Field trip to Niigata - day 3

On the final day of the Niigata field trip we attended lectures at Sanjo city by the municipality and the flood-fighting corps. In the afternoon we visited three more local sites.

At Sanjo city hall, we received much information on local disaster management. For instance, the town has prepared several different disaster manuals for different groups of people, among which one in English and one in Chinese for foreign residents. During the 2004 flood, 7 out of the 9 deaths were elderly. The city is currently constructing a list of information of non self-reliant people, although this process is still delicate as many people feel it disturbs their privacy. The city now automatically puts certain people receiving certain healthcare measures on the list of special evacuation care, unless they object to it. In this case, they will receive no special help during evacuations and must make their own preparations.

After the lectures we went to the Kariyata disaster prevention park, a paddy field, and a retarding basin.
At several sites in the town we saw flood prevention measures, including signs indicating previous flood heights. Twice a year the soil quality of the river is tested, and if approved it is dredged and used to heighten the embankments.

In the paddy field we were introduced to the tanbo dam concept that has helped reduce the flood peak of rivers by an altered shape of paddy field drainage. This way the water is retained for a longer period by the paddies and the flood peak is lowered.

Finally it was time to return home by shinkansen, through the paddy fields.