediment Disaster Alerts are issued jointly by MLIT and
prefectural government civil engineering bureaus when sediment-related
damage caused by heavy rain is considered likely within the next few hours.
JMA is also responsible for providing flood forecasting services incollaboration with central and local river management authorities. These
services include flood warnings and advisories covering 407 rivers (as ofMarch 2011) throughout the country that have been designated by these25

authorities as sites of potential flood disasters. Flood forecasting systems for289 of the 407 rivers are managed jointly by JMA and the MLIT, and theother 118 are managed jointly by JMA and prefectural governments. JMA
operationally monitors seismic and volcanic activity throughout the country
and issues relevant warnings and information to mitigate damage caused bydisasters related to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. JMA
began issuing volcanic warnings and volcanic forecasts for each active
volcano in Japan on Dec 1, 2007 to mitigate damage from volcanic activity.
Volcanic warnings are issued in relation to expected volcanic disasters, andspecify the municipalities where people need to take action. Volcanic
forecasts are issued for less active volcanoes or those that become so.

Observation System for Earthquakes - In order to constantly monitor seismic
activity, the JMA and other relevant organizations install and maintainseismometers that are used for estimating the location of the epicenter andmagnitude of an earthquake as well as for tsunami forecasts, and seismic
intensity meters that measure the intensity of ground motion, in numerous
places nationwide. As soon as an earthquake occurs in or around Japan, theJMA analyzes the data from various seismometers and seismic intensity
meters. Within about two minutes, it issues a seismic intensity information
report for earthquakes of intensity 3 or greater, and within about five26

minutes issues an earthquake information report indicating the epicenterand magnitude of the earthquake and the seismic intensity in themunicipalities where strong shaking was observed.

Determination of Epicenter and magnitude (JMA, Osaka)

Dissemination of Forecast and EW - In order to prevent and mitigate
damage caused by natural disasters and support prompt disaster prevention
activities, JMA disseminates weather information and warnings via various
channels to government disaster prevention agencies, local governments,
the mass media and the public. An outline of EWS in Japan is given in thefollowing figure.
For this purpose, the Agency maintains directcommunication links with meteorological offices and central/local
governments. Strong communication with municipal governments that play
direct roles in disaster management and mitigation in affected areas isessential. Such communication is ensured via various channels for
information dissemination, such as prefectural governments, NTT(NipponTelegraph and Telephone Corporation), J-ALERT (an instantinformation broadcasting system introduced by the Fire and Disaster
Management Agency (FDMA) and the Internet. To support prompt disastermitigation activities by local governments, the Agency has introduced a new
information provision system called the Information Network for Disaster
Prevention (INDiP), which enables effective and rapid dissemination of datain both text and graphic form. INDiP (Figure 6) connects disaster prevention
agencies and local governments with JMA headquarters via the Internet and27

provides detailed weather information and warnings tailored to individualmunicipalities. Information for maritime users is transmitted via the JMH
radio facsimile broadcast service operated by JMA and fishery radio
communications services. Such information is also disseminated within theframework of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), i.e.
via the NAVTEX broadcast service of the Japan Coast Guard for seas in thevicinity of Japan, and via the Safety-Net broadcast service for ships in thehigh seas via the maritime satellite INMARSAT. Nowadays, the Internet plays
a vital role for JMA in the public dissemination of a wide range of
meteorological information not only on forecasts but also on historical andcurrent observation data.

J-Alert System - J-Alert is the system to immediately transmit emergency
information such as Emergency Earthquake information, tsunami warning,
information of ballistic missiles, which people have no enough time to deal
with, is transmitted to the municipalities by using satellite (via the Fire andDisaster Management Agency, the Cabinet Secretariat, and JMA). It became
operational on 09 February 2007 and on 01 October 2007 started sending
the emergency earthquake information. As of first March 2010, 34428

municipalities have introduced this system. Among them, automatic
activation system of radio broadcasting and community FM have been
introduced to 282 municipalities. The J-Alert framework has been given in
the figure below:

J-alert/Emergency operation System (JMA)

Utilization of Earthquake Early Warning Information - Earthquake Early
Warning (EEW) information announces the estimated hypocenter andmagnitude of an earthquake as well as the estimated arrival time of the Swave of the earthquake and seismic intensity in each area. This information
is made possible by detecting the P-wave near the epicenter and
immediately processing the data since there is a difference in the speed of
the P-wave, which arrives faster, and the S-wave, which arrives later andcauses more severely destructive phenomena. In the case of a large-scaleocean trench-type earthquake, there may be a time lag (several seconds toseveral tens of seconds) between the issuance of the EEW information andthe start of severe shaking (when the S-wave arrives). This can be a criticaltime to be used for mitigating damage by stopping trains and elevators,
extinguishing flames or crawling under tables. Research and development
has been promoted by the JMA in cooperation with related organizations,29and the provision of the EEW information to specific entities such as railway
companies began in 2006. Earthquake or tsunami warnings are instantly
delivered to central & local governments, broadcasters, telecom carriers.
After receiving this warning, local government deliver alarm through theirsirens or microphones (Fig b). The flow of information in EEWS has been
given in figure a, and use of this alert by train services in figure c.

