Japan sends in troops after deadly typhoon floods towns, threatens more damage

Japan certainly has a track record for geological, meteorological and manmade disasters. This looks horrific. I hope this is the extent of the destruction now, and no more to come.
 
Following the Isewan typhoon in 1959 with a dead toll of 5000, Japan started building a protective infrastructure against flooding from rivers and the sea. Unfortunately, the intensity of Asian tropical cyclones has intensified about 25% in the last decades and many dyke can`t withstand the largely increased volumes of water anymore as it had happened now.

Added to this comes the enormous increase in the prize for building land that forces many people, especially the older and young families with low incomes, to live in the hazard areas close to rivers. Also, most of the agricultural areas are located there due to the mountainous geography of Japan with only 27% of its area in flat basins.

We can only hope that the government will increase the spending on protective measures and infrastructure. Otherwise, rising sea-level and further increase of rain will most probably trigger more events like this.

We had closely followed the situations of friends who live in areas that were hard hit by the typhoon and everybody there was safe.
 
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