News in Japan - November

Japan:

Study says Tokyo, Osaka, other mega-cities will be swamped by surging sea levels, even at 2 degrees Celsius rise A spike in Earth’s temperature of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would submerge land currently occupied by 280 million people, while an increase of 4 degrees Celsius - humanity’s current trajectory - would cover areas populated by more than 600 million people, the study said.

In the capital, 7.5 million people - 30 percent of Tokyo’s population - would be affected by the sea level rise under the 4 C scenario. A rise by 2 C would leave 4.2 million people’s homes underwater.

In Osaka, 6.2 million people - a staggering 38 percent of its population - would be affected under the 4 C rise. Under the 2 C scenario, the city would still see 4.2 million affected.

Sea level rises corresponding to these 2 C or 4 C scenarios could unfold in two hundred years, but would more likely happen over many centuries, perhaps as long as 2,000 years, according to the research, published by Climate Central.

USA:
Study ranks six American cities on preparation for climate change
Houston-Galveston region could be better protected from impact of hurricanes and severe storms

Netherlands:
Room for the river programme completes its largest depolderingproject Noordwaard, the Netherlands
Current technologies for levee monitoring in the Netherlands

Other:
Images Show Impact of Sea Level Rise on Global Icons
Paying it forward in a digital age: A global community committed to a mapped world
Salmon crossing the road during flood

Published paper

Environmental Hazards has published the article 'Factors affecting the evacuation decisions of coastal households during Cyclone Aila in Bangladesh', of which I am proud to be co-author.

You can use this link to receive a free full copy, or find it here if you have access to the journal.

Abstract
Despite sincere efforts by concerned agencies and recent improvements in hazard warnings, thousands of at-risk people did not evacuate during Aila, a category-I tropical cyclone that struck southwestern coastal Bangladesh in 2009. This study investigated the responses of the people affected by Aila to cyclone warnings and associated evacuation orders, and unveiled behavioural aspects that explain why they did or did not comply with the evacuation orders. Utilising the primary data collected from 420 households living in the severely affected coastal sub-district Koyra, located in Khulna District, this study found that although more than 97% of the households had received cyclone warnings and evacuation orders before Aila's landfall, only around 26% had evacuated. We also examined this study's empirical findings for factors that had dissuaded people from complying with the evacuation orders. Relevant test statistics along with results from principal component analysis suggested that the significant and systematic absenteeism of households from disaster preparedness training appears to be one of the key determinants that affected their evacuation decisions, along with factors related to warning messages, the attributes of cyclone shelters, risk perception, and socioeconomic aspects. A number of recommendations are also presented in this study for people at risk to improve their evacuation rates in future emergencies, not only to save their own lives but also to save their livestock.


Journal ref: Environmental Hazards
Authors: Md. Nasif Ahsan, Kuniyoshi Takeuchi, Karina Vink & Jeroen Warner
Volume 15, Issue 1, 2016, pages 16-42
Received: 7 January 2015
Accepted: 28 October 2015
Published online: 26 November 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2015.1114912
2014 Impact Factor: 0.868

Joso flood damage overview

Joso city has made the document: Joso disaster situation by September 2015 Kanto and Tohoku heavy rain.

The total damage costs are still being calculated as the Japanese fiscal year runs until April, but below a translated overview of the gathered damages so far can be found (click to enlarge).