Evaluating the Cost of Flood Damage Based on Changes in Extreme Rainfall in Japan

Conference paper

Abstract

The fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provoked a significant amount of controversy, as experts have sought to apply it to climate change in Japan. In particular, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Tourism (MLIT) organized a committee of experts responsible for implementing flood control policies (MLIT 2008). Japan is particularly vulnerable to flooding because of its steep geography and humid climate characterized by typhoons. Consequently, Japan has been coping with the problem of flood control for a long time (Takahasi and Uitto 2004). The number of floods, and, hence, the damage due to flooding, has increased since 2004. Even though these flood events may not be caused directly by climate change, many researchers are interested in the various problems of climate change and its broader implications for economic development.

Reprinted with permission of Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science from So Kazama et al., Sustain. Sci. 4(2009) 61–69. DOI 10.1007/s11625-008-0064-y

Keywords

Return Period Generalize Extreme Value Extreme Rainfall Flood Damage Damage Rate 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Global Environment Research Fund (S-4) of the Ministry of Environment, Japan. We would like to thank Professor Nobuo Mimura, Professor Kazuya Yasuhara, and Dr. Hiromune Yokoki of Ibaraki University for their valuable comments on adaptations. In addition, we are grateful to Mr. Soichiro Machida for his inundation modeling program, which he created while he was a graduate student at Tohoku University. Finally, we would also like to express special thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their comments on improving the quality of the paper.

References

  1. Cameron D (2006) An application of the UKCIP02 climate change scenarios to flood estimation by continuous simulation for a gauged catchment in the northeast of Scotland, UK (with uncertainty). J Hydrol 328:212–226CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Chow VT, Maidment DR, Mays LW (1988) Applied hydrology. McGraw-Hill, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  3. Cline WR (1992) The economics of global warming. Institute for International Economics, Washington, DCGoogle Scholar
  4. Dutta D, Herath S, Musiake K (2006) An application of a flood risk analysis system for impact analysis of a flood control plan in a river basin. Hydrol Process 20:1365–1384CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Gleick PH, Maurer EP (1990) Assessing the costs of adapting to sea level rise. A case study of San Francisco Bay. Mimeo, Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security and Stockholm Environment Institute, BerkeleyGoogle Scholar
  6. Haddad BM, Merritt K (2001) Evaluating regional adaptation to climate change: the case of California water. Adv Econ Environ Resour 3:65–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Ichikawa Y, Matsushita M, Hori T, Shiiba M (2007) Cost–benefit analysis of land use regulation strategy based on flood risk information. JSCE J Hydraulic Coast Environ Eng 63(1):1–15 (in Japanese)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate change 2007—impacts adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  9. Japan Meteorology Agency (JMA) (1988) Mesh climatic value of precipitationGoogle Scholar
  10. Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) (1999) Hydraulics formulae. Maruzen (in Japanese)Google Scholar
  11. Kay AL, Reynard NS, Jones RG (2006a) RCM rainfall for UK flood frequency estimation. I. Method and validation. J Hydrol 318:151–162CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Kay AL, Jones RG, Reynard NS (2006b) RCM rainfall for UK flood frequency estimation. II. Climate change results. J Hydrol 318:163–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Kazama S, Hagiwara T, Ranjan P, Sawamoto M (2007) Evaluation of groundwater resources in wide inundation areas of the Mekong River basin. J Hydrol 340:233–243CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Kazama S, Nagao M, Muto Y, Tada T (2002) Flood hydraulic analysis and prediction that considers land use. A river council joint research (in Japanese)Google Scholar
  15. Kitajima S, Ito T, Mimura N, Tsutuki Y, Izumi K (1993) Impacts of sea level rise and cost estimate of countermeasures in Japan. Vulnerability assessment to sea level rise and coastal zone management. In: Proceedings of the IPCC Eastern Hemisphere Workshop, Tsukuba, Japan, August 1993, pp 115–123Google Scholar
  16. Loukas A, Vasiliades L, Dalezios NR (2002) Potential climate change impacts on flood producing mechanisms in southern British Columbia, Canada using the CGCMA1 simulation results. J Hydrol 259:163–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) (2002) Crops statistics (in Japanese)Google Scholar
  18. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) (2005) The flood control economy investigation manual (proposed), River Bureau (in Japanese)Google Scholar
  19. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) (2004) Flood damage statistics of 2004, River Bureau (in Japanese)Google Scholar
  20. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) (2008) Interim report of adaptation of water related disasters for global warming (in Japanese)Google Scholar
  21. Mirza MMQ (2002) Global warming and changes in the probability of occurrence of floods in Bangladesh and implications. Glob Environ Change 12(2):127–138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Naess LO, Bang G, Eriksen S, Vevatne J (2005) Institutional adaptation to climate change: flood responses at the municipal level in Norway. Glob Environ Change 15(2):125–138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. National Land Information Office, MLIT (2007) Home page (in Japanese) at: http://nlftp.mlit.go.jp/ksj/
  24. Prudhomme C, Jakob D, Svensson C (2003) Uncertainty and climate change impact on the flood regime of small UK catchments. J Hydrol 277:1–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Stern N (2006) The economics of climate change. The Stern Review, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  26. Takahasi Y, Uitto JI (2004) Evolution of river management in Japan: from focus on economic benefits to a comprehensive view. Glob Environ Change 14:3–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Ushiyama M, Takara K (2003) Relationship between warm season precipitation and highest hourly and daily precipitation based on AMeDAS data. J Hydrol Water Resour 16(4):368–374 (in Japanese)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Wada K, Murase K, Tomisawa Y (2005) Research on assessment of change in precipitation characteristic according to global warming and flood and water shortage risk. Japan Society of Civil Engineers paper no. 796, pp 23–37 (in Japanese)Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Graduate School of Environmental StudiesTohoku UniversitySendaiJapan

Personalised recommendations