All-Hazards Approach at the Local Level in Japan

What kinds of responses to various hazards are seen at the community level? In Japan, not only are responses to hazards complicated and intertwined with various ministries and agencies, but also, especially in the case of natural disasters, there is a widespread belief that “it’s a disaster, so it can’t be helped” even in the case of compound disasters, and the reality is that hazards are not being discussed in combination. In this chapter, we use the July 2020 compound disaster in Ashikita Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, as a case study to summarize what hazard approach issues were highlighted in the affected area. This disaster was a compound disaster caused by a COVID-19 pandemic, a heavy rain disaster, and a factory explosion accident (one of the Natech cases), and was a case that required a hazard response that had never been experienced in Japan before. Based on interviews and a literature review, this study summarized the situation of response to the combined disaster from the standpoints of the government, residents, and companies, and examined what the issues are at the community level when considering the all-hazard approach. As a result, it became clear that there is currently no system in place to enable residents to recognize the risks of compound disasters that exist in the community, and that the risks that each department has control over are not integrated because the departments that deal with the risks are functioning in different ways due to the effects of stove-piped government. This is the reason why the current situation does not integrate the risks that each department has in its control. In attempting an all-hazards approach, risk communication among the government, companies, and residents is essential, and it is necessary to share the hazards in the community. Therefore, it is necessary to have a system to share hazards from a bird’s eye view of the entire region.