Figure a: Outline of Earthquake Early warning Information (Source: MIC, Japan)

Figure b: an outline of Earthquake Early warning Information to community (Source: MIC, Japan)

30

Figure c: An outline of Earthquake Early warning Information used to stop high speed trains (Source:
MIC, Japan)

Legal Framework for EW Dissemination - Early warning is given too much
importance by the Japan Disaster Countermeasures basic Act that it is
written “In cases where notification, request, transmission or alarm ….
requires urgency when there is a specific need, the governor of a prefecture,
the mayor of a city or town, or the head of a village may, by ordinanceunless otherwise provided by law, request broadcast thereof on a priority
basis from the electrical communications businesses….”. So EW is instantly
communicated in all the mediums available. If warning is given by the JMA,
the alert started to appear in the TV channel across the country31

5.0 Landslide in general
Introduction:
Landslide is a geological phenomenon in which there is a groundmovement such as slope failure, movement of debris and rock andearth down a slope. In short it is the down sliding of relatively dry
mass of soil, rock and debris.
The main reason of landslide is the failure of materials which
formed the hills and slope and are driven by the force of gravitation.
Some landslides are very rapid in nature and some are slow gradualslide. Sudden and rapid are dangerous because of the high speed
resulting into more impact and less warning. Slow landslide might
move little a year but can be active for many years. Although this typeof landslide is not a threat to people but it can caused huge damages
to property.
5.1 Cause of landslide
Landslide can be triggered by natural causes or human action
causes. If a hillside has loss its vegetation due to urbanization or firefor instance, the rain water can cause erosion and giving more chance
to sliding. At the same time it is not only rain that can cause erosion
but flowing rivers, moving glaciers, and crushing ocean waves. In
short the slope saturation by water is the primary cause for landslides.
The geology or strength of the soil inside itself can be a factor oflandslide. The stronger the material is less likely to break apart andslide down to the slope. And finally, there can also be a humanactivities that can lead to landslide and erosion. Cutting of hillside orclearing of land for agriculture and construction are some of thehuman causes of landslide.
5.2 Type of landslide

Depending on the classification there can be many types of landslide,the following are the main common type of landslide:5.1.1
Earthflow:
The slop materials liquefies and runs out, forming a bowl or depression at
the head. This usually occurs in fine- grained materials or clay- bearing
rocks under saturated conditions and on moderate slopes. At the same time32

dry flow of granular materials are also possible.

5.1.2
Mudslide/ mudflow:
It is quite similar with earthflow but consist of materials having morewater that makes it easy to flow. It contains at least 50% of sand, silt
and clay-sized particles.

5.1.3

Debris flow:
It can be said as a down flow movement of a combination of loose soil, rock,organic matters, air and water mobilized as slurry. It is usually caused bysurface water due to heavy rain or sometimes melting of snow.

5.1.4

Fall:
Falls are abrupt movement of masses of geological materials such as rocks
and boulders that become detached from steep slopes or cliffs.

33

6.0 Overview of Landslide and sediment related
disaster in Japan
Landslide/ Debris flow or any kind of sediment related disaster in Japan issupervised by what they called Sabo Department which is under the ministryof Land Infrastructure and development. As the mountainous and hilly areas
contribute 70% of the total areas of Japan, there is too much possibility oflandslide and debris flow in many parts of the country.

Landslide near Arima Onsen, Hyogo34

6.1 History:
As the Japan experienced Sediment disasters like debris flow andlandslide since ancient days, the prevention measures taken to protect hills
and mountains started long years back(around 700AD). Despite various
measures to control and prevent the sediment disaster they faced many
problems due to debris flow and landslide hindering blockage oftransportation route and sometimes flooding. So the principle of mountainand river control was developed during the Edo period (1603-1868) whichlead to the starts of what they called Sabo work. ‘Sabo’ is a word originatingfrom the Japanese language which means sediment control. The main aim ofSabo is to restore the natural environment destroyed by sediment runoff
caused by natural phenomena or human-induced phenomena and mitigate
the threat of natural disasters affecting human life.
The ancient people of Japanese has a clear concept that mountains
have supported the production activities necessary for the establishment of
the nation and it cities by providing materials for construction, living
materials required for warming and cooking, fuel wood and even fertilizers
etc. To prevent deforestation and maintaining the nature is given strong
effort right from the beginning. Various laws and rules passed and enforcedby the Emperors and Rulers. Almost all the rules are about the banning oftree felling and protection work for sedimentation in any mountain including
privately owned ones.
The concept of what they called Sunodome for protecting soil erosion andsedimentation developed in around 1697AD. This Sunadome which is thefirst Sabo dam becomes more popular and was the main infrastructure forcontrolling disaster at that time and some of such Dams still remain in their
original shape today.

35

Dodo River Sunadome build in 1773
The Sabo works of Dam was improved with the passage of time under
the suggestion and guidance of Dutch engineer after 1872. The very
important and notable activities done by the government is that it employed
and invited expert engineers from outside. The Engineers from abroad madesignificant contributions and left great achievements in the improvement of
entire civil engineering technology especially slopes protection and landslide
preventive technology. These engineers usually proposed prohibition ofunrestrained logging, implementation of hill site works and construction of
Sabo dam for protecting the upstream mountain and stabilizing thedownstream river section. Also a contribution made by Japanese Engineer
named Yoshikata Ichikawa is praiseworthy and the large masonry dam which
he constructed is still in existence for more than 130 years and famous.
6.2 Sabo law:
The Sabo law which comes into effective on April 1, 1897 is known as one ofthe oldest existing laws in Japan. This law state that Sabo facilities would bedone to control water and flood so as to prevent the soil masses. It also
promote the control of the areas for future possible disasters. This law had
been modified many a times to suit the present day situation and the latest
amendment is done in the year 1963. The following is the Concept of the
Sabo law:36

6.3 Today’s Sabo
The Sabo Project can be classified by operating body into those under
the direct management of National government and those subsidized by thegovernment and those executed by Prefectures. As per the Law, the National
government may directly conduct the execution of construction whenconstruction cost is considerable high and difficult, if necessary to prevent
others prefectures interest and not limited to one prefecture.
There are also possibilities of subsidized Sabo projects. Major projects
can be classified broadly as:a) Disaster prevention- These will include Sabo dam function
enhancement and general Sabo project.
b) Regional Development- These includes hometown Sabo projects,
safe community model project, land space creation project andsnow control Sabo project.
c) Environmental Development- These consists of green belt creationin urban areas, vegetation protection and landslide/slope failure etc.

