administrators are providing guidance on the lawful mooring of unlawfully moored vessels and on the relocation of unlawfully moored vessels to proper storage facilities and otherwise working to remove unlawfully moored vessels.

In May 2013, the Plan for Promoting Comprehensive Measures for the Proper Management of Pleasure Boats and Improvements to Their Usage Environment was formulated. In June 2015, the results of a nationwide survey on the conditions surrounding pleasure boats that was conducted on a consolidated basis for three areas of water (ports and harbors, rivers, and fishing harbors) in order to verify the effects of measures implemented under this plan were publicly disclosed. In accordance with the 2013 amendments to the Order for the Enforcement of the River Act, river administrators are proceeding with measures to prohibit the abandonment of vessels inside river areas.

## (x) Road Submergence Measures

Road underpasses in Tochigi and Hiroshima Prefectures were submerged in water due to the concentrated heavy rainfall that occurred in August and September of 2008, causing vehicles to sink. To prevent such accidents, information concerning submergence risk locations is shared with road administrators, police agencies, fire departments, and other relevant authorities. The framework for information exchange and passage prohibition is established, and the development and installation of submergence alert systems and monitoring facilities, as well as the publication of submergence risk locations that are publicized on the website Note, are promoted.

## (xi) Developing Hills Using Construction-Generated Soil

The Koto Delta, an expansive low-lying zone with a maximum subsidence of 4.5 meters that was created by pumping out the subterranean water that had previously existed here, is presently home to approximately 2.5 million people. As this zone sits below sea level, there is considerable concern that a stretch of this zone will become submerged in a large-scale flood, thereby forcing large numbers of residents to travel long distances for evacuation purposes. At the same time, there is a lack of locations for processing construction-generated soil in urban centers, such that the effective utilization of this soil is also a pressing matter. For this reason, a project to get businesses that produce construction-generated soil to create hills for parks and other land features at their own costs as one approach to processing this soil has been launched. An invitation for public participation by businesses that produce construction-generated soil has been commenced for Shinkoiwa Park, the first site to be tackled for this project.

## Start of construction work to heighten the ground level in zero meter areas utilizing construction generated soil

On the Koto delta in Tokyo, a large zero meter area expands, and the residents are living on the land lower than the water surface. When Typhoon Kathleen struck the area in 1953, the houses in front of Shinkoiwa Station on the Sobu Line flooded to the eaves (Photo 1), and water did not subside for several weeks. A person said that they had to live on the roofs for three weeks at that time. Today, as many as 2.5 million people are living in the area as the result of advancement in land use, so if a serious flood occurs, it is expected that many people would fail to escape and enormous damage would be inflicted.

For residents in such zero meter areas, the heightening of the ground level is an earnest wish. In the meantime, land to dispose of construction generated soils is insufficient in the Tokyo metropolitan area, which is an urgent issue for relevant enterprises.

Thus, a system has been established, in which the government temporarily provides its owned land such as parks, and enterprises that generate soils through construction work make embankments with the soils and restore the original forms.

This is a win-win business because, for the government side, higher ground that can be used as evacuation places is constructed without its cost burden, and, for the enterprises generating soils, the soils can be disposed of.