Flood Management in Japan

Water and Disaster Management Bureau,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism (MLIT), Japan

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Outline of the Disaster Management System in Japan
Under the Disaster Management System in Japan, clear roles andresponsibilities of the national and local governments are defined ahead oftime.
The relevant stakeholders of the public and private sectors cooperate in
implementing various disaster countermeasures.
Disaster Management System in Japan〔National level〕
Prime Minister
Central Disaster Management Council〔Prefectural level〕
GovernorPrefectural Disaster Management Council〔Municipal level〕
Mayors of Cities, Towns and Villages
Municipal Disaster Management Council〔Resident level〕

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“Basic Disaster Management Plan”
The Basic Disaster Management Plan states comprehensive
countermeasures for disaster risk reduction, such as disaster management
system, projects on disaster risk reduction, fast and appropriate disasterrecovery and rehabilitation works, as well as scientific and technical research.
Natural Disasters
Earthquake
DisasterCountermeasures

Storm and Flood
Countermeasures

Volcano Disaster
Countermeasures

Snow Disaster
Countermeasures

Accident Disasters
Maritime Disaster
Countermeasures

Aviation Disaster
Countermeasures

Railroad Disaster
Countermeasures

Road Disaster
Countermeasures

Nuclear DisasterCountermeasures

Hazardous
DisasterCountermeasures

Large-scale Fire
DisasterCountermeasures

Forest Fire
DisasterCountermeasures

The plan has been revised
based on the experience ofdisasters.

(Addressing all the disaster phases)
Disaster Prevention
and Preparedness

Disaster
Emergency
Response

Disaster Recovery
and Rehabilitation(Tangible countermeasures to be taken by each stakeholder)
National
government

Local
governments

Residents

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Role sharing by various stakeholders
In particular, non-structural measures are taken by various stakeholders.
Relevant stakeholders
Municipalities
PrefecturalGovernment
National
Government
NGOs, othersVarious Measures for disaster management
Earlywarning
Search andrescue
Operation ofevacuation
centers

Logistics
Riskmaps
Othermeasures

National Government, Prefectural Government, andMunicipalities develop the Basic Disaster Management Plans
which clearly states the responsibility of each stakeholder.
Municipalities especially take the important role in implementing
countermeasures such as transmitting early warnings.
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Disaster Management System in central government in case of huge disasters

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

5National
Total
Coordination

DMB-CAO

Prevention/Restoration
Works

MLIT
MAFFetc.

FirstResponse

MLITFDMANPAMOD

ResearchMEXT
MLIT
METI,etc.

Prefecture

City, Town,
Or Village

In General,
as the Scale of
the Disaster
Increases, theRolls of National
Gov. Increases

Primary
Responsibility

6

Stakeholders in disaster management
Various organizations take different roles in disaster management in Japan.
DisasterPreparedness
Response
Recovery/Reconstruction
InfrastructureManagers

Municipalities• Constructionof facilities• Damage Survey ofthe facilities• Temporary Repair
Works• Rehabilitation of facilities• Instruction oradvisory ofevacuation• Damage Survey forCitizens• Assistance to affectedpeople (temporaryhousing etc.)

Fire Fighters

PrivateSectors

PoliceNGOs
Red Cross

Infrastructure Managers
National government, Prefectural government, or Municipalities according to theclassification of the infrastructures.
Structural measures for disaster management are mostly taken by infrastructure
managers.

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DisasterPrevention• As public facility administrator

Emergency
Response• MLIT as public facility administrator, has established the systemthat enables immediate response to a disaster.
• MLIT provides prefectural governments and municipalities withnecessary supports by use of TEC-FORCE system.

DisasterRecovery• As public facility administrator, MLIT raises funding andimplements various projects.
• MLIT manages disaster recovery system (evaluation of a disasterand decision making on the selection of an adequate project)

Rehabilitation• As public facility administrator, MLIT raises funding andimplements various projects.
• MLIT provide assistance for construction of resilient towns against
disaster (e.g., Law on Tsunami Disaster Management Regional
Development and so on)

Improvement and management of disaster management facilities（e.g., levees, flood gates and so on）

Improvement and management of disaster resilient facilities(e.g., roads, ports etc.)(there are 8 regional development bureaus and 179 branch offices of the bureaus)

8Regional Development Bureaus and Local Offices of MLIT
Regional Development Bureaus and Their Functions
Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau

Number of Staff

Number of Local
Offices

26,556（FY2012）※ staff in all sectors including roads, ports, etc.

