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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Field Trip to GSI and NIED
Today we visited the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan
(still going by its old acronym of Geographical Survey Institute) and the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention.
A big highlight at NIED was the ability to make more accurate rainfall predictions than the JMA, as they use ground based radars (including mobile ones). The second impressive feature was visiting the large scale rainfall simulator. Installed in the ceiling of this mobile building are four types of water sprouts, capable of simulating up to 200 mm per hour rainfall, which was of course demonstrated. There will be an open day in April with a typhoon and earthquake simulator as well, so I am eager to return here.
Having visited the GSI twice already, I had yet to experience any information in English. We received two lectures on the activities relating to disasters and a short guided tour, including of course a 3D view of Japan. New maps included an overview of all the stops of the JR line from Ushiku to Tokyo, passing by Nagareyama and showing the channel we visited earlier this month. This time I managed to find GRIPS on the current and old maps of Tokyo, as well as Hibiya park and Tokyo station.
A big highlight at NIED was the ability to make more accurate rainfall predictions than the JMA, as they use ground based radars (including mobile ones). The second impressive feature was visiting the large scale rainfall simulator. Installed in the ceiling of this mobile building are four types of water sprouts, capable of simulating up to 200 mm per hour rainfall, which was of course demonstrated. There will be an open day in April with a typhoon and earthquake simulator as well, so I am eager to return here.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Field Trip to Urban Renaissance Agency
The day after Sports Day, we visited the flood management structures in Tsukuba with the new master students. This year we have 12 new students, and 1 new PhD student (so far).
The development agency responsible for the Western area of Tsukuba around station number 19 of the TX, Kenkyugakuen or Katsuragi, has a very interesting name. There is in fact nothing renaissance about the agency, and the project only becomes urban after development. However, the speed of development is impressive, considering eight different sites along the TX were developed in total. The entire project at Tsukuba was scheduled to house 25,000 people and run from 2000 to 2018, but already 70% of the development is completed.
Due to the presence of the Hasunuma river, a tributary of Yada river that flows into Ushiku lake in the South, a number of measures were taken for flood management. These included 2 regulating ponds (permanently filled with water, in the West) and 3 retarding basins (only temporarily filled with water, in the East). The retarding basins have special inlets as well as outlets, which can be seen on the photos. The new housing areas have separate rainwater sewerage, and the houses have gutters connected to this system. Parks and parking spaces have permeable areas also connected to this sewerage. It was nice to see these systems so close to home.
The development agency responsible for the Western area of Tsukuba around station number 19 of the TX, Kenkyugakuen or Katsuragi, has a very interesting name. There is in fact nothing renaissance about the agency, and the project only becomes urban after development. However, the speed of development is impressive, considering eight different sites along the TX were developed in total. The entire project at Tsukuba was scheduled to house 25,000 people and run from 2000 to 2018, but already 70% of the development is completed.
Due to the presence of the Hasunuma river, a tributary of Yada river that flows into Ushiku lake in the South, a number of measures were taken for flood management. These included 2 regulating ponds (permanently filled with water, in the West) and 3 retarding basins (only temporarily filled with water, in the East). The retarding basins have special inlets as well as outlets, which can be seen on the photos. The new housing areas have separate rainwater sewerage, and the houses have gutters connected to this system. Parks and parking spaces have permeable areas also connected to this sewerage. It was nice to see these systems so close to home.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Tsukuba City Disaster Drill
Tsukuba City is very progressive in its disaster drills, in that it specifically invites foreigners to join actively in the drill and provides interpreters for them as well. Of course we joined, and we even ended up on the local television broadcast.
Around 30 foreigners were invited to sign up in total. After gathering at the City Hall entrance where we were greeted by interpreters, 5 people were asked to be active volunteers during the drill. The area behind City Hall, also used for fireworks festivals and other events, is actually the scheduled disaster practice area. The edges of the terrain were littered with tents and fold-able chairs for participants to relax, whether they were the fire brigade or local families. On one side information tents had been set up as well. The center proved most interesting with 3 houses and a pile of wood. Enough space was left between the center and the tents for the longest emergency vehicles to drive around.
