What is the "mysterious soil" that attacks the house?

September 21, 21:19

The piled up "mountain of soil" suddenly collapses and attacks the house.

Where did the "soil" come from and who loaded it?

Not to mention the inhabitants, the administration cannot be grasped.

Some are left unattended, knowing that there is a high risk of collapse.

Such a situation is happening all over the country.

(Embankment Problem Coverage Group News Bureau Social Affairs Department Reporter Yui Uchiyama

Production Bureau Second Production Unit Director Naofumi Yamamoto)

The "mountain" suddenly collapsed on a sunny day

"I'm still unable to stay at home. I'd like you to do something about it."

We were investigating cases of embankment collapse nationwide in the wake of the debris flow in Atami City, where 26 people died in July

.

Learned that there was damage in Chiba and contacted a woman.

Fumie Akiyama speaks in a tired voice over the phone.

It was said that the earth and sand behind his house suddenly collapsed and he had been evacuating for three months.

Immediately I made a promise and visited Tako Town, Chiba Prefecture, where Mr. Akiyama lives.

Then.

There was a huge mass of soil.

It may be more appropriate to describe it as "mountain" rather than "fill".

The photo shows Mr. Akiyama's current situation in front of his home.

Even after about three months, the collapsed slope was still exposed.

"I heard that it will be removed during the typhoon season, but it's still in this situation. I don't know what to do anymore.

" He told me about the day when the typhoon collapsed.

"It's going to be a big deal! Escape early!"

Mr. Akiyama was resting at home after mowing the garden on June 9.

A passerby changed his blood phase and jumped in.

When I hurried out, the "mountain" behind me collapsed and the earth and sand passed by the house.

As we learned later, the amount of sediment that collapsed is at least 4000 cubic meters.

It is about 7 cups of 25-meter pool.

The earth and sand pushed out the water from the pond in front of the "mountain" and then flowed into the prefectural road.

The surrounding area was covered with dark brown earth and sand, and loaches and crayfish were scattered around.

Fortunately, Mr. Akiyama's home was spared, but the house where the vegetables were grown was washed away and the flowers were buried in the mud.

I am still forced to live in an accommodation rented by the town hall because of the danger of it collapsing again.

Fumie Akiyama

"I felt like I was in a dream, and I was completely white. If I made a mistake, my life and my house would have been ruined. I never thought it would be terrible so far. "

It was the "fill" that collapsed

According to Mr. Akiyama, the place where the "mountain" is located was originally a rice field.

It is said that about 15 years ago, dump trucks actively carried in earth and sand and began to fill it with heavy machinery.

The "fill" has gradually increased and has been piled up more rapidly in the last year or two.

Mr. Akiyama, who felt uneasy, said that once the local residents appealed to the government, the delivery stopped, but after a few months, it resumed.

And this time, Mr. Akiyama's anxiety became a reality.

We visited the Tako Town Hall.

Then, the person in charge explained, "The administrative limit to the regulation of embankment."

What exactly does that mean?

According to the town, it is believed that what was brought in was the soil generated at the construction site, the so-called "construction surplus soil."

The town enforced an ordinance to regulate embankment by "construction surplus soil" three years ago, and allowed embankment of 500 square meters or more.

However, the contractor claimed that the embankment was less than 500 square meters and was "not covered by the ordinance."

The town repeatedly instructed the embankment to exceed the regulations, but the contractor continued to make the embankment without permission.

The contractor did not provide an accurate record and the town did not know where the earth and sand came from.

Successive "collapse of embankments" What is your city?

When I looked it up, the embankment collapsed one after another in various places.

In August, the embankment collapsed due to heavy rain in Otsu City.

Due to the sediment that has flowed out, the nearby road is still partially closed as of September 20th.

In the last 10 years, some people have died in Yokohama, Osaka, Kishiwada, etc. due to the collapse of the embankment and its effects.

We conducted a questionnaire to prefectures in order to understand the actual situation nationwide.

The result.

There have been 44 collapses of embankments in 16 prefectures in the last 24 years.

It was also found that there were 512 cases in 32 years of administrative guidance on inappropriate embankments such as illegally carrying in earth and sand or illegally dumping in violation of regulations.

The answers "Under investigation" and "Understanding" are also conspicuous, and it is thought that there are actually more.

How is the embankment managed?

Why are there so many inappropriate embankments?

We decided to look from the rules of management.

In the first place, the soil produced at construction sites is regarded as a "resource" and is not treated as garbage.

Therefore, it is not possible to apply the Waste Management Law, which has strict rules.

However, when filling the embankment, the law stipulates the rules according to the purpose.

