Swarm slide - debris flow disaster induced by extreme rainfall in Hiroshima, August 2014 and lessons learnt in urban designing

Abstract:

Hiroshima city was hit by swarm debris flows along a narrow, and linear-shaped rain band of 2 km x 10 km which appeared in the early morning of August 20, 2014. Most of the flows were induced by shallow slide in the upstream. This disaster claimed 74 death, although this city experienced very similar disaster in 1999, claiming more than 30 residents lives. In the most severely affected debris flow torrent, more than 50 residents were killed. Most of the casualties arose in the wooden, vulnerable houses constructed in front of the exit of torrents. Points and lessons learnt from the disaster are as follows:
1. Authors collected two types of sands from the source scar of the initial debris slides which induced debris flows. Tested by the ring shear apparatus under pore-pressure control condition, clear "Sliding surface liquefaction" was confirmed for both samples even under small normal stress, representing the small thickness of the slides. These results shows even instant excess pore pressure could initiate the slides and trigger slide-induced debris flow by
undrained loading onto the torrent deposits.
2. Apparently long-term land-use change since 1945 affected and raised the vulnerability of the community. Residential area had expanded into hill-slope (mountainous / semi-mountainous area) especially along the torrents. Those communities were developed on the past debris flow fan.
3. As the devastated area is very close to downtown of Hiroshima city, it gave large societal impact to the Japanese citizens. After 1999 Hiroshima debris flow disaster, the Landslide disaster reduction law which intends to promote designation of landslide potential risk zones, was adopted in 2000. Immediately after 2014 disaster, national diet approved revision of the bill to promote rapid completion of the designation over the national territory. MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Tranportation and Tourism) decided to install X-band rain radars at more sites to cover whole city zones of the country. However, narrow extreme rain bands or spots which can not be detected effectively, often appear these years. It means more rain gauges conncted to the net should be implemented at upstreams of the communities facing torrent exits and on debris fan.