The 44th session of Typhoon Committee

The 44th session of Typhoon Committee was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in China from February 6 to 11, 2012.

Participating countries reported their annual activities on the first day of the General Assembly. The delegate from Japan reported on three fields: hydrology (presenter: Mr. Yamashita, Director of the Land Conservation Division, Sabo Department, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism); meteorology (presenter: Mr. Nishide, Director General of the Forecast Department, Japan Meteorological Agency); and disaster prevention (presenter: disaster prevention department in the Cabinet Office of the government of Japan (presented by the Japan Meteorological Agency as a substitute)). As topics related to erosion control, Mr. Yamashita reported on sediment-related hazards in the Kii Peninsula that were caused by Typhoon Talas, 2011, emergency investigations conducted based on the revised Sediment-related Disasters Prevention Law, a massive landslide monitoring and alert system in the Kii Peninsula, and the dispatch of pump trucks and relief activities carried out by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to combat the floods in Thailand.

After the final agreement in the half-day meetings held separately by working groups (meteorology, hydrology, and disaster risk reduction) on February 8 and 9, the chairman of each working group reported the progress of each project and future plans in the general assembly. Mr. Kamoto, the chairman of the WGH and chief researcher at ICHARM, presented reports on the Debris-flow Hazard Mapping Project (project leader: Researcher Hayashi of the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) that the Sabo and Landslide Technical Center(STC),Japan is also supporting, and the project for Estimation for Socio-Economic Impact of sediment-related disaster(project leader: Researcher Hayashi, expected duration: 2013-2015) which was proposed as a continuous project. These reports were approved in the assembly.

Mr. Kondo of the Planning Division of STC gave a detailed report on debris-flow hazards that occurred in the Kii Peninsula during Tyhoon Talas and responses to them in the science and engineering lecture in which presenters talked about individual topics on February 7.