Publication of Collection of Critical Situation
during Flood Emergency Response
(Main Content: local government response and Appendix:
local government response under COVID-19)

ICHARM has published a booklet entitled “Collection of Critical Situations during Flood Emergency Response,” aiming to improve the emergency response capacities of local governments for more effective management of flood disasters, which frequently occur across Japan in recent years.

The collection consists of the main content, “local government response,” and an appendix, “local government response under COVID-19.” It is downloadable in PDF file format.

Main Content （both sides） Main Content（double-page）	Appendix: local government response under COVID-19

Several local governments in Japan have recently published after-action review reports (post-disaster reports), in which they review their emergency response during a disaster and identify lessons to improve their efforts based on their disaster experience. These reports often include valuable suggestions for other local governments to improve their emergency response for future disasters.

Defining critical situations in which local government officers have a hard time making sensible decisions because they panic, don’t know what to do, are confused or in dilemma, etc., during an emergency response effort, ICHARM collected typical critical situations from the review reports of past flood disasters. The booklet features 28 cases of critical situations, each printed on a two-page spread with lessons to assist local government officers in taking more practical measures.

Also provided with the booklet is “Appendix for local government response under COVID-19,” which lists 28 possible critical situations and necessary countermeasures during flood emergency response under COVID-19.

The appendix refers to several guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, and “A guideline for the creation of countermeasures against flood disasters during a pandemic situation (COVID-19)”, which was co-authored by Associate Professor KOYAMA Maki of Gifu University and Professor KANBARA Sakiko of the University of Kochi. (This publication is also available from this link.)

Since no local governments have ever experienced flood emergency response under COVID-19, this publication aims to provide some hints for them to plan necessary countermeasures considering their needs and situations, including the prevalence of the disease among the residents.

We hope that this publication can help local government officers to cope with disasters, not as something distant from their reality but as their immediate problem, and enhance the response capacity of their organizations against disasters.

The contents of the Collection of Critical Situations are based on the analysis of experiences in disasters that occurred by the time of its publication and will be updated at any time with new findings and information.