Project News

The trainees took a lecture from Mr. Ikuo Yamamoto, an construction officer (the second person from the right on the picture) at the Disaster Mitigation Management Room.

On January 31, 6 persons including Mr. Pitoyo, Director of River and Coastal, Ministry of Public Works in this counterpart training attended a lecture regarding the damage situation and its measures of Typhoon No.12 in 2011 as well as the role of the nation and local public organizations at the Kinki Regional Development Bureau.

At the beginning of the lecture, Mr. Yoshiharu Nanami, Director　General of River Department, explained the outline of the disaster situation at the whole Kinki area caused by Typhoon No.12. He also explained that the nation conducted emergency researches and informed related cities, towns and villages of emergency information regarding sediment-related disaster according to the enforcement of Act for promoting prevention measures against sediment-related disasters which was revised on May, 2011.

According to explanation, for the emergency researches, geographical features around the spots of blocking of river water way were measured by a rader range finder using a helicopter and the water level at the lake of a natural dam was observed by a droppable water level measurement buoy to grasp the geographical features and the volume of water. After that, the simulation of an avalanche of rocks and earth at the collapse time was conducted to estimate the flooding area at the lower reaches of a river and give an advice for a local government. A wire sensor was also installed, so that if it is cut off by sediment, the warning will be issued for the lower reaches of the river. Disaster mitigation management room was also established at Kinki Regional Development Bureau. They introduced that the lower reaches of the river at the spots of blocking of river water way had been observed in real time by the water level and pictures.

The trainees were impressed by the high-technical researches and the substantial observation system and they were also curious about the costs which were required for this researches and measures and about how the budget could be ensured.