## (5) Rebuilding Society to Raise Flood Prevention Awareness

(i) Damage from and the emergency response to torrential rains in the Kanto and Tohoku regions

Record levels of torrential rains falling in the Kanto and Tohoku regions in September 2015 caused the floodwalls along a stretch of approximately 200 meters of the Kinugawa River in Misakamachi, Joso-city, to collapse, resulting in flooding that submerged about forty square kilometers of land and the loss of the lives of two individuals in the drainage area. This massive disaster also necessitated the rescue of 4,300 local residents.

The MLIT provided Joso-city with information on the dangers of flooding and maps of the area expected to become submerged prior to the collapse of the levees. In addition, the regional office head provided information on the state of rivers to the mayor (via a hotline).

The MLIT dispatched a liaison officer (local contact person for disaster countermeasures) to the local affected governments of Joso-city and other nearby municipalities prior to the collapse of the levees to adjust channels of communications, dispatched TEC-FORCE (emergency disaster countermeasures detachment), conducted status surveys and drainage activities, and, on the day on which the levees collapsed, commenced the drainage of water, accepted up to fifty-one drainage pump trucks per day from across Japan, and proceeded to more or less remove flood waters completely from homes and public facilities over the next ten days. Emergency work to restore the collapsed levees commenced on the day of the collapse. A week later, provisional levees (embankments) were completed and the emergency restoration work was wrapped up in two weeks.

## (ii) Emergency Actions to Induce Evacuations

In response to this flood, emergency actions to induce evacuations in response to the insecurities and concerns of municipal mayors and residents living near riverside levees nationwide were publicly announced on October 5, top-level seminars were held with municipal mayors, flood plain zones where houses are at risk of collapse if rivers were to overflow were publicly announced, and other initiatives were advanced for rivers under ministerial jurisdiction and areas alongside such rivers.

## (iii) Vision for the Restructuring of Society to Raise Flood Prevention Awareness

This flood caused many houses to collapse or become washed away from the overflowing of rivers, as well as the flooding of wide areas for an extended period of time. Floods in recent years have seen unprecedented numbers of isolated persons emerge because of a combination of these factors and delayed evacuations. Climate change also gives rise to concerns that flooding that exceeds the capacity of such facilities to respond appropriately will occur with greater frequency.

Upon considering these circumstances, a Subcommittee to Study Flood Control Measures to Mitigate the Impact of Large-Scale Inundations was established under the purview of the Infrastructure Development Council to discuss ways of implementing flood-control measures in the future. On December 10, a report was issued in which the following was stated: "We believe that it is simply a matter of time before an incident of large-scale flooding which exceeds the capacity of the