Sabo related Administrative Organisation

Sabo Law
Designation of designated Sediment Control areas
1. Areas to be designated
Areas where Sabo facilities are required
Areas where certain acts shall be prohibited or restricted for the
purposes of Sabo from flood control viewpoint
2. Person authorized to designate the areas; MLIT

Restriction on
acts

Implementation of
Sabo works

Supervision andPenalties

Sharing of Sabo
related Cost

37

Management & Maintenanceof Sabo Facilities
Right and duty of theowner of land indesignated sedimentcontrol area

Sabo planning
division

River Bureau

Ministry ofland andinfrastructu
reSabo
Department

Sabo Management
officeLand conservation
division
Sea coast division

River management
department
Regional development
BureauNational institute forland and infrastructureManagement
Public work researchInstitute

Work officeSub branch
officeResearch center fordisaster risk
management

Erosion andsediment
control

Erosion andsediment control
research group
Snow avalanches
and landslide
research center
Sabo Office

Prefectural
Government

Public works
Department

Public work office38

Steel grid Sabo Dam at Mt. Rokko
6.4 Laws for prevention of sediment related Disasters
For the purpose of conserving the national land protecting the lives ofthe people of Japan, various Laws have been come into effect. These laws
include ‘Sabo Law’, ‘Landslide Prevention law’, ‘Law concerning theprevention of Disaster due to collapse of steep slope’ so as to promote
structural preventives measures and ‘Law concerning the promotion of
Sediment related disaster prevention in Sediment related Disaster hazard
area’ so as to promote non structural measures.
6.4a. Landslide prevention and control
Landslide disaster have frequently occurred in various parts of Japan
including Yamagata, Nagasaki, Osaka, Saga, Ishikawa, Nagano, Toyama,
Tokushima prefectures and have caused serious damage to the prefecture or
region as well as serious impact on the economic activities of the people.
This has led to the enactment of law as the fundamental measures including
the promotion of landslide protection works, restriction on landslide inducing
activities and house relocations. This landslide prevention law mainly focus
on urban infringes and for the purpose of comprehensive landslide measures
and was issued on March 31. 1958. In the same with Sabo law, the project
under this Law is also implemented in three way as- directly by National
government, those subsidized and by Prefectures.

39

The direct management and construction by National government is done
only if the project goes beyond prefectural boundaries, prevention works islarge and involve huge budgetary provisions and require high technology.
One Project of this kind i.e. Yamato River System which is at Kamenose will
be illustrated in the coming chapter. In the same manner there are Many
Projects subsidized and under taken by the Prefecture also.
Landslide Prevention Law

Designation of Landslide Prevention Areas
1). Areas to be designated
1. Landslide areas (areas where landslide occurs or are highly probable)
2. Of the areas adjacent to 1..those with a high potential for contributing toor inducing slide in landslide areas.
2). Person authorized to designate the area: Competent Minister ( Minister of MLIT)

Instruction on
Evacuation

Management

Restriction on
activities

Execution oflandslide prevention

Supervision andpunishment

Cost sharing ofworks

Compensation
for loss

Compensation
for loss

6.4b. Slope failure prevention
Although settlement in Japan from ancient time is all towards theplain and flat land but due to the inadequacy of land to accommodate theincreasing population, some people are now forced to live in mountainous
region which poses danger. In short people moves towards hills due toscarcity of land in urban areas and accelerated the repetition of slope failure.
So for a countermeasure against this possible threat the National
Government in the year 1967 decided to bear 50% of the expenses towards
slope failure works.
At the same time slope failure which was not applicable under both the
Sabo Law and Landslide Prevention Law needs to be separately defined.
Various measures like possibilities of slope failures, areas that could bedamaged by slope failure, restriction on harmful activities, relocation ofhouses, establishment of warning and evacuation and preventives measures
are to be identified. In the mean time incidents like serious damaged due to40

heavy rain at Nagasaki, Saga, Hiroshima, Hyogo prefectures in the year
1967 and slope failure in Kobe in the same year gives alert to therequirement of Law. These has led to the enactment of law on prevention ofdisasters due to collapse of steep slope commonly known as Steep slope Law
on July 1, 1969.
Law for prevention of Disasters due to collapse of steep

Dangerous area of slope failure1). Areas to be designated: areas to which the following 1 or 2
applies
1. Steep slopes in danger of failure that may cause damage
for a considerable numbers of residents and other people.
2. Of the areas adjacent to 1…those that requires restrictions
on certain activities for the prevention of any contribution to or
induction of failure of the steep slopes concerned.
2). Person authorized to designate the areas: Prefectural
Governor

1. Advice to takeprevention measures
2. Order for improvement
Loaning of funds by the government
housing loan corporation, etc. to thosereceiving recommendation

Management,
etc.