For example, the "Agricultural Land Law" requires the conversion of agricultural land, and the "Regulation Law for Residential Land Development, etc." for residential areas requires the height of embankments, the angle of slopes, and the installation of drainage facilities. is.

For this reason, some local governments, such as Tako Town, have established regulatory rules in their ordinances.

Why is it possible to create an embankment that does not follow the rules?

Then a question came up.

Why is improper embankment done when there are ordinances?

During the interview, I heard many times from the person in charge of the local government and the residents that "some companies do not respond properly".

When I tried to interview and was rejected repeatedly for about a month, I came across a Kanto contractor who said "I can answer."

"At my place, everything from transportation to disposal is fraudulent. It's cheap." The

first man to talk about was money.

According to this contractor, the cost of collecting the construction surplus soil is about 25,000 yen for one dump truck.

If you deduct fuel costs, highway tolls (about 17,000 yen), labor costs and insurance premiums from that, the profits you have will be small.

For this reason, it is an argument that the embankment is being continued without permission.

The trader was once fined for violating the ordinance.

He insisted that he was still continuing for his life.

So we asked him:

"Shouldn't we get permission properly? Is the embankment you made really okay? Isn't there a risk of killing people like Atami?" The

man replied after thinking for a while.

"I don't know. I know I'm not disposing of it properly."

Thorough guidance Why can't you?

If the vendor doesn't follow the rules, it's clear that regulations should be tightened to do so.

However, it is said that there are circumstances in which the crackdown cannot be thoroughly enforced when interviewing the local government again.

One is the limit of the ordinance.

The maximum penalty under the ordinance is 2 years in prison and a fine of 1 million yen under the Local Autonomy Law.

Many local governments believe that even if the ordinance regulates embankments, there is a limit to the deterrent that can stop the violation.

The other is "manpower".

For example, in Tako Town, the four people in the Living Environment Division are mainly in charge of guidance and measures such as embankment.

Both are in charge of other tasks.

We take turns checking the safety of the embankment and monitoring the soil carried by the dump truck on Saturdays and Sundays, but it is said that there is a limit to how many people can handle it.

Some of the companies that violated the ordinance said, "In prefectures where regulations have become stricter, they were not thrown away and were brought here."

Town official

"A response from only one local government will not lead to a drastic solution. I want you to make a law and regulate it uniformly nationwide."

What was the country doing?

The situation caused by repeated "see-off"

There are a series of collapses all over the country, and some companies do inappropriate embankment knowing that it is a violation.

If there is a limit to the response of the local government alone, we cannot help but cover the response of the national government.

We scrutinized the minutes of a committee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism considering the treatment of construction surplus soil used for embankment, and meetings of several ministries and agencies established in response to a large-scale collapse accident.

In the discussions at that time, attendees pointed out the need for legislation, but the government eventually enacted the law, saying that it could be dealt with by existing laws and ordinances or that it was not a national issue. I can see that he has been sent off.

A bureaucrat involved in the debate told the interview that "the law became unnecessary without conducting a national survey, but if it was made, the damage to Atami could have been prevented."

A situation occurred in which lives were lost without the national legislation being put in place.

Expert "Now is the time for legislation"

Professor Toshitaka Kamai of Kyoto University, who has been investigating embankments for many years, points out the need for structural reforms to manage the soil.

Professor Toshitaka Kamai, Kyoto University

"We need a mechanism to track where the soil was put out and who brought it to where. I've connected to the case. now is the time in the determination to cut off the root of the problem, want "to expect the enactment of the law in the country

in the" on the other hand, is a costly to manage, inappropriate fill is loath this Since the number is increasing, it is necessary to change the consciousness not only from the disposal company but also from the development and use of the land to bear the necessary costs. "

I can't pretend not to see it anymore

One day, suddenly, soil was placed near the house, leaving him unaware of the danger of collapse.

In this interview, I felt the fear that it is actually happening.

On the other hand, considering that the roads and facilities that we usually use also produce soil, it is by no means irrelevant.

Now that the frequency of heavy rains is increasing and there is concern that the risk of collapse will increase, I strongly believe that we need to know more about the “soil” in front of us.

What if you find an embankment that interests you?

If the amount of embankment that is improperly piled up increases, it may take time to respond.

If you find an embankment or earth and sand that you are interested in, please contact your city or prefecture first.

Production Bureau Second Production Unit Director

Naofumi Yamamoto

Joined in 2008

After working at the Matsue Bureau, he currently belongs

to the production of documentary programs such as professionals.

Social part disaster in charge

Uchiyama Hiroshiiku

2011. He joined

now belongs news bureau society part through the Osaka stations

mainly the fire brigade and renewable energy theme to interview

the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in charge from August