News in Japan - September

Japan

It seemed to miss Japan altogether before coming back with a vengeance: Typhoon LIONROCK (12W) Path as tracked by JAXA

More than 1,000 people still stranded in Iwate in typhoon’s wake An estimated 1,100 people remained stranded in eight municipalities in Iwate Prefecture and 17 were still missing late Thursday, two days after Typhoon Lionrock struck the region, killing 11. Police and Self-Defense Forces were rushing to rescue residents in the town of Iwaizumi, where the missing 17 lived. The town saw 10 people killed by flooding, including nine at a nursing home, when the storm hit on Tuesday. According to the town, most of the 17 people are elderly residents whose homes were inundated with floodwaters and whose access to roads was cut off, hampering efforts by municipal officials and welfare workers to confirm their safety. In Iwaizumi and the city of Kuji, also in Iwate, evacuation advisories were still in place for 15,780 households comprising 36,582 people on Thursday morning. The areas were still at high risk of mudslides. Water supplies and electricity had been cut off in many areas. The town decided to airlift 30 residents who needed dialysis treatment to hospitals in other municipalities, such as Morioka. Bad communication among government agencies has been partly blamed for delays in evacuations.

USA

Stalagmites in Indiana cave may record past earthquakes

Every September 11, I Remember This Surprising Story About Steve Buscemi

Earthquake rattles Oklahoma, six neighboring states

How FEMA Director Craig Fugate Wants to Reshape Disaster Management

Other

The earthquake in Italy: stereotyped narratives and missing social science

Deadly Italian quake highlights continuing struggle to communicate risk

How plant roots sense, react to soil flooding Researchers have just discovered a mechanism that allows a plant to adjust its water status and growth according to different soil flooding conditions. The results of this study describe how roots sense and respond to soil oxygen and potassium levels jointly, so as to change their water uptake capacity. Aside from their scientific importance, these findings could make it possible to optimize crop flood tolerance.

http://aqua-monitor.appspot.com/ Surface water changes (1985-2016). Green and blue colors represent areas where surface water changes occured during the last 30 years. Green pixels show where surface water has been turned into land (accretion, land reclamation, droughts). Blue pixels show where land has been changed into surface water (erosion, reservoir construction). The results of the analysis are published in: Donchyts et.al, 2016, Nature Climate Change

Earthquake potential revealed by tidal influence on earthquake size–frequency statistics

Vulnerable people

Floods severely affect children, young people Research with flood-affected children reveals serious impacts on well-being but also a desire to take on a role in flood risk management. Factors impacting on children's well-being include: loss of valued personal and family possessions, friendship networks, familiar spaces, education; experience of fear, anxiety, poverty, isolation, unfairness, destruction, stress, uncertainty, being ignored/misunderstood; lack of sleep and recreation; deterioration in diet, space and housing conditions; lack of flood education provision in schools for children and all staff. The study shows that having an active role in flood risk management actually helps with children's recovery. Yet current flood and emergency planning policy either ignores children or positions them as 'vulnerable', rather than treating them as citizens in their own right. The report proposes children should be given more information before, during and after flooding because they have a right to know how to prepare, what to expect and how they can contribute.