Slope failure prevention
works executed by
Prefectures

Supervision andpunishment

Compensation for loss

6.4c. Sediment Related Disaster Prevention Law
On June 29, 1999, an intensive rainstorm hits a region stretching from
Hiroshima to Kure city as the seasonal rain become active and claimed thelives of 24 peoples due to sediment disaster. This incident has led to theenactment of law for promotion of measures for sediment related disaster
which is called Sediment Related Disaster Prevention Law on May 8, 2000.
This Law has no provisions of work as structural measures but to protect thecitizens from sediment related disaster by non structural measures throughwarning and evacuation systems, restriction on new land development for
housing etc.
41

42

6.5

Broad mechanism of various measuresa). Landslide prevention works- Ground water is drained and piles are
driven into the ground to prevent the ground from starting to moveand sliding downward.
b). Sabo dam- Sabo dam controls large amount of sediment outflow
like a debris flow without causing damages along the downstream.
c). Slop failure prevention works- Protects people from disasters
caused by a slope failure.
d) Debris flow prevention works- A Sabo dam with a sand pool isconstructed where a debris flow runs down and is deposited so as
to directly receive and capture a debris flow.
e). Hillside works- Vegetation works, land retainer and drainage works
are given and installed on mountain and hillside to restore vegetationand prevent slope failure and sediment runoff.
f). Avalanches prevention works- Protective fences are installed toprotect local community from snow avalanches.
g). measures against woody debris- Slit type dams are built toeffectively check the run off of fallen trees by wind or other causes.
h). Sabo for volcanoes- Protects people from pyroclastic flow, debris
flow and lava flow accompanied with volcanic activities.

7.0 Overview of Landslide in India
About 12.60% (0.42million sq. km) of the total land area of thecountry excluding snow covered area is prone to landslide in India. Out of
this 0.18 million sq. km falls in North East ( Mizoram, Assam etc) and
Himalayan region, 0.14million sq. km falls in the north west( Jamu &Kashmir, Himachal and uttarakhand) and 0.01million sq. km in Eastern ghatof the country. In India the risk to landslide is high due to the increasing
population, infrastructural development and growth of hydropower in the
hilly region. Apart from this the country’s plan and action to have better
connectivity like new roads, railway lines, tunneling are very much success.
Despite the great achievements in such development, the growing
constructional activities in these sectors do brings some unavoidable43

imbalance in the country (Landslide/Debris Flow) which if not manage
properly can cause serious damage and may results in loss of life andproperty. Some spectacular events of tragedies are reported as Varnavat
landslide, Uttarkashi District, Malpha landslide Pithoragarh district, Okhimathlandslide in Chamoli district, UK and Paglajhora in Darjeeling district as wellas Sikkim, Aizawl sports complex, Mizoram. These are some of the more
recent examples of landslides. Hence this challenging task of mitigation andpreparedness from possible disaster now lies with the Administrator,
Planners, Engineers and Scientists.

44

7.1 National Disaster Management Authority Guidelines on Landslide
In an effort to tackle the destructive potentials and reduce theconsequence of losses due to landslide, The National Disaster Managementof India(NDMA) felt necessary to have a national guideline. A series ofconsultation and workshop consisting of experts, stake holder, national andstate officials was held during drafting of the guideline for mitigating a risk
emanating from landslide. So a guideline named ‘National Disaster
Management Guidelines-Management of Landslide and Snow Avalanches’ wasfinally published on June 2009. The main objectives of these guidelines are
to institutionalize the landslide hazard mitigation effort, to make the society
aware of the various aspects of landslide hazards in the country and toprepare the society to take suitable action to reduce both risk and costassociated with this hazard. The vision is that all the National and statedisaster management Plan for landslide will be formulated and implemented
under the overall framework of the Guidelines. It also envisioned an
improved administrative response, bringing together the relevant scientific,
engineering, construction, planning, and policy capabilities to eliminate
losses from landslide. As per the plan for implementation of these guidelines,
there will be Central policy statement and plan, State policy and plan, andDistrict plan. Also it gives responsibility to the district administration for
constituting village level disaster management committee.
The guidelines on Landslide suggested two main strategies, i.e. predisaster prevention strategies and post disaster management. Pre-disasterprevention strategies include assessment of the hazard, risk analysis, hazard
zonation mapping and the application of modern techniques. Remediation
practices includes slope geometry correction, retaining structure, nailing,bolting, anchoring, piling, geo-textile and afforestation etc.
7.2 Regulation and Enforcement
The following codes and Guidelines related to landslide has been
finalized and published by the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS):a) Is:14496 part 2. Guidelines for the preparation of LHZ maps inmountain terrain.
b) IS:14458. Guidelines for retaining wall in hilly Areas.
c) IS: 14680. Guidelines for landslide controld) IS: 14804. Guidelines for Siting, Design and selection of materials
for residential buildings in hilly arease) National Building Code 2005

45

7.3 Landslide Nodal Agency
The Government of India has declared the Geological Survey of India(GSI) as the ‘Nodal Agency’ for landslide India on 29 January 2009 at thenational level. This GSI has been responsible for undertaking andcoordinating landslide investigation and formulation of mitigation measures.
They undertake mapping and in the year 2013 they covered more than
50000sq.km area through landslide susceptibility mapping on 1:50000 scale.
They updated the landslide data base of the country through landslide
inventory work. They also undertake site specific landslide investigation for
mitigation measures for roads work. The GSI at the national level is guided
by the following action plan:
A). Finalization of uniform methodologies for landslide hazard Zonation on
macro and meso scale.
b). Carrying out Landslide Hazard Zonation of vulnerable areas an macroscales.
c). Carrying out monitoring of landslide.
d). Evolving an Early warning system.
e). Preparing inventory/ database on hazard zone.
f). Carrying out landslide hazard zonation of identified areas on meso scales.
g). Take up awareness programmes in consultation with state government.
h). Do coordination works with any agency performing mitigation of landslidein the national as well as the state level.
7.4 Institutional Mechanism
The nodal agency for Landslide i.e. Geological Survey of India(GSI) has
the responsibility to prepare Landslide management Plan(LMP) base on theguidelines laid down by NDMA. The development and implementation of thisplan will be a coordinated programme of NDMA, GSI, and the national, state,
district and local administrations.
In the same pattern with National Disaster management Act 2005, there isa National Executive Council (NEC) responsible for preparing the national
plan on the basis of guidelines, approved by the NDMA which is for operation.
The National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) has the responsibility of field
and response action.
The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Constituted by eachstate government under the chairmanship of their Chief Minister each laid
downs their plan and policies for landslide DM in the state.
At the District level, The District Disaster management Authority (DDMA)
headed by the District magistrate with the elected representative of the local
46

authority performed the planning, coordinating, implementation of DM inaccordance with the guidelines laid down by the NDMA and SDMA.
Local bodies or Authority carry out relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction
activities in the landslide affected areas and prepared the DM plan inconsonance with the guidelines of NDMA, SDMAs and DDMAs.

