"Disaster archipelago Japan"-Would you like to review your preparations? ～ October 16 18:26
“I didn't expect myself to see this.”
These words are heard every time you interview a disaster site.
Even in the areas affected by Typhoon No. 19, such voices continue.
Over 16,000 houses were inundated by 6pm on the 16th. More than 1,600 buildings have been partially or partially destroyed.
Securing homes as the first step toward rebuilding lives.
But do you know that there is a possibility that reconstruction after a disaster will not work if you do not have “preparation” in advance?
It is a reality that everyone wants to know that is happening in the disaster area where many people lost their homes due to river flooding. (Okayama Broadcasting Station reporter Shuei Zhou)
Reconstruction of home with “Water damage compensation fire insurance”
As with Typhoon No. 19, this is the story of the heavy rain in West Japan last July when many houses were damaged by flooding.
In Maki-cho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, the river broke down and 30% of the town was submerged. There are about 5400 houses that are judged to be completely or partially destroyed.
Masaaki Hirano, who lives in the Nitta Minami housing complex, rebuilt the house in the same place as the completely destroyed house in December last year, five months after the heavy rain.
Immediately after the disaster, Mr. Hirano said he was at a loss as to how to rebuild his life. It was “insurance” that helped rebuild.
Mr. Hirano had fire insurance that compensated for flood damage.
About 30 years ago when I built my home, this insurance was a condition for mortgages. It is said that he was able to rebuild his home by using almost the entire amount of insurance money of about 10 million yen.
At that time, there was no inundation hazard map yet in Maki-cho, Kurashiki City, and Mr. Hirano was not aware that there was a risk of damage. As a result, I was saved by "unconscious preparation".
“If I didn't have insurance, I still couldn't rebuild my home. I felt the importance of preparing for risks.” (Mr. Hirano)
14 households decided to rebuild or rebuild their homes in this estate.
We were able to listen to 10 households including Mr. Hirano. Most of them testify that “we were able to rebuild because we had insurance for water damage compensation”.
Insurance cancellation Not enough funds for reconstruction
On the other hand, there is a person who can't raise money even with the same flood and can't rebuild it.
Mr. Manabu Moriya has been forced to evacuate in a “deemed temporary housing” for over a year.
My home is almost submerged. Mud spread and mud stuck throughout the house cannot be removed.
We want to rebuild, but even if we use various support systems or receive donations, we can cover up to 4 million yen. It is not far from the 15 million yen required to build a new house.
Actually, Moriya, like Mr. Hirano, was insured with fire insurance that compensated for flood damage at the time of extending his home.
But 15 years ago, it was canceled when the loan was paid off.
There is already a hazard map, and Moriya has seen it, but he seems to have canceled insurance without imagining that it will be damaged.
Moriya who will soon be 70 years old. The only way to rebuild your home is to continue to work as a truck driver.
“The only thing I remember from the hazard map is where the evacuation site is. I regret that I had to cancel my insurance, but now I can't do anything.”
At that time, 56 households lived at the Tsubota Town Association where Moriya lived, but only 7 households or 13% have decided to rebuild their homes.
Housing reconstruction is the key to regional recovery
A disaster-affected area where the presence or absence of insurance was largely related to securing housing reconstruction funds.
It was heavily involved not only in rebuilding individual lives, but also in regional reconstruction.
We have read all of the “Architectural Plan Summary Documents” submitted to Kurashiki City over the past year that are submitted when building a house. I investigated when and where new houses were built.
The red dot is the place where a new or newly built house has been decided.
There is a particularly deeply flooded area in Manbi-cho. * Looking at seven districts, 511 houses were newly built by the end of June.
If you look closely, you can see that there are places where points are dense and sparse.
What is it that makes the difference?
* "7 districts" = Kawabe, Iwata, Arii, Iwata, Shimo20,000, Ozaki, and my sister. A district that includes an area where Kurashiki City is surely inundated by 80 centimeters or more from the floor, and the buildings in it are determined to be totally destroyed
It was “the time when the district was established”. An aerial photograph of the same district. The left image was taken after 2007 and the right image was taken around 1975.
