Crown fires represent an extreme fire behavior that leads to high fire severity, and dryness plays a vital role in this behavior. Due to the lack of fire severity data in Tohoku, high fire severity was estimated using a satellite-based high-fire-severity index (HFSI). HFSI is the ratio of the identified area of high fire severity sensed using the Landsat-differenced normalized difference vegetation index (dNDVI) to the reported total burnt area. Using the HFSI, only six wildfires could be identified as having high fire severity areas from an evaluation of 55 wildfires with burnt areas greater than 0.1 km² reported in Tohoku from 1995 to 2017. The low HFSI values computed for these wildfires implied that fireline intensity was not high for crown fires to occur in Tohoku. Additionally, the soil moisture (SM) content for three layers, the surface, root, and recharge zones simulated using a land surface model (the Simple Biosphere Model including Urban Canopy (SiBUC) model), were used to assess the dryness. The highest HFSI value calculated among all wildfires was that of the largest wildfire that ever occurred in Japan in the period between 1995 and 2017, the 2017 Kamaishi wildfire. The conditions before this fire were among the driest of the six wildfires with HFSI values.

Flood risks associated with changes in land use and climate are a common concern, especially in relation to their potential effects on many cities around the world. Jakarta is a typical urbanized Asian city in Indonesia where flooding presents a consistent challenge. This study aimed to quantify the effects of land use and climate change using a flood inundation model to analyze future urban growth and climate change scenarios. The projected rainfall data of RCP2.6-SSP1 and RCP8.5-SSP3, based on the WRF simulation, were used as inputs for rainfall-runoff and flood inundation simulations in Jakarta. In addition, RCP2.6 and RCP8.5, without urban development scenarios, were investigated to determine the effects of urbanization in Jakarta. The results showed that rainfall intensity, peak discharge, and flood inundation generally increased in the high RCP and SSP future scenarios. Significantly, the RCP2.6-SSP1 scenario showed a higher peak discharge value than RCP8.5, owing to the combination of land-use change and increased rainfall. We conclude that the effects of urban development on atmospheric and runoff processes should be considered in climate change studies in urban areas.

Taking a systems perspective, we ask how the experience and lessons of a specific event at one place and one time, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, can be systematically and proactively expanded to other places and maintained into future decades, in order that actors anywhere in the world can access and draw on the intense realities of far distant or long past disasters in their own disaster risk reduction efforts. The idea of “memorial,” defined in the broad sense as something “to preserve remembrance,” provides a conceptual basis to underpin such a systematic expansion. The concept of “memorialization” can thus apply not only to physical monuments but also museums, archives, local markers, media tools, myths, anniversaries, conferences, international mechanisms, and legal and institutional tools. This paper briefly examines the role of each of these for supporting disaster risk reduction efforts.

In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to observe drifting of objects transported by a tsunami. Tsunami-induced drift motion was simulated using various numerical models, and the results were compared. Experiments were performed with and without obstacles in the terrain, and the differences were assessed. The spread of debris occurred faster in the presence of an obstacle. In the absence of structures in the flow, the debris did not shift perpendicular to the flow direction in any of the numerical models. The experimental results were generally consistent with the calculated results, although they varied in a normally distributed manner. However, when there was a downstream structure, the uncertainty of the drift motion was not accurately simulated. Furthermore, it was observed that debris moved behind obstacles. A numerical model that calculated the collision force between debris using momentum conservation reproduced this phenomenon. Thus, the numerical model with the drag and inertia coefficients was fairly accurate.

Previous studies have argued the significance of pre-event planning for post-disaster recovery. We examined how scenario planning approach is effective for pre-disaster planning. We applied scenario planning approach to develop strategies for multiple possible futures of the case study city, expected to hit by a massive tsunami following the Nankai Trough earthquake. Our analysis reveals the adaptive and transformative strategies for multiple scenarios. Uncertainty surrounding dynamic recovery processes need to enforce transformative strategies to reframe the Japanese planning paradigm in post-disaster recovery.

Transportation is considered to be one of the main activities of daily life. The COVID-19 pandemic, which had its origin at the end of 2019, restricted the movement of the people due to its deadly impacts. Most governments also had a hand in limiting the mobility of the people through various measures and policies. Thailand was one of the first countries impacted by COVID-19, and transportation in Bangkok, the capital city, was greatly affected by both government measures and the COVID-19 disease. In this study, the number of passengers using the various modes of public transportation in Bangkok and the daily number of COVID-19 cases there are analyzed, and a correlation is found. In addition, the measures taken against COVID-19 are summarized to identify any impacts on Bangkok’s mobility and transportation. The mobility and transportation data include the passengers of the four modes of transportation: air, water, road, and rail. The findings show a moderate yet significant correlation between the number of passengers and the daily number of COVID-19 cases. This correlation was also amplified by the announcements and policies of the government.

Reservoirs are essential structures to provide reliable water supply, hydropower, and flood control. Climate change could be a significant factor that increases the sediment yield leading to rapid reduction of the reservoir’s storage capacity and design life. Previous studies of reservoir sedimentation-related impact of climate change often coupled a hydrological model with the raw outputs of general circulation model (GCM)/regional circulation model (RCM), which shows bias when comparing with observations data. This study aims to integrate the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model with 14 bias-corrected GCM/RCM models under two emissions scenarios, representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5, applied to Pleikrong reservoir to estimate its sedimentation in the long term period. The results show the reduction in reservoir storage capacity due to sedimentation ranges from 25% to 62% by 2050, depending on the defferent climate change models. The reservoir reduced storage volume’s rate in considering the impact of climate change is much faster than in the case of no climate change. The outcomes of this study will be helpful for a sustainable and climate-resilient plan of sediment management for the Pleikrong reservoir.

Literature exists on business continuity; however, little exists on the complied experience, especially flood risk. The research also does not cover industrial complex areas using integrated perspectives. Most studies on major business continuity disasters focus on event impacts and the short-term responses and recovery process of enterprises. Some evaluate the underlying causes of vulnerability, but few follow up to evaluate the consequences of the business continuity process because of restrictions on information disclosure regarding these activities. The objective of this study is to improve understanding of the influence that business continuity narratives have had on how decisions and actions are undertaken to continue business after a flood disaster, and what long-term influence this has had, in turn, on the industrial complex area from integrated perspectives, especially applying the lessons learned. This research drew on insights from in-depth studies of Japanese enterprises to maximize the findings based on abundant field data: (1) disaster responses in the flood risk situation; (2) the challenges faced by enterprises in the area before, during and following the 2011 floods; and (3) lessons that led to new consideration for the flood risk in the areas following the 2011 flood. This study identified alternative narratives on the purpose and means of business continuity with implications for flood risk by constructing scenarios for practical use. The findings of this study provide new insights and will improve the performance of business continuity management, both existing and planned, and, ultimately, support more climate-resilient development in this area.