7.5 Financial Arrangement for Landslide Management
The various measures for landslide management as per the plan is fundedby the central ministries/departments and state government concerned bymaking provision in their five year plan and Annual plan. Sometimes
depending on the cases special additional fund is made available throughspecial mitigation projects which are formulated and implemented by thestate government/ SDMA under the guidance and supervision of NDMA.
Besides this, 10% of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) is sometimes utilized forpurchase of equipment for landslide mitigation and preparedness and for
rescue and relief operations.
7.6 Zonation and Cause
Landslide Zonation Mapping is a modern method to identify landslide prone
areas and has been used in India since 1980’s. The major parameters that
calls for evaluation are as follows:a). Slope- magnitude, length and direction.
b). Soil thickness.
47c). Relative relief.
d). Drainage pattern and density.
e). Landslide affected population.
Landslide is usually caused in India by:a). Poor ground condition.
b). Geomorphic Phenomenac). Natural physical force.
d). Quite often due to heavy spells of rainfall coupled with impeded drainage.
7.7 Most worst landslide in India
The following are the most worst landslide in India:a). Guwahaty landslide, Assam, 1948- Over 500 peoples died.
b). Darjeeling landslide, West Bengal,1968- Around 1000 peoples died.
c). Aizawl landside, Mizoram, 1992- 67 peoples diedd). Malpa landslide, Uttarakhand, 1998- Over 380 peoples died.
e). Mumbai landslide, Maharashtra, 2000- Around 67 peoples died.
f). Amboori landslide, Kerala, 2001- Around 40 peoples died.
g). Kedarnath Landslide due to flood, Uttarakhand, 2013- Over 4200
reported deadh). Aizawl landslide, Mizoram,2013- 17 peoples diedi). Malin landslide, Maharashtra,2014- Around 150 peoples died.

48

7.8 Landslide remediation Practices in India
There can be many reasons affecting the stability of slopes. The mostcommon that triggered landslide are- excessive rainfall, earthquake andhuman interference. To improve the stability of slope, geotechnicalinvestigation is the foremost important thing. The following are the main
remediation measures to improve the stability of slopes in India:a). Drainage works: Surface drainage works to minimize the infiltration ofwater into the ground and sub- surface drainage works to remove theground water from within the land mass is covered under this work. Surface
drainage work may include drainage collection work and drainage channel
work where as sub surface drainage work will include gravity drain, drainage
well and tunnel.
b). Soil/Debris removal: This type of treatment which is very common inIndia is very effective for small to medium landslide. The soil mass isremove from the crown area downward under this method.
c). Check dams: Check dam is mainly used for prevention of scouring anderosion of the channel bank.
d). Restraining structures: These include pile works that act as a key totie together the moving landslide and the stable ground to restrain
movement, anchor and bolt works that utilize the tensile force of anchor
bodies embedded through the slide mass and into a stable earth. The
49

construction of retaining wall and breast wall to check the movement ofearth along the toe portion is included.
e). Slope Bio-engineering: The slopes covered with vegetation orafforestation not only provide effective covering to slope but also improve
the shear strength of the material through root network.
f) Wire mesh: Sometime used of wire mesh is very effective in protecting
slope with weathered rock.
Also the stabilization of slope can be achieved by improving themechanical characteristics by means of two approaches:
1). Through insertion of reinforced elements like nailing and grouting,networks of micro piles, column and anchors etc.
2). Also mechanical characteristic of the soil can be improved by thermal
treatment or by electro-osmotic treatment.
7.9 Gravity Retaining wall in India
Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to unnatural slope.
Also it is constructed to resist the lateral pressure of soil when there isdesired change in ground elevation that exceeds the angle of repose of thesoil. In India retaining wall is commonly used to tackle the problems oflandslide in hilly areas by stabilizing the fill slopes and cut slopes. Forprotection of slopes in the roads and residential purposes gravity retaining
wall and breast walls are generally used. The material mainly use forconstruction of retaining walls are stone, cement, sand, gravels andsometimes steel. They are constructed in three types like stone masonry
retaining wall, stone wall and concrete. For guiding purposes Bureau ofIndian standard (BIS) has developed Indian Standard: Retaining wall for hill
Area- Guidelines part 1, 2 and 3 and these guidelines are presently used forconstruction of retaining wall.

