Tokyo: An increasing number of municipalities in Japan are promoting digital transformation for disaster prevention using artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge digital technologies.

With damage caused by torrential rains and typhoons becoming more severe, local governments aim to ensure the safety of residents by obtaining weather data promptly and providing accurate information useful for disaster prevention.

The use of digital technologies is also intended to reduce burdens of local government workers involved in disaster management.

In fiscal 2022, the land ministry conducted demonstration tests to detect flooding using small sensors installed on electricity poles and beside waterways with five municipalities as well as nonlife insurance and other companies.

In the city of Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, 39 sensors were placed mainly in urban areas that had flooding in the past.

They successfully detected rises in water levels with high precision.

“We’ve confirmed that we can assess situations in urban areas even without on-site inspections by our workers,” a city official said.

This year, Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward started receiving weather and river information from a private weather information service provider.

The information is posted on the ward’s special website, allowing residents to check weather data and degrees of disaster risk online anytime.

“The data also help improve the disaster response capabilities of our workers who are not disaster prevention specialists,” an official of the ward said.

The city of Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, in February practiced confirming the safety of residents in need of help for evacuation using a chatbot, or an interactive app that simulates human conversation, on the free messaging service Line.

The chatbot, using AI technology, was jointly developed by state-affiliated research institutions and Weathernews Inc.

A municipality in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, has tested an AI-based evacuation assistance system that suggests actions residents should take by analyzing information they provide.

Tatsuya Unozawa, a weather forecaster at Weathernews, who participated in the development of the chatbot, underlined the significance of digital transformation in disaster prevention, saying that the change will enable local governments to exchange information instantly with their residents.

“Weather information is also disaster prevention information,” he said.

In many municipalities, workers who evaluate disaster situations and those calling on residents to evacuate are different, a factor that may impede the smooth provision of accurate information.

“Digital transformation in disaster prevention can be a means of bridging information gaps among disaster management workers at municipalities,” Unozawa said.

JIJI Press