Tokyo is building 'Super' Levees

When Katrina sent a 35 foot (11 meter) wall of water over Waveland on the Mississippi Gulf Coast levees surrounding New Orleans were overtopped and collapsed.

Tokyo, where we are now visiting, has its history of floods. Mumbai, [where we will visit Hume Churches and Maharashti Missions in March 2010, (missions begun by my great great grandfather)], also has had many floods. Tokyo, Mumbai, and New Orleans are all cities built on alluvial plains created by river deltas. Many coastal port cities have historically been developed at or below sea level across the globe. What was it then, after the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina that caused so many in the US to suggest that New Orleans should not be rebuilt because of its propensity for flooding? What do you think?

Sacramento, California, Lower Manhattan, the National Mall in Washington DC are but a few examples of cities in the US on the edge of enormous flooding disasters. But as we begin to contemplate the rise of seas globally, what will happen to port cities? How do we prepare?

Unlike New Orleans, Tokyo had begun to rethink its development in terms of flooding and put in place long term comprehensive flood plans before catastrophic flood disasters occurred in the modern climate change era. Tokyo is building 'Super Levees.' "Japanese cities are quite susceptible to floods. Most populations and property, and therefore most damage, concentrate on alluvial plains." Japan is the disaster capital of the world. Flooding, Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Typhoon, Volcanoes, and Terrorism are all part of the disaster mitigation planning going on here. In Tokyo, neighborhood maps include safety zones where people are protected from most forms of disaster (human is the most unpredictable). What is it in Japan that makes good city planning so doable? While the disasters are surely motivation enough, what we keep discovering is that the answers run deeper to the fundamental organizational qualities of the Japanese.

The other morning we had an earthquake here in Tokyo. No body was too shook up about it. Then today at Imperial Palace, some of the most delicate displays had wire strings holding them in place. For what? Earthquakes no doubt. In Japan, even the Emperor is planning for disaster.

Want to learn more about how effective levee protections are planned and built?