50

8.0 Major Sites Visited related to disaster During
the Research
As the visiting research program is a kind of knowledge sharing andlearning from experience, various sites had been visited and many
interesting presentation were attended during the research. These sites
includes The Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake memorial, fault line at Awaji
island, Sendai (minamisanriku), Tokyo (Tokyo Rinkai Disaster preventionpark, Honjo life safety learning Center etc.), Nagasaki Atomic bomb museum,Mt. Unzen Fugen active volcano,Kamenose landslide mitigation measuresnear Yamato River, JMA Osaka, Higashinada Sewerage treatment plant, Mt.
Rokko Sabo works, Tsunami Disaster Observation Center Osaka, Kobe
university, Kanso technos for slope reinforcing method, Hyogo prefecture
Emergency Management and training center, Kobe city Fire control Room,
Hyogo police Headquarter etc. The following are the major sites speciallyrelated to our research in brief:
8.1 Nojima fault Museum in Awaji island:On 17th January 1995 there occurred a big earthquake causing serious
damage to the Hyogo prefecture. This earthquake is named The Great
Hanshin Awaji Earthquake and caused 6434 deaths and injured 43,793
peoples. The focus of the earthquake located 16kms beneath its epicenter on
the northern end of awaji
island. The tremors lasted forapproximately 20 seconds andduring this time the south sideof the Nojima fault moved
1.5m to the right and1.2m
downward. In other word thedisplacement at Nojima fault
was 1 to 2 meter during theearthquake. This fault had
been preserved within themuseum and we can see thereal fault having a length of around 140 meters. This earthquake has amagnitude of 7.3 as per JMA.
8.2 The great east Japan Earthquake and Tsunami:
The earthquake that triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached aheight of up to 40.5metres in the eastern coast of Japan on 11.3.2011 isnamed the Great East Japan earthquake or Tohoku Earthquake. The tsunami
waves reached 10kms in land and causing a total death of 15,894, missing
2562 and injured 6152 peoples. The affected areas around Sendai had been51

visited during the research and some survivors were met and guided us
during the tour and we found very informative and interesting to hear thereal storyDisaster. The earthquake and Tsunami caused extensive andsevere structural damage in north east Japan including heavy damage toroads and railways as well as fire in many areas. Also it is heard from the
Tohoku University Asst. professor that the Tsunami is larger than they
expect and Tsunami wall
reduced the effect ofwaves.

8.3 Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park:The government of Japan developed The Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention
Park which will act as a central base of operation as well as institution thatcompile disaster related information and coordinate emergency disastermeasures in the event of large scale disaster. We along with JICA trainees
visited this Disaster Prevention Park which is in the Tokyo Bay Waterfront
Area. The visit is so interesting and informative that National Government ofJapan really prepared for future disaster. It is said that the park would
accommodate around 150 numbers of top officials and experts that in thecase of major disaster the area would serve as National control room. The
reasons of development of the area, the aims, the objectives and the planare very much interesting. The facilities like stockpiling, operation room,
medical facilities, powerback up, communication
provisions, helicopters andearthquake reducers etc.
are very interesting.

52

8.4 Atomic bomb museum at Nagasaki
The Atomic bomb Museum which was visited during the research gives us
the idea of damaged that can be led by war disaster. It is evident from themuseum that the radiation and rays produced has a very large disastrous
affect for long years. At thesame time the effort andaction started from theincident for disarmament of
nuclear is very muchpraiseworthy and supportive
for a better tomorrow.

8.5 Mt. Unzen Fugen Active Volcanic:
The active volcano of Mt. Unzen is located at Shimabara of Nagasaki
Prefecture. From the presentation done by the staff and guide of Unzen
Recovery Office we can get a clear picture of the last eruption. The effect ofpyroclastic flow, the debris and lava flow, the accumulation of lava in thecreator called lava dome arevery informative. The 24hours monitoring andunmanned vehicles working
are very impressive.

8.6 Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA),Osaka:
JMA, Osaka is one of the six regional Headquarters of Japanmeteorological agency which served as regional meteorological center for
Kinki region that consist of six prefecture. Its responsibility is to direct 1353

local meteorological offices, one aviation weather service center located in
Kinki, chugoku and shikoku region each. Also it serve as local meteorologicaloffice for Osaka prefecture.It is designed to provide backup operation for the
JMA headquarter, Tokyo in case of its loss of functions that may arise due todisasters.

8.7 Miki Disaster prevention park, Hyogo:
The prefectural government of Hyogo developed a park for multipurpose
facility to apply in case of disaster. This park is a nucleus facility which
covers all areas of the Prefecture and would serve as a central base forrescuing the people at the time of disaster. Presently or not in the time ofdisaster this area is functioned as a normal disaster prevention center, sport
activities and a kind of recreational space. The prefectural government
developed this area to have various facilities like athletic stadium andgymnasium to responsible for supply base, tennis court to serve as assembly
and accommodation relief workers and base ball stadium responsible for54

temporary heliport etc.

8.8 Kamenose Landslide Mitigation Measures:
Recurrent large scale landslide movement always occurred in the area ofKamenose in Kashiwara City in Japan resulting in the clogging and floodingof the Yamato River, destruction of railway, closing of national highway andstructures during 1900 to 1967. The last large scale landslide in the area
occurred in 1967 which triggered sliding in the ridge area. As per thegeotechnical investigation
done in the area the depthof the slide mass on average
is 30 to 40 m with the
deepest part of the slide
exceeding 80 m. The totallandslide area is 87.2 haand consist of two areas theridge area and Shimizutoni
area.
The comprehensive
mitigation of landslide works
started in 1962 under the management of National government thoughsome efforts have been done earlier by local authority. Almost all the
mitigation measures or technique has been applied in this area for making
the area stable. This measures include tunneling, drainage well, surface
drainage, horizontal gravity and vertical drainage works, steel piling andeven soil removal. Also the mitigation works was continued with the
installation of caissons piles with a maximum diameter of 6.5 m and length55

100 m. The major mitigation works was completed in the year 1986 andfound very successful andnow the area appeared to be
in stable condition.
As the Kamenose landslide
control measure is felt very
important by the Japanese
Government because ofsocial and economic
importance, the mitigation
works also included software
type measures consisting of
an automated monitoring
system which was started in 1986. The system consist of instruments toobtain real time data such as tiltmeter, rain gauge and extensometer etc.
which are place on the ground for watching the behavior of the slide.

