Hyogo Prefectural Government (Hyogo) has been preparing “Regional Disaster Prevention Information (CG Hazard Maps),” which outline potential flooding areas (due to heavy rainfall, high tide, tsunami, reservoir burst), sediment disaster prone areas and anticipated seismic intensity distribution, along with the location of evacuation centers. In addition to making this information available on its official website, Hyogo has been providing this information to municipalities so that they can deliver disaster risk and hazard information to citizens.
Context (HFA Priority 3)
In the past, Hyogo occasionally encountered typhoons that simultaneously affected large areas of the local region, including forests, mountains, rivers and the sea. One of the reasons for serious damage caused by these events is that Hyogo’s natural disaster-related data was not centralised, and so it was not always easy for citizens to understand. It was difficult for citizens to obtain a total picture of their disaster risk and hazard situation, since the damage estimations for storms, floods, earthquakes and tsunami were conducted by different departments.
Coping Strategy
Conventionally, Hyogo’s disaster management related departments estimated potential hazardous zones for natural disasters and information released to the public. To obtain the total picture of the potential disaster risks in local areas, however, it is necessary to obtain all relevant maps and integrate them into one map. Therefore, to allow citizens to obtain local areas’ disaster risk and hazard information, Hyogo made electronic maps available on its official website while managing the relevant maps in a centralized system. The damage estimation map, however, was not always realistic and it failed to promote citizens’ evacuation and disaster prevention activities.
Under these circumstances, Hyogo showed evacuation centres on the maps which will be useful for citizens’ evacuation plans. At the same time, Hyogo published aerial photographs and computer graphics-based tsunami videos on its official website for citizens to realize the disaster risks and the danger in an easy-to-understand manner. For those citizens who cannot access the Internet, Hyogo has been providing its hazard map data to municipal governments to be delivered to citizens. For example, Kobe City distributes booklets containing hazard maps to all its citizens every year.
Results
Since August 2005, Hyogo’s official website began to publish “CG Hazard Maps” containing disaster risk and hazard information with the location of evacuation centers in the form of centralized data management system.
Measuring Success
Since the first release of the CG Hazard Maps on its website, Hyogo has continued to improve the usability of the maps by adding new data. Following a major revision of the system in April 2011, the number of people accessing the website annually tripled to 244,000 in fiscal year 2013, compared to an annual average of 81,000 from 2006 to 2010. A survey of Hyogo citizens’ awareness conducted in fiscal year 2013 revealed that about half of the respondents know about the availability of the “CG Hazard Maps,” indicating that the maps are already popular among citizens.
Potential for Replication
With Internet and smartphone services now widely available in many countries in recent years, it is now highly feasible for local governments to prepare a database such as “CG Hazard Maps” to deliver disaster risk and hazard information comprehensively.
Contact Persons
Mr. Masahiko Murata – Director, Research Department
Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution (DRI)
1-5-2 Wakinohama-kaigandori, Chuo-ku, Kobe – 651-0073, Japan
Tel: +81-78-262-5065 / Fax: +81-78-262-5082
Mail: murata1@dri.ne.jp
Mr.Naoki Nakatsu – Chief, Disaster Management Project Planning Division,
Disaster Management & Planning Bureau
Civil Policy Planning & Administration Department
5-10-1 Shimoyamate-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, 650-8567, Japan
Tel: +81-78-362-9870 / Fax: +81-78-362-9914