Kirk here. Heavy rain has been coming all too frequently in recent years:
2023-07-05 19:07 JST 2023 Kirk here. Heavy rain has been coming all too frequently in recent years: Elementary school in Kumamoto Pref. marks 3rd anniversary of deadly floods | NHK WORLD-JAPAN NewsChildren at an elementary school in a village in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, have marked the third anniversary of deadly flooding that hit the region. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230704_20/ ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 1 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 0 ← 2023-07-05 12:49 JST 2023-07-06 13:27 JST → Around this time … 2023-07-08 10:44 JSTKirk with a link to the hazard map I promised yesterday:https://disaportal.gsi.go.jp/maps/The URL for yesterday's post, in case you missed it:https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid08SZY7mHyFABUhZn3emryDSxd1RV6p1EXXy5DERf97V9ZhBzVGW33tZKDKRHczpvUlI think this is the best hazard map interface I've seen so far. You can choose one type of risk (flood, landslide, storm surge, etc.) and display that separately or choose several to display simultaneously (overlapping) as in the example image I have made for this post. As far as I can tell, the projected depths of water are worst-case scenarios but I couldn't find an explanation of whether that is once in a hundred years or what. I did find a note indicating that, in extreme circumstances, depths might be even greater than those projected.I hope this will help you decide whether or not you are in a area that is risky enough to warrant moving to another location when evacuation "orders" are issued. Please check out your situation before you forget so that you don't need to look for the link to the hazard map in an emergency. 2023-07-07 21:34 JSTSean here -Some then and this morning comparison pics (before today's rains). Unfortunately, the pics really don't do justice to how far the lake overflowed its banks. But still amazing, none the less. 2023-07-07 13:13 JST(Claire) Uto and it’s uk link came up again! Link on the comments. It’s a lovely place for a stop and stretch of your legs in June. 2023-07-07 09:54 JSTKirk here. It's raining again and a "watch" (注意報; chuui hou) is in effect for the whole prefecture. I suspect that calls for "evacuation" (避難; hinan) of certain areas will be made again this weekend. So, in preparation, I'll be making some posts to help you understand the risks you may face and whether or not you need to seek shelter somewhere else.First, I put "evacuation" in quotes above because the original Japanese is a bit more ambiguous than the English term, "hinan." In Japanese, it is possible to "hinan" at home, if your home is safe enough. So, when "evacuation" comes up in English news and announcements about how to respond to the extreme rain, you might want to interpret it as "go to or make sure you are already in a place that is safe."Now, to determine whether you are in a safe place or not, you need to refer to a hazard map. I'll share links to such maps in a subsequent post but in this post I'd like to point out that flooding risk can be a little counterintuitive. In other words, you can be a pretty far from a river but still face significant risk of flood. Take the image below. This is one that I learned about from William but today I've taken it from a different source and added some English. Here's the Japanese source:https://www.qsr.mlit.go.jp/tateno/shirakawa/tokusei.htmlAs you can see, downtown Kumamoto (Shimotori, etc) is many meters lower than the Shirakawa River. There would have to be an extreme event for downtown Kumamoto to be flooded. This doesn't happen often but the following article says that in the 1953 flood, the downtown area was covered in 2.5 meters of water -- which would have been way over the head of the tallest NBA basketball player:https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN6P6RGQN6PTLVB007.htmlSo, the moral of the story is that proximity to a river is not the only thing to consider. You also need to know how low your area is in relationship to the river. For that, I'm planning to post information about so-called "hazard maps" that you can check online. 2023-07-06 13:27 JST(Claire) Hi, GattoNero, an Italian restaurant with an Italian chef , Yamaga way in Kahoku, will be holding their second Olive oil tasting/seminar on July 29th. It will be in English with Japanese translation. My sister in law went last time and really enjoyed it. You can message them through Instagram in English, Italian or Japanese or phone them in those languages too for more information. 0968 32 4333 2023-07-05 19:07 JSTKirk here. Heavy rain has been coming all too frequently in …Elementary school in Kumamoto Pref. marks 3rd anniversary of deadly floods | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News (this post) 2023-07-05 12:49 JSTKirk here. Judging from the caption on this picture, this damaged section of Highway 28 would be about here:https://goo.gl/maps/sm7J4WxvkgjJYxLh9https://kumanichi.com/articles/1096921熊本県央で記録的大雨 県内に線状降水帯2回発生 益城町・木山川など氾濫、山都町・金内橋が崩落 ｜熊本日日新聞社 2023-07-04 22:23 JSTKirk again. This came to me in an e-mail from the International Center:----- start quote -----Heavy rains are predicted to arrive in Kumamoto. Evacuation shelters will open from 17:00 on July 4th (TUE). When preparing to go to a shelter, please remember to bring with you the necessities such as food, water and prescription drugs. ※ When the shelter closes , please remember to take with you any garbage that you accumulated. ※ It is very dangerous for people to evacuate during severe the rain and or cold. You should plan accordingly trying to avoid leaving after dark.