If you compare it, you can see that the densely populated areas were mostly rice fields and fields around 1975, but later developed as residential areas.
Kurashiki-shi Mami-cho has rapidly developed residential land development as a bed town from the end of Showa to the beginning of Heisei.
It was mostly in these places that the rate of progress on new construction was particularly high. Since it was a relatively new area, the repayment of the loan has not yet been completed, and as a result, it seems that there were many people who still had insurance.
Only 30% of water insurance coverage
However, there are not many people who have insurance in preparation for flood damage.
According to a survey conducted three years ago by the Cabinet Office, 44.5% of the respondents answered that “homes may be damaged by flooding within the next 10 years.” Only 31.1% of respondents answered that they have fire insurance and mutual aid to compensate for damages.
The reasons for those who have not taken insurance to compensate for damage to buildings are 43.4% because they think that floods do not occur, 17% that insurance premiums are high, It was 14.1%.
To connect information to “preparation”
So how can risk information be put into practice? The “hazard map” created and published by local governments plays an important role.
The blue and purple areas are expected to be flooded.
In the western Japan heavy rain, most of the affected areas were within the assumed disaster area shown on the hazard map.
It is useful information for planning disaster countermeasures, but when you try to investigate it, you can't deny the impression that you are out of reach.
Many local governments say that it is difficult to check anyway because it is in an incomprehensible place on the homepage or the letters are small.
Those who are not familiar with the land and those who are not good at computers should think so.
Last year, a survey conducted by a major non-life insurance company said that 72.3 respondents said they had never seen a hazard map or had never seen a hazard map near their homes. %. (June-July 2018 Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Co., Ltd. survey)
It seems that we can hear the opinion, "Tell me if you can tell me the risk of disaster."
In fact, with regard to tsunamis and landslide disasters, the “Estimation of important matters” conducted by real estate agents when buying and selling houses and signing rental contracts triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the 2014 landslide disaster in Hiroshima City assumed disasters. It is required by law to explain whether it is an area.
The decision to know the risks of disasters in advance and make a decision in the event of an emergency led to the legislation.
However, this is not the case with the floods that occur every year and inundation caused by inundation.
In June, Okayama Prefecture signed an agreement with an industry group made up of real estate agents and requested cooperation. The National Governor's Council also recommended the country to make it mandatory to explain the inundation risk.
However, the country has only reached a request for cooperation from industry associations and has not yet been made mandatory.
What can we do now based on the lessons learned from the frequent heavy rain disasters?
Professor Yuichi Tadano of Kyoto University Disaster Prevention Research Institute specializing in disaster risk points out that it is necessary to review the contents and usage of hazard maps.
The first point is the frequency of disasters assumed by the hazard map.
According to Prof. Nona, most local governments expect only floods that occur "once every 100 years" or "once every 200 years". However, it is said that it is difficult for the residents to feel “prepared” if they are communicated in these units.
“Risks that are longer than life are difficult to recognize as realistic, and some people think that they do n’t need to be caught by themselves. In order to make it a material, it is necessary to convey the risks that are more likely to occur and have a sense of urgency for residents. ''
The other point is "Review of information to be included in hazard maps and dissemination of utilization methods".
“By simply saying“ I ’m flooded here ”on the map, the residents do n’t know what to do. It may be better to include information that encourages you to participate in the event, or if you do not make use of the risk information in preparation, the hazard map is “Draw in the picture” I think it will be a time when the government, residents, and experts will work together to create a hazard map and think about countermeasures together. ”
Would you like to review your preparations?
The trouble of rebuilding homes is not limited to heavy rain disasters, but is also a major problem in areas affected by typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
In this typhoon No. 19, many lives were sacrificed, housing was lost, and support for reconstruction is indispensable.
I can't rebuild my home, and I can't go back to my hometown.
How hard and hopeless it is. I have been interviewing in the stricken area of western Japan for more than a year, and I have heard the painful heart from several people.
As long as you live in Japan on the “disaster archipelago”, you cannot escape from the risk of disaster. I want to ask you because people all over Japan are keenly aware of the horror of disaster.
“What risks are there in your place?”
“Are you really prepared for that?”