Severe Weather Takes Lives

Typhoon Halong, the eleventh of this year, left a great damage on Japan in the first half of this month, in spite of its medium size of power. The main reason of the damage was Halong’s extremely slow move. Hard rain was concentrated in some specific areas, causing floods and landslides. Most sufferers were amazed with the unprecedented severe weather. Even the government cannot deny the effect of climate change, which it is reluctant to tackle with.

The most devastated area by Halong was Kochi prefecture. Over two hundred houses suffered from river floods, and agricultural damage amounted to ¥1.5 billion. It slammed the land of Japan from the south to the north for a week. The Meteorological Agency found a phenomenon called rain band, in which a typhoon produced a line of cumulonimbus along with whirlpool of cloud around the eye of storm. While leaving heavy rain in Kochi area, Halong also damaged Kanto region, hundreds of miles away from Kochi.

When Halong was reaching Japan, there was a tragedy stemmed from weather in Kanagawa prefecture. A car with four families was drowned by unexpected flush of water when it was crossing a river to escape from camping site on a sandbank. Three out of the four was found dead a mile away from the site. While media reports has been seeking responsibility of administrator of the camping site, risk of camping on the sandbank was well-known by users. Fundamental problem was that impact of weather was getting unpredictable.

Meteorological Agency admits influence of climate change. It realized growing frequency of rains with one hundred millimeters a day last one hundred years. “A view in the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which realized frequent heavy rains in the region of middle and high latitude, does not contradict with already observed heavy rains in Japan,” told the agency. Most cities in Japan are basically vulnerable to rains with over a hundred millimeters a day.

Shinzo Abe administration abandoned an ambitious goal to reduce emission of carbon dioxide by 25% by 2020. It showed less serious attitude toward tackling climate change. Some manufacturers argue investing for climate change will damage Japanese economy. But, severe weather already harmed agriculture and infrastructure. The government needs to shift its priority from carbon emitting heavy industry to balanced distribution of wealth for sustainable economic growth.