（1）List of evacuation shelters: Please check kumamoto City Disaster Prevention Information Portal https://city-kumamoto.my.salesforce-sites.com/#Please note more information.Japan Meteorological Agency：https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.htmlNHK World:https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/Kumamoto International Foundation4-18 Hanaba-cho Chuo ward Kumamoto 860-0806096-359-2121[email protected]----- end quote -----You can set this page to display in English by clicking on the Google translate button at the upper right corner of the screen. Unfortunately, this only displays in Japanese and you have to choose "英語" for English but once you do that it works pretty well.As I have written before, I doubt many of you will actually need to evacuate anytime soon. But, if your situation does call for it, the Kumamoto City Disaster Prevention Information Portal URL provided by the International Center should prove to be very useful. It tells you which centers have been opened, whether or not they are full, etc. 2023-07-04 17:50 JSTKirk here with an inquiry from Julie, who got some well-deserved recognition last year for her long-standing practice of picking up after other people every morning. Well, now Julie, who does so much for other people, needs a little help from anyone who might have some Kiwi (New Zealand) currency that they would be willing to exchange for yen. She has some students who will be traveling to New Zealand and would like to help them get used to the actual currency before they go.If you are already connected to Julie, please contact her directly. If not, I think a comment to this post should be enough for her to get in touch with you. Thanks! :)https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02FTusLKMfS7NhbPEXe3XvzouqnhDV1v7sGHgunwNu7zPfBCm5vqofKC8NuQiQLCdvl毎朝ごみ拾い、YＯＵは何者？ 5種類の分別袋にマジックハンド 英語講師のウオーターマンさん 「生徒が掃除」するＪＡＰＡＮに驚き｜熊本日日新聞社 2023-07-04 17:26 JSTKirk here giving the rain a break (I hope it gives us a break) and posting in the "stuff I didn't know or had forgotten" category. Today's bit of unknown or forgotten information pertains to the caption written for the photo you see with this article:"A masked GSDF member stands by NEWS electronic warfare vehicles at Camp Kengun in the city of Kumamoto. (Mainichi/Yoshitake Matsuura)"NEWS stands for "network electronic warfare systems." The systems are designed to "jam “enemy radio waves in an integrated manner” and “establish information superiority over potential adversaries.”" Sure hope these systems never need to used! 😕https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/03/30/japan-electronic-warfare-unit/https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230628/p2g/00m/0na/045000cJapan reveals guidelines to urge firms to develop defense technology - The Mainichi 2023-07-04 14:56 JSTKirk with a follow-up about "evacuation orders."This Japan Times article includes the following sentence:"In the city of Kumamoto, 368,000 residents were ordered to evacuate on the morning of July 3, after water levels rose in the Shirakawa river, which runs through the area."The population of Kumamoto City that is published in the June edition of the Shisei dayori (市政だより) is 736,245 so 368,000 is about half of the whole city. Obviously, it would have been an absolute disaster (a "secondary disaster") if all of those people had tried to evacuate. So, it's NOT the case that "368,000 residents were ordered" to evacuate. Rather, that many people live in areas where they were to evacuate if their particular circumstances (proximity to a river or steep incline, etc.) warranted it. So, as I have written in the past "evacuation order" doesn't mean "everyone go to your nearest evacuation center."See this previous post of mine for more details:https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02yPoXdKo4NM8SrYZenpepcwNJx7onhRqyG1Qn6QyU8L7QSRMfhZNLHGVeBjFew8wplI think that, in preparation for future disasters, the Japan Times and other English-language newspapers should explain this properly.Now, one might imagine that half of the city's population was ordered to evacuate but not everyone obeyed. That, however, wasn't the assumption of the Hindustan Times. They published an article with the following headline:Heavy rains trigger havoc in Japan's Kumamoto, over 360,000 evacuatedhttps://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/japan-rains-heavy-rains-trigger-havoc-in-japans-kumamoto-over-360-000-evacuated-101688383115802.htmlThere really WOULD have been havoc if over 360,000 had actually evacuated.Now, of course, I recognize that few foreigners in Japan rely on the Hindustan Times for information about disasters here but, nonetheless, I think it's an interesting example of how the multilingual telephone game of "confusing government proclamation --> media report --> media report based on a media report" can go off the rails, so to speak. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/07/03/national/kyshu-floods-rain-evacuation/As heavy rain pounds Kyushu, evacuation ordered for 360,000
