The heavy rain event of August 2019 was record heavy rain mainly in the Northern Kyushu region. In Saga prefecture, the greatest hourly rainfall was observed. Moreover, a number of reservoirs were damaged in Fukuoka and Saga prefecture. There were twenty damaged reservoirs in Saga, Ogi, Takeo and Tosu city, Saga prefecture. In particular, the breakage of embankment of reservoir was occurred in Ogi city. This paper reported field investigation results of damaged reservoirs in Ogi city.

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This short paper presents a humanities-oriented natural disaster studies perspective on the novel COVID-19 pandemic now sweeping the entire world, including Japan. Borderless nature of this pandemic has destructive potential on the following three fundamental theoretical assumptions in conventional humanities-oriented natural disaster science. First, disaster management can be planned and implemented spatially, reflected in a designation of“flood inundation area,”for example, which is a“zoning”assumption. Secondly, disaster management can be planned and implemented based on a temporal phase thinking, shown in a well-known“disaster management cycle,”which is a“phasing”assumption. Finally, disaster management can be planned and implemented in a role-positioning structure of a disaster experts vs. non-experts, which is a“positioning”assumption. It is also discussed how we can reconsider these three basic assumptions,“zoning,”“phasing,”and“positioning,”to develop natural disaster science further.

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This paper reports the results of a survey on estimated flood inundation depth at designated hospitals for infectious diseases in Japan based on open flood hazard maps. The results showed that inundation was expected at approximately a quarter of all target hospitals by floods of the designed level for river planning, while it was expected at about one-third of them by floods of the probable maximal level. Flood inundation deeper than 10 meters was expected at some hospitals, where self-protection measures such as evacuation to the upper stories or installation of the emergency power system to the upper level may no longer be effective. Close coordination with river authority, crisis management and public health authorities is therefore considered to be important for those hospitals to enlarge their capability of flood response.

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In 2019, typhoon No.15 (Faxai) headed north in the Pacific Ocean during the evening of September 8 and passed Izu-Oshima Island at midnight on September 9. Then it traveled across the Miura Peninsula at around 2:30 and headed northeast on Tokyo Bay, making landfall at Chiba City. by 7:30 that morning, it had passed the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture and went offshore near Kashima-Nada. With the passage of the typhoon, the maximum instantaneous wind speeds observed were 57.5 m/s in Chiba and 49.0 m/s in Kisarazu. Strong winds raged mainly on the Boso Peninsula located on the eastern side of the typhoon’s course. There, damages were incurred including the scattering of roof tiles of houses, and a long blackout period ensued due to the collapse and other damage to poles carrying electricity, caused by strong winds and fallen trees. In addition, inundation and flood damage were caused by storm surges in the Tokyo Bay area. As a result of strong winds that accompanied the typhoon, a steel tower collapsed at a driving range, there was a breakdown at the mega-solar- power water station, large public buildings such as school gymnasia sustained damages, and residential housing and agricultural buildings collapsed in Chiba Prefecture. In addition, due to storm surges that accompanied the typhoon, facilities and vehicles at a wharf were damaged and flood damage occurred at industrial estates in Yokohama City.

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This study investigated relationships between water gods and disasters in Toho-Village, Fukuoka, Japan, through the survey of geographical location of water gods, the interview with local residents on features of water gods, and the extraction of historical records of disasters that occurred in Toho-Village. The results are as follows. 1) Approximately 80 % of water gods are located in disastrous sites damaged by floods and debris flows. 2) The water god located near Den Mountain with steep slopes was related to debris flow and associated river flooding disasters that have been repeatedly caused in the long history. Therefore, through the inclusion of these results into the message of the water god, it can be expected that the water god will be useful as the monument of local disaster protection.

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“The Sekikawa Taishita Monja Matsuri”festival originated from the 1967 Uetsu Flood disaster has been held in Sekikawa Village, Niigata Prefecture, Japan since August, 1988. The interview survey of the 20 relevant people to the festival and participant survey on the festival were conducted to clarify 1) how it started, 2) how it continued over 30 years and 3) whether it works on the past disaster tradition or not. The results are summarized as follows. 1) The mission of the festival was not to pass down the disaster. Originally, the main motivation was to develop next human resources in the village. 2) They have decided on a big snake motif because the legend story“Ooritouge-densetsu”in the village that people slayed it and a big snake which symbolized God of flood and sediment disaster in Japan have a high affinity. 3) “Dai-jya”is made of bamboo and straw which is broken a few year later. The reason is to inherit the technique and method of making“dai-jya”4) Only people that want to participate the festival participate it, they welcome anybody from outside the village. 5)“The Sekikawa Taishita Monja Matsuri”functions as a past disaster tradition tool with disaster education in primary and secondary schools.

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