Why Japan rains have been so deadly

tokyo — Japan is famously prone to natural disasters including earthquakes and tsunamis, and is generally considered wellprepared to cope. So why has record rainfall caused at least 114 deaths?

Here are some of the factors that have contributed to the worst rain-related disaster in Japan in over two decades.

The heavy rains began with a typhoon front that hit as Japan entered its yearly typhoon season.

The archipelago is battered annually by an average of six typhoons, from around July to October or November.

The storm fronts bring torrential downpours and heavy winds, and are closely tracked by weather and government officials.

Despite various measures intended to prevent deaths, including dams to control flood waters, the country sees rain-related deaths most years.

But this rainfront has been unprecedented: record rainfall was recorded in the 72 hours to Sunday at 118 government observation points across the affected area, the weather agency told AFP.

About 70 per cent of Japan’s land is made up of mountains and hills, so homes are often built on steep slopes, or floodprone flat plains below them.

“In addition, Japan’s earth is geologically diverse, with tectonic plates and volcanic geological layers, — in a nutshell, it’s weak,” said Hiroyuki Ohno, head of the Sabo (sand erosion control) and Landslide Technical Centre. That puts many people’s homes in the path of potential landslides and flooding.

The government has a longterm project nudging people in disaster-prone areas to move, and has even banned new construction in the most vulnerable places.

But the project is ongoing, and many remain in harm’s way. Many of Japan’s homes are built of wood, particularly traditional or traditional-style houses that remain popular in the countryside.

Their foundations are also made of wood, which can be ideal for flexibility in the case of earthquakes, but stand little chance of withstanding the crushing pressure produced by a torrent of flood water or a massive landslide. —

Human beings have a so-called normalcy bias, meaning people try not to evacuate, ignoring negative information. Hirotada Hirose, a disaster management expert