8.9 Sabo Works for Rokko Mountain
Rokko mountain which is within the Hyogo prefecture plays animportant role in the peoples of the surrounding cities especially for Kobecity. The mountain which is originally fragile had been heavily weatheredand devastated hundred years back but had now been protected and green
because of the effort of the people and government. On the other handurban area is spreading upward on to the Rokko mountain as the people of
Kobe concentrates in a very narrow area along the coast line and the foot of
Mt. Rokko. This has led to the high risk of landslide and the requirement ofmaintaining the area in a systematic manner that will avoid sediment related
disasters.

56

As such being the condition the Sabo Office under the Ministry of Land andInfrastructure, Japan had under taken development of Sabo facilities, Rokko
mountain Greenbelt andwarning and evacuation
system. These activities had
led to the stability of themountain slopes andreduction of sediment run off
and avoid disasters. The
Sabo dam constructions aremainly for protection ofhouses at the downstream
from sediment run off andwoody debris and usuallyconsist of concrete dam work and steel frame work. The slope protection
measures consist of wire mesh work/ netting, anchoring and soil nailing. Also
the hillsides facing directly the residential areas or urban areas with a very highrisk of collapse are reinforced with steel. The green belt activities are done withthe goals and concept of prevention of sediment related disaster, prevention ofurban sprawl, healthy urban
environment and healthy
recreational area. For thisgreenbelt project community
as well as some institution
also participated forawareness and plantation.
Also the Sabo office installdebris flow sensors anddebris flow monitoring
cameras at 56 locations andshared the information to
Municipalities for early warning and evacuation purposes.
The various works
implemented are very
successful and bears a goodfruit that the mountain is now
green and became soundforest, the sediment run off
are now checked and debris
flow reduces with theconstruction of around 300
nos. of Sabo dam and theslope is now stabilized. This
could be known through the57

comparison of damaged led by the sediment related disasters and visual
seeing of the new green forest in the area.

8.10 Various Functions and Presentation attended
During the research so many interesting and important functions andpresentations are attended. These are very useful and impressive that it cangives us thorough knowledge and understanding on the subjects. The main
subjects are; DM in Japan, drills, GHAE, GEJE, Community volunteer group(Bokomi), International Recovery Forum by IRP, DRA forum 2016,evacuation
drill for handicap, reconstruction and recovery from disaster by IRP,
Sewerage treatment plant design for earthquake resistant, building
regulation in Japan by DRI, Mt. Rokko Sabo works by MLIT, on-sitevisualization by prof. Kobe university and natural slope prevention methodby Kanso Technos Engineer etc.

9.0 Broad Observations and Findings through the
Research
As stated earlier many sites have been visited and various lectures/presentation have been received during the research program which gives us
information, ideas, lessons, knowledge and even impressions. The following
are the main observations and findings:

9.1 Brief comparison of Landslide in India and JapanIn India especially in the North East the terminology used for landslideand its meaning is not far from slope failure and both are usually mixed up
and there seems to be no clear cut differentiation unless technical. The
sediment related disaster at the same time is also not so common though it
occurs at some places. The existing problem which is very much popular in
the urban areas is the landslide due to human action like cutting of slope forresidential, roads and for some activities (cut slopes). This happens due tounregulated cutting of the side or base of the mountain for leveling the
ground for either road or residential purposes. The slope protection after
cutting is usually by stone masonry retaining wall or sometimes reinforced
58

and by gabions wall. This retaining wall is not intended to stabilize the slope
failure but to support the active or passive earth pressure from the possible
failure wedge. In urban area the regulation and control lies in the hands ofTown planning Authority or Municipal concern as per the building code or
Master plan of a city. In Japan the slope cutting regulation had been
restricted right from the ancient time and it goes along with the protection ofmountains. In modern days there is a separate law for controlling the slope
protection other than landslide and sediment disaster. In short the slope
protection strategy is better equipped with law in Japan than India. Further
the regulation of city is also done in such a way that the urban growth
towards hillside is controlled and not promoted which results in lesser cuttingof slopes. Therefore the main problems in Japan is not the landslide but the
sediment run off where as in India landslide due to cut slopes is the larger
problem than sediment run off in Urban areas.
Regarding remedial measures the method or technology adopted is verymuch similar in both the countries. The most commons are soil removal,retaining wall, gabion wall, wire mesh, piling or anchoring, underground andsurface drainage, and some kind of green belt project.

9.2 Effectiveness of Seismic design
It has been said and learnt that the major incident in Japan has led to theenactment and amendment of disaster related laws and regulations in thehistory of Japan. The most notable in the case of building regulation andsafety is that the Miyagi Off-shore Earthquake 1978 has led to theamendment of Building Standard Law by introducing new seismic codes inthe year1981. It can be seen in the housing collapse data of the Great
Hanshin Awaji Earthquake 1995 that more than 80% of the fatalities are due
to collapse building. As many buildings that are built before 1981 do notcomply with the seismic code there is a lot of damage during thatearthquake and the building after the inclusion of seismic code suffer very
less. Therefore it is evident and clear the effectiveness of seismic code in thebuilding standard law for earthquake. ‘This gives me a great faith in Japan’sbuilding Codes’ said Hong kong University’s Charles schencking, a historian
who studies earthquake in Japan. Further the Great Hanshin Awaji
earthquake 1995 has led to the establishment of the Promotion of seismic
Retrofitting of building 1995 and enforced in the same year.