The program was fully packed and after the mandatory greetings, the first demonstration was debris removal. Next was emergency hospital set up, with active involvement. Our group was called in to carry a dummy to an emergency site for revival by medical specialists, and ACCS was filming the whole setup.
Then a very exciting activity took place, as the search dogs from three different prefectures, Tokyo, Chiba and Ibaraki, were trained to find people inside a pretend collapsed house. After all three dogs confirmed the locations, the rescue team responded by cutting the house open and calling out to the 'victims' inside. If you are removed by the roof, you get extracted vertically! As soon as the people were brought to safety, the rescue team removed the house. This is to clear the imaginary streets of collapsed houses.
Around this time people got served emergency food and water, which was quite nice given the outside temperatures. 6 of the 35 sponsors included food companies or supermarkets. The cooperation with local food suppliers was very interesting. Next up was fixing gas, electricity and water supply lines.
Another drill to actively participate in was firefighting. One house fire was to be put out with a bucket line, whereas foreigners were given fire extinguishers for a second house. It was nice to practice with a real fire and real extinguisher for once, as most companies prefer to have water filled containers spraying at plasticized pictures of fire. We obtained a disaster prevention bag with a thermal blanket and other useful items.
At the information stands, we watched the simulated effects of liquefaction swallow a windmill and observed the power tools the military used to clear the streets after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Meanwhile, the roof of the city hall was being used as a helicopter drill site. We also took a look inside the mobile disaster unit, which had everything from a toilet to a fax machine, just in case city hall had to be abandoned. We can only hope more cities have such an active disaster prevention force, and interpreters as well.
Around 30 foreigners were invited to sign up in total. After gathering at the City Hall entrance where we were greeted by interpreters, 5 people were asked to be active volunteers during the drill. The area behind City Hall, also used for fireworks festivals and other events, is actually the scheduled disaster practice area. The edges of the terrain were littered with tents and fold-able chairs for participants to relax, whether they were the fire brigade or local families. On one side information tents had been set up as well. The center proved most interesting with 3 houses and a pile of wood. Enough space was left between the center and the tents for the longest emergency vehicles to drive around.
The program was fully packed and after the mandatory greetings, the first demonstration was debris removal. Next was emergency hospital set up, with active involvement. Our group was called in to carry a dummy to an emergency site for revival by medical specialists, and ACCS was filming the whole setup.
Then a very exciting activity took place, as the search dogs from three different prefectures, Tokyo, Chiba and Ibaraki, were trained to find people inside a pretend collapsed house. After all three dogs confirmed the locations, the rescue team responded by cutting the house open and calling out to the 'victims' inside. If you are removed by the roof, you get extracted vertically! As soon as the people were brought to safety, the rescue team removed the house. This is to clear the imaginary streets of collapsed houses.
Around this time people got served emergency food and water, which was quite nice given the outside temperatures. 6 of the 35 sponsors included food companies or supermarkets. The cooperation with local food suppliers was very interesting. Next up was fixing gas, electricity and water supply lines.
Another drill to actively participate in was firefighting. One house fire was to be put out with a bucket line, whereas foreigners were given fire extinguishers for a second house. It was nice to practice with a real fire and real extinguisher for once, as most companies prefer to have water filled containers spraying at plasticized pictures of fire. We obtained a disaster prevention bag with a thermal blanket and other useful items.
At the information stands, we watched the simulated effects of liquefaction swallow a windmill and observed the power tools the military used to clear the streets after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Meanwhile, the roof of the city hall was being used as a helicopter drill site. We also took a look inside the mobile disaster unit, which had everything from a toilet to a fax machine, just in case city hall had to be abandoned. We can only hope more cities have such an active disaster prevention force, and interpreters as well.
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