2005 Volume 58 Issue 1 Pages 43-48
The purpose of this paper is to compare the characteristics of heavy rainfall disaster information in Taiwan with those of such information in Japan based on field research, interview survey, and Internet survey between 2003 and 2004. The Taiwan Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has 387 raingauge observatories. The density of observatories is 1 station per 93km2, which is higher than that established by the Japan Meteorological Agency (AMeDAS, 1 station per 287km2). The Taiwan Soil and Water Conservation Bureau publishes any real-time danger-level of sediment disaster in various places on their website. This information is calculated based on precipitation data of the CWB. In Japan, raingauge networks are administrated by the Meteorological Agency, River Bureau, and individual prefectures, and these data is using independently in general. That is, the method of using precipitation data in Taiwan is more efficient than that in Japan. On the other hand, we can safely say that the standard of heavy rainfall warning in Taiwan is rough than that in Japan ; only one value (1-hour precipitation over 15 mm and cumulative precipitation over 130 mm) is provided for all Taiwan. When this warning is announced, it is sent from CWB to all municipality offices directly. It is possible that the method of announcing warnings in Taiwan is achieves more rapid delivery than that in Japan.