59

As far as it is known that in India even a place or region lying in the zone –v also do
not insist design of earthquake resistant in building regulations and seeing theeffectiveness of it, it is suggested to look the matter and take necessary action by theauthority in this regards.
9.3 Landslide/ Sediment related Disaster mitigation measures works
The landslide or the sediment related disaster measures have been very
successful in Japan. It has been learnt from the Sabo engineer that out of
the construction of around 500 nos. of Sabo dam, they never experiencestructural failure. This clearly shows the reliability of the technology andworkmanship. At the same time the landslide mitigation measures adopted
at Kamenose like the control work and restraint works makes the area stable.
The control works like soil removal, surface drainage and undergrounddrainage improved the stability of upper slopes and the restraint works likesteel and concrete piles stops the movement at the lower slopes.
The Green belt activities and the soil stability project at the Rokko
mountain is really challenging and impressive. The plantation of deep rooted
trees with the participation of the community works very well in the area.
The mountain which has been devastated is now green with the proper
approach of forestation. This green belt project improves the stability ofslopes through the root network and reduces the debris flow. Also theapplication of anchoring and wire mesh netting protect the slopes very welland reduces slide.
60

9.4 Disasters can be larger than the expectedThough the Japanese has a culture of disaster preparedness withsystematic training and evacuation drill at school and community etc., theGreat east Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011 is disastrous and beyond
the expectations. As per the post disaster analysis it is said that it was ahigh impact with a low probability of occurrence. It was the first everrecorded that include earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant accident.
The GEJE is said to be the costliest earthquake in the history of the world
and the estimated economic damaged is 16.9 trillion Yen.
It has been known from the site visit and from interaction with survivors
that the probability of occurrence and size is small but comes with larger
forces and impact. The real tsunami at that time is far greater than that isindicated in the hazard map. This underestimate of the size of earthquake
and tsunami makes the people delay in evacuation and prolong in their
exposure to danger which finally leads to larger impact. Hence theawareness of probable happenings of disaster larger than the prediction orforecast is really important.
9.5 Preparedness for Disaster
During the research various places relating to disasters and its
preparedness have been visited. Among this The Tokyo Rinkai Disaster
Prevention Park, Mikki Disaster Memorial Park, Hyogo and Japan
Meteorological Agency (JMA) are worth mentioning in term of preparedness.
The facilities available in the above stated two parks like stockpiling, control
room, evacuation center, medical equipments, power backup and so manyothers are really praiseworthy. The national level preparedness and theprefectural level preparedness to safeguard the citizens from disaster are aninteresting things to watch and learn. Also the local level preparedness fordisaster like drill, consultation with handicap and awareness to the children
are impressive.
The role of JMA to provide information on weather and monitoring ofearthquake, tsunami and volcano is very much interesting. The forecasting
service of JMA covers a wide range of information such as forecast, warnings
and advisories. This really served as preparedness in disaster such as winddisaster, sediment related disaster and flood disaster. Apart from theweather forecast, the forecasting and analysis for typhoon is very useful for
prevention from disaster. The information provided by JMA on hypocenter,magnitude and seismic intensity plays a vital role as a trigger for initiation of
rescue and relief activities. Also the early warning system done throughlocal TV and mobile handset is learnt to be very useful in the pastexperienced.

61

9.6 Enactment and framing of relevant laws
After focusing in to the landslide or sediment related disaster during the
research the important findings is that there should be relevant laws for the
regulatory activities. Apart from Basic Disaster counter measures Act 1961,
there are four numbers of laws and regulation concerning sediment andlandslide. The Sabo law 1897, The Landslide Prevention and Control 1958,
Steep slope Law 1969 and Sediment related Disaster Prevention Law 2000
are presently enforce within Japan which is found to be very effective indealing Landslide and sediment related disasters in the country.

10. Conclusion
Because of the reason that the Country is prone to almost all thedisasters due to geo- physical condition and climatic condition India isadvancing in Disaster Management. Even though the prevention, Mitigation,
preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction activities in disasters
are now in good pace at some levels, in some areas there are many
shortfalls, deficiency and the ways that needs to improve in the
management of disasters. At the same time what is practical to somecountry may not be effective in the country also. The remedial measures
especially technology adopted for landslide and sediment related disasters inIndia and Japan are almost all same but the urgency, types, nature andeven soil are of bit different. Through this research one thing which is clear
in general is that the preparedness is to be improved. From the prevention
side the existence of relevant rules especially for landslide is also a doubt
besides the improvement required in technology. Being large parts of thecountry’s area lies in fault zone, the consideration of seismic code in thebuilding regulation is a challenging task. Let us learn from the past byassessing our self knowing the others practices and experience, reduce thevulnerability of all types of hazards and create a safer world for tomorrow.

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11. References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

www.ndma.gov.in, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
Guidelines, India
Guidelines on protection of landslide and Avalanches, NDMA
www.portal.gsi.gov.in, Geological Survey of India (GSI)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landslide
https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/terminology, UNISDR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster
www.adrc.asia/, (ADRC)
Presentation on Disaster management in Japan, Cabinet Office, Japan
Presentation on Orientation of Visiting Researcher by Shiomi Yumi
Introduction to Building standard Law in Japan by Mr. Hagesawa
Tomohiro, MLIT
Presentation on Rokko Sabo Office, MLIT, Kobe
Presentation on Yamato River Work Office, MLIT, Kamenose
Presentation from Disaster Management Division, Hyogo Prefectural
Government
Presentation from Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Regional
Headquarter, Osaka
Publication of Japan Sabo Association.
Report done by C. Rana, Government of Himachal Pradesh, India
Report done by Dr.Lalrokima Chenkual, ATI, Government of Mizoram.
Indian Standard, IS14458 (Part 1):1998, R/Wall for hill Area, part 1,2
and 363