Heavy Rain! Flood Countermeasures! A Review of the 'River Disaster Prevention Information' Site
The River Disaster Prevention Information site has been renewed
When it rains heavily, aren't you worried about rivers flooding?
During this season, I am on alert for heavy rain, and the fire brigade (which also serves as a flood defense team) that manages the floodgates keeps a close eye on the telemeter during the rainy season.
"It's about to rain heavily, let's check the meter"when I looked, the site itself had been renewed.
It was renewed around March of this year. I didn't know lol
The new version is easier to use even for those not in charge of disaster prevention. It seems like it could be useful in various places such as homes, workplaces, and schools, so please check it out.
It's not simple, but
With anything new like this, "just use it and get used to it" is all there is to it.
I will post the operation instructions, but don't think too hard about it and just keep in mind that "there is a lot of information on here."
Frequently Asked Questions might be good to check.
The method is simple: "Free Search"
I simply typed the name of the river where I manage the floodgate into the search screen. "Kikuchi River," and then the observation station name hit.
Then, I open the observation station that starts with the river name "Kikuchi River."
It seems there are 53 water level, dam, and camera observation stations for the Kikuchi River. (I didn't know)
You can access it here. It might be a good idea to pin this page to your smartphone home screen as well. For 10-minute interval observation data, it is best to access it from the detailed information in the red frame below.
Since I use the 10-minute interval water level changes very frequently when on standby for flood defense during heavy rain, personally, I would prefer it to be displayed immediately rather than having to go through detailed information. I noticed a 'Past 1 Week' display in the top right, so I clicked it out of curiosity. Has this been upgraded? You can now view data from the past week. For flood defense purposes, real-time updates are the priority, but it can be useful for later records.
The display is slightly different on a smartphone. If you tap the observed values, you can see the rainfall and water levels at 10-minute intervals. I think I will use this more often.
Feature to check risks for your home
As someone who only ever looked at river water levels, I thought, 'This is great.'
It is now possible to register and 'Check risks for your home, etc.'
It is quietly helpful that you can register three locations. For example, you can prepare for disasters by registering three points such as your home, your parents' house, and your workplace. Of course, it seems more likely to be used on a smartphone, so I will post images using smartphone screenshots here.
Risk assessment. I feel like everyone at risk should just do this, but I wonder if awareness and utilization are still in the early stages...
If you have a river nearby that is at risk of flooding, why not try registering it?
However, looking at it this way, it has become much more convenient to use the renewed version. Since the rainy season is coming up, I want to make sure I raise my disaster prevention awareness!
[About this article]
As part of the 'Promotion of Online Services and Value Creation in Rural Areas' project by Locally Driven Labs (LDL), we are sharing information about online tools in this article. Members practicing in rural areas discuss their experiences using these online tools, which can also be used as reference material.
[Lab members wanted]
LDL (Locally Driven Labs) is a lab established by director Hitoshi Kinoshita, who has been working on management and community development across Japan for about 20 years. He is the author of books such as 'An Introduction to Regional Revitalization for Ordinary People Who Think Their Hometown is in Trouble,' 'The Reason Why Fukuoka City Became the Strongest City in Rural Japan,' 'The Complete Guide to Regional Revitalization,' and 'Profitable Towns Change Rural Areas.'