IFNet_Newsletter_April 2012

IFNet Newsletter October 2012 issue
October 5, 2012 / IFNet secretariat

FLOOD NEWS

1. Water-related disasters in the world
1-1 Flood in Philippines
Flooding, landslide, mudflow and collapse of structure occurred in Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas regions since typhoon Saola hit Philippines on 28th of July and heavy monsoon rain followed the typhoon. According to NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council) reports published on 7th and 9th of August, typhoon Saola and heavy monsoon rain caused 72 deaths and 8 missing.
Philippines NDRRMC UPDATE No.22(PDF)
Philippines NDRRMC UPDATE No.05(PDF)

1-2 Flood in South Korea and North Korea
Typhoon Bolaven reached the Korean peninsula between 28th and 29th of August and produced strong wind, flood, landslides etc., leaving 16 deaths in South Korea and 48 deaths in North Korea. The second typhoon Tembin hit the Korean peninsula on 30th of August added 2 more deaths caused by landslide etc.
reliefweb N. Korea says typhoon killed 48 people
CNN Bolaven leaves at least 16 dead as it plows past Korean Peninsula
Asia News Network Typhoon Tembin hits South Korea

1-3 Flash flood in Pakistan
Flash floods and collapses of houses by monsoon heavy rain started from about 8th of September caused 102 deaths and 159 injured by September 12. Affected areas include Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces and Kashmir state in Pakistan. More than 5,000 houses were damaged.
rediff NEWS Flash floods in Pakistan kill 80
reliefweb Rain, flash floods kill 78 in Pakistan: officials
reliefweb Detail of damages due to rains (12 September, 2012)

1-4 Flood in Niger
Torrential rains which have been continued since August triggered flooding in the Niger River and inundated wide areas of the country including the capital Niamey. The floods killed 92 people and affected more than 510,000 people as of September 30. There is the cholera epidemic in Tillabéry region and more than 80 deaths and 3,671 cases were confirmed as of August 28.
Afriquejet Niger floods kill at least 92 people
OCHA Niger: Heavy rains and floods force more than 400,000 people from their homes
IOL NEWS 52 dead after Niger flood
IFRC Niger: Floods

1-5 Flash flood and landslide in India-Uttarakhand
Two torrential rains occurred between 13th and 16th of September triggered flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand, Northern India. Death toll of incidents is 52 in Rudraprayag district and 9 in Bageshwar district as of September 18.
reliefweb India landslide death toll jumps to 45: minister
reliefweb 28 dead in India landslides: rescuers
reliefweb Toll mounts to 43 in Uttarakhand cloudburst
THE TIMES OF INDIA Sonia Gandhi's visit to cloudburst-hit areas of Uttarakhand cancelled

1-6 Flash flood and landslide in India-Sikkim and Assam
Heavy downpours started at least from 19th of September resulted in flash floods and landslides in Sikkim and floods in Assam. Death toll rose to 27 in Sikkim as of September 24 while 18 deaths and over 384,000 people evacuated were reported in Assam on 26th of September.
INDIA TODAY Flash floods, landslides hit North-East; 21 dead in Sikkim, over 7 lakh affected in Assam
FIRSTPOST.INDIA North-east flood toll 30, North Sikkim completely cut off
IBN Live Assam floods: situation still grim, 18 dead, over 17 lakh affected

1-7 Flash flood in Spain
At least 10 deaths including 5 children were confirmed by September 29 after torrential rain started on 28th of September triggered flash floods in Southern Spain. Malaga, Almeria and Murcia are some of the most affected areas by the flash floods and at least 600 people were forced to evacuate. The floods disrupted train services and closed roads and bridges. A tornado passed through a fairground in Gandia in Spain on 28th of September, resulting in 35 people injured.
BBC Spain floods: Ten die in Malaga, Almeria and Murcia

2. Support of JICA Tsukuba training course
JICA Tsukuba training course “Water related disaster management (preparedness, mitigation and reconstruction) in Asian region” supported by IDI was conducted for four weeks from 19th August 2012. The training course provided lectures about comprehensive knowledge and techniques for water related disaster risk reduction including disaster prevention, emergency response, flood control, public participation, etc. Trainees also learned from field trips including damaged areas of East Japan Great Earthquake and Tsunami and their reconstruction, latest flood control facilities such as Super Levee and Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, and River Offices. Trainees are going to submit the final reports with showing their first actions in their countries in February next year. By using the knowledge and information acquired during this training course, the trainees are expected to promote actions in terms of disaster prevention and mitigation in each country.

3. Implementation of tsunami disaster management
During one year after the outbreak of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japanese government had developed a legal framework and technical standard in order to alleviate the tsunami disaster damage. The following are the laws/policies developed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
1. Tsunami countermeasure promotion law
2. Basic concept for the restoration of damaged coastal levee
3. Proposal for the criteria for issuing tsunami warning and content of information
4. The law regarding “Construction of tsunami-resistant society”

One of the lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake is “There is no upper limit in disaster scale” and it is important to continue the effort to reduce the damage to human life, industry and economic as less as possible. In addition to taking disaster prevention measures, it is necessary to create more strong society against natural disaster by newly establishing legal framework and technical standard as mentioned above.

More details are reported in the free quarterly journal “IDI Quarterly”
URL: http://www.idi.or.jp/tech/quarterly/idi60.pdf

-------------------------

IFNet is an open network, purpose of the activities is to share experiences and information on flood issues. We look forward to your active participation and flood related information to be shared among participants. Please email to the IFNet secretariat for contact.

INTERNATIONAL FLOOD NETWORK (IFNet) secretariat
Website: http://www.internationalfloodnetwork.org/index.html
E-mail: info@internationalfloodnetwork.org
Tokyo, Japan
October 2012