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Delays in Evacuation Orders Led to Deaths of Elderly in Typhoon
By Mainichi Shimbun, Japan
October 22, 2004
In nine of the 20 typhoon-hit prefectures, the Meteorological Agency warned that the risk of landslides have risen to the highest level in several years.
In Hyogo Prefecture, at least six municipalities failed to issue evacuation orders to areas where casualties were later reported.
The municipal government of Sumoto on Awaji Island had recommended by 2 p.m. on Wednesday that 910 households along the Sumoto River and other areas flee their homes and take shelter at public places, but not in areas where four elderly people either died or went missing.
In Ehime Prefecture, local governments did not issue such recommendations in areas where five people died.
In the prefecture city of Shikoku-Chuo, a 69-year-old man and his 70-year-old wife were buried alive after their home was hit by a landslide. It was subsequently learned that the Shikoku-Chuo Municipal Government, which was set up by merging four municipalities only six months ago, failed to notify the prefectural government of disaster-prone areas.
The Tamano Municipal Government in Okayama Prefecture issued evacuation recommendations to the entire city on Wednesday afternoon, some 40 minutes after a local fire station received a report that Kenji Uemizo, 52, was buried alive after his house was crushed by a landslide. He was subsequently found dead.
Yoshimatsu Watanabe, 71, was piling up sandbags in a bid to prevent a mountain landslide behind his home in Kokufu, Gifu Prefecture, on Wednesday night when it gave way and buried him alive. By that time, the local government had issue an evacuation recommendation. He was later found dead.
Some people died after going out to see whether property was damaged by the typhoon.
Hisanobu Shimizu, 80, left his home in Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture, at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday after telling his family that he would check a nearby bridge, only to plunge into a river.
"He wouldn't have died if he hadn't had gone out," an official of a local police station said.
A 64-year-old resident of Inami, Wakayama Prefecture, went missing after going out to inspect his boat at its mooring. Police fear that he was swept away by high waves. In Ibara, Okayama Prefecture, a 75-year-old farmer remains missing after leaving home to see how his rice paddy was affected by the typhoon.
In the 13 typhoon-hit prefectures, heavy rains caused casualties in 40 municipalities.
In 38 of these municipalities, the typhoon brought about 100 to 199 millimeters of rain to six cities, 200 to 299 millimeters to 15 administrative districts and about 500 millimeters to one city by Thursday midnight. No data are available for the two other cities.
In 36 of the administrative districts, the amount of rain brought by the typhoon was well above the average rainfall in October. In 27 municipalities, the amount of rainfall was at least twice the figures for the average monthly rainfall in October.
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