TCAR - Typhoon Committee

56
ESCAP/WMO
Typhoon Committee Annual Review 2009
clarifying the point at which evacuation is required.
The synergetic effects of these efforts are expected
to lead to voluntary and rapid evacuation when
necessary.
The year 2009 marks the final part of a three-year
extension of these efforts. The WS, which was held in
Cebu in the Philippines as a pre-meeting on September
13 and as a WHG workshop from September 14 to 18,
confirmed the related activities undertaken over the
past eight years and also discussed the draft final
report for the whole project. First, Japan, which has
provided leadership in the FHM project, outlined the
activities of member countries and highlighted the
key achievements of the project. In response, China,
the Philippines, Vietnam and other members made
comments to reflect latest efforts of each country.
After the workshop, each country confirmed the
content of the final report, and participating members
presented knowledge and obtained know-how from
each other. The achievements of the FHM project
include actual recommendations for water-related
disaster prevention.
The lessons learned from the project were
summarized as follows in the final report:
I. Effectiveness of FHM
1) FHM is an essential countermeasure to reduce
flood damage at national/local/individual level.
2) FHM can be effective within shorter-period of time,
while structural measures such as embankment or
dams need a longtime to be constructed.
3) The most suitable FHM for a certain area can be
built-up, combining topographic
map, past flood investigation, inundation analysis and
required data.
II. Role of the central government
1) To reduce human/economic losses, FHM should
acquire a primary position in national disaster
prevention policy.
2) Through the FHM project, a right perception on
supposed disaster and facilities’ capacity shall be
recognized in local society.
3) For popularization of FHM, the central government
is expected to set up a legal
regulation, immediate target and technical domestic
support system.
III. Action in local community
1) Local government/NGO shall connect flood fighting
services and residents by FHM, and brush it up by
referring to many activities in other regions.
2) Residential collaborative action of information/
experience sharing is a key factor of FHM to ensure
the local livelihood sustainability.
3) FHM work may become a culture to live in floodprone
area through identification of
area-specific dangers, resources and warning
messages.
(KRA1, 2, 6, 7)
f. Identified Opportunities/Challenges for Future
Achievements/Results
6. Progress on Key Result Area 6: Improved
Capacity to Generate and Provide Accurate, Timely
and understandable Information on Typhoonrelated
Threats.
a. Meteorological Achievements/Results
a-1. Improvement of Observation Systems
Radar observation
Five Conventional Radars Replaced with Doppler
Radars by JMA JMA operates 20 weather radars
that are designed to collectively cover the whole
areas around Japan to observe the development of
precipitation systems three dimensionally, and in 2006
JMA began replacements of conventional radars with
new Doppler radars. By April 2010, 5 conventional
radars, those at Sapporo, Fukui, Osaka, Hiroshima
and Ishigakijima, will be newly replaced with Doppler
radars in addition to the existing 11 Doppler radars
that are already operating. After April 2010, the
network of those 16 Doppler radars will contribute to
disaster prevention through the provision of detailed
meteorological information about strong wind and
through the incorporation of the data into Numerical
Weather Prediction to give more accurate products.
Interval of Weather Radar Observation Shortened
In response to the extensive damage caused by a
series of local heavy rains in many parts of Japan
during the summer of 2008, JMA shortened the
observing interval of weather radars from 10 to 5
minutes in July 2009 with the aim of early detection
of developing precipitation cells which may bring local
heavy rainfall. This shortening was made possible after
we reorganized the scan sequence of each of the 20
countrywide weather radars, and as a result we can
produce the nationwide radar-echo composite maps
every 5 minutes. Those maps are used in real-time by