Local Offices 179＜Breakdown＞
Rivers and Roads：48
Rivers：55
Dam Construction：21
Dam Management：39
Sediment Control (Sabo)：14
Others：2

Number of
Branch Offices inLocal Offices

Branch Offices : 387

Services（Number ofSystems andFacilities）

109 River Basins Management（Lengths of rivers directly managed
by MLIT 10,588km）
39 Dams under construction
120 Dams in operation
12 Coasts, 39 Sediment Control(Sabo) Area

Sapporo City

Hokuriku Regional
Development Bureau

Touhoku Regional
Development Bureau
Sendai City

Niigata City
Chugoku Regional
Development Bureau

Kanto Regional
Development Bureau

Saitama City
Nagoya City
Chubu Regional
Development Bureau

Kinki Regional Development Bureau
Takamatsu City
Okinawa General Bureau,Cabinet Office
Shikoku Regional

Hiroshima City
Fukuoka City

Development Bureau
Kyushu Regional
Development Bureau

Naha City7River Management in Japan

River classification
Class A river Ministerial management section
Class A river Designated local section or Class B
OthersClass A River Systems : 109 systems, about 14,000 rivers
Administrated by MLIT Minister
Class B River Systems : 2,713 systems, about 7,000 rivers
Administrated by local governments (Governors etc.)

Class A river
system (basin)

Class B river
system (basin)

Other system (basin)1010

Hydrological observation by river administrators○Hydrological observation data are used in river administration○This data can also be widely provided to and used by local governments, researchers

Hydrological observation-Rainfall observation (rain recorder, radar rain gauging)-water lever gauging-Discharge observation,-water quality observation-bottom material observation

Publication○hydrological water quality DB○river disaster information○disaster information center-underground water level observation○Drafting river plans○control of rivers and facilities○River development○conservation of river environment○Proper maintenance○Risk management on flood time11

Hydrological observation in rivers (image)Radar rainfall
observatory

Relay station

Ground rainfall
observatory

catch of gauge

flow of rain watertipping bucket

Water level / discharge
observatory

outletMeteorologicalObservatory

Warning board
Regional Development
BureauDisaster countermeasure office6

3L water level gauges✓ Low cost

- Measure river level only during flood- Less than 10 thousand US$ for initial cost

✓ Localized✓ Long life
More than 5 years operation
without power supply

Power Saving
by Mode Switching
once a day<Power saving>
Measurement
every
10 mins

Local river authorities are able
to maintain it and use data

Cloud

Data Transmission

every 5 – 10 mins

<During flood>
Measurement
every
5-10 mins

Web Application
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Real-time data to residents

Real-time and wide-range rainfall data

CCTV camera

Real-time and on-site water level data on smart phones

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Provision of Information During Flood
Flood Forecast
Show water levels and flow rates when there is a risk of flooding and notify
municipalities
Target rivers in large basins where it is technically possible to predict waterlevels etc.

Water Level Notification
Notify municipalities when water levels reach reference levels for evacuation
Target rivers where the basin area is small and there is not sufficient time toconduct flood forecasting

Flood Warning
When there is a risk of flood disaster, notify municipalities of the need to carryout flood-fighting activities.

15Collaboration Announcement with JMA・”Regional Bureau, MLIT” and “Regional Headquarters, JMA” implemented the collaboration
announcement about forecasting and warning of the Typhoon.
・TV stations broadcasted the contents of the announcement.

Collaboration Announcement by MLIT Tohoku Reg. and JMA Sendai(October 11, 2019 NHK)

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Collaboration Announcement with JMA○”Kyushu Regional Bureau, MLIT” and “Fukuoka Regional Headquarters, JMA” implemented
the collaboration announcement about forecasting and warning of the heavy rain
○ All of the TV station in Kyushu area broadcasted the contents of the announcement.

Collaboration Announcement

TV broadcasting

Broadcasting times of each TV station
All of the TVstation in Kyushu
Broadcasted

JMAMLIT- THANK YOU -Masahiko Murase, Ph.D
Director, International Affairs Offce, Water and Disaster Management Bureau,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
2019.11.11