WCDRR day 4

World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai - day 4

Today I visited the AER TKP garden city building for a symposium with Japanese, Dutch and Italian experts on Disaster Risk Reduction. Many examples of infrastructure merging with local ecosystems and population demands were explained.

Extreme flood measure symposium focused on low-lying urban areas
Schedule	2015-03-17	10:00-12:00, 14:00-16:00
Venue	AER TKP garden city Sendai, 21st floor, hall A
Organizer	MLIT
Number of participants	200
Moderator, Panelist, Speaker, etc.	Organizer: Dr. Koji Ikeuchi, Director-General, Water and Disaster Management Bureau, MLIT, Japan Keynote speech: Jos van Alphen, Staff Delta  Programme Commissioner Netherlands Giovanni Cecconi, Director of Active Knowledge Management Centre Italy Isato Kunisada, Mayor of Sanjo City Japan Additional panelists: Tadashi Yamada, Prof. of Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University Japan Kiyoshi Takai, Director of Civil Engineering Division of Edogawa Ward, Japan Nobuyuki Tsuchiya, Citizen’s disaster prevention and town development school Japan
Content	Ikeuchi: Tokyo has many areas under sea level: shopping malls and subways, while rainfall is increasing to >1000mm, very heavy rain. We want to ensure we have countermeasures. Weather satellites increase knowledge to create hazard maps and timelines. We should have a cooperative approach to events. Van Alphen: There is a long history of including Dutch expertise in Japanese water management. The Dutch main harbor, government and capital are all in areas below sea level. WE have 3700km of primary and 14000km of secondary levee defenses. The new Delta program looks at the coming 85 years, until 2100. This was not started in answer to a disaster, but in advance, to prevent it. Nature, NGOs, functions and future populations, we include uncertainties into scenarios. Evacuation policy will only activate when people will be in a flood >2.0m deep. Cecconi: What is a resilient storm surge? In EU we have the ECHO disaster figures. There are many mobile barriers in the world, such as in Venice, Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom, and New Orleans. We cannot protect Venice with aging infrastructure. Therefore we made an infrastructure/ecosystem solution. Layers of bio-bacteria tackle the wastewater in the lagoon of Venice. A protective natural barrier surrounds the wetlands/saltmarshes recreated in Venice. The Barrier rises in 20 minutes. If raised in 5 minutes it would generate a 2m tsunami. We needed special paint to protect the metal of the barrier. The bio-barrier in Venice can control wastes/nutrients. We need to have revenue from the barrier itself to keep up maintenance. In the end it is learning with nature, the science not of the beauty of the landscape, but the science that leads to reduction of vulnerability. We now have fish farms, salt marshes, barrier island for protection against storms. First there was heavy resistance against the lagoon project, but taking their demands into account (no modification of tides in summer, no effects on the ecosystem) led to working with nature. Adaption to change is starting from what you don’t know and evolving with nature. Kunisada: In 2011 there were 815 evacuees from Fukushima city in Sanjo city, now there are still 144. We found that people without disaster experience resist evacuation. Yamada: There is no law yet in Japan about climate change. In the US the army cannot be sued and they are doing engineering works. In New Orleans there was no clear leadership/responsibilities, therefore there was failure. Good education to children led by mayors is crucial. If you cross the Ara river, you are already in Chiba, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Government doesn’t pay attention to this area, even though 680,000 people live there, there are no skyscrapers or major companies. Evacuation plans in this area should be made in cooperation. Takai: There are historic images of Tokyo bay, people gathering clams to eat. There was much liquefaction in Tokyo after 2011 GEJET. Renewal/development of super levees will take place at different times. 120km in total. Tsuchiya: Protagonist residents, there are 4 stages of denial: It won’t happen, it won’t happen to me, it is not so severe, and we can’t do anything about it. This keeps people from acting on disasters. Current multiphase flood maps are wrong, because people don’t know where the flood water comes from. Yamada asked question to Van Alphen: Are the Dutch people aware of disasters, especially the new generations, do they support education or not? Van Alphen: We have very good protection against floods, our last disaster was in 1953, and we were threatened in 1993-1995. Many people forget about this or don’t know. Most know they live below sea level, this is in the school education, and we remember the 1953 event every year on television. No one is prepared, as the chance of flood is so low and people trust the government. It doesn’t make life happy to be aware, so people are not prepared. Authorities are seriously concerned about this. What will happen to the public if something does happen?