Support for Farmland Restoration Through Mutual Assistance After  Flood Disasters in Hilly and Mountainous Areas – Cases of the Cities of Yame and Ukiha Affected by the Torrential  Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012 –

Kazuo Asahiro; Masakazu Tani; Hiroyuki Kanekiyo

doi:10.20965/jdr.2015.p0794

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JDR Vol.10 No.5 pp. 794-806

(2015)

doi: 10.20965/jdr.2015.p0794

Paper:

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Support for Farmland Restoration Through Mutual Assistance After Flood Disasters in Hilly and Mountainous Areas – Cases of the Cities of Yame and Ukiha Affected by the Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012 –

Kazuo Asahiro, Masakazu Tani, and Hiroyuki Kanekiyo

Department of Environment Design, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University
4-9-1 Shiobaru, Minamiku, Fukuoka 815-8540, Japan

Received:

May 15, 2015

Accepted:

July 26, 2015

Published:

October 1, 2015

Keywords:

flood disaster, agricultural land, hilly and mountainous area, disaster volunteer

Abstract

A considerable amount of farmland was destroyed by a flood disaster that struck in 2012 in Yame and Ukiha, in Fukuoka prefecture in the northern part of the island of Kyushu, Japan. This paper is a case study of the volunteer farmland restoration activities that were carried out in the hilly and mountainous areas after the flood. The purpose of this study is to outline the activities in three regions and to show the character of the volunteer farmland restoration groups. Interview surveys were conducted with the manager of each volunteer group, and data on the process of forming volunteer groups, the monthly process and distribution of activities, facilities requirements, and intermediaries between affected farmers and volunteer activities were collected in field surveys. The surveys were carried out from June to September, 2014. It was found that conservation activities were carried out in the three regions starting the year before the disaster. It is notable that Sansonjyuku, a NPO established in 1994, launched their activities in July, the month in which disaster struck. Activity areas by Sansonjyuku were unevenly distributed due to their experiences with volunteer activities in previous years. The other groups widely covered their areas because they carried out needs research on all local districts through ward mayors. Fifty percent to 75.9% support activities were intermediated by someone, and the ward mayors fulfilled this role more than 50% of the time.

Cite this article as:

K. Asahiro, M. Tani, and H. Kanekiyo, “Support for Farmland Restoration Through Mutual Assistance After Flood Disasters in Hilly and Mountainous Areas – Cases of the Cities of Yame and Ukiha Affected by the Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012 –,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.10 No.5, pp. 794-806, 2015.

Data files:

References

[1] Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, Commitiee of making society of mutual aid, “Kyoujyo Syakai Dukuri ni Mukete,” May 27, 2013.
[2] R. Ito, et al., “Disaster Volunteer Activities for Supporting Rural Areas in Mie Prefecture,” J. Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering, Vol.77, No.11, pp. 881-884, 2009.
[3] K. Asahiro, et al., “Research into the distribution of damage to farmland in Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, from the heavy rains in the northern part of Kyushu in 2012, and difficulties for the recovery,” J. Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, Vol.77, No.5, pp. 649-654, 2014.
[4] Japan Meteorological Agency, News Releases, “The naming of torrential rain that occoured in northern Kyushu from July 11 to 14,” July 15, 2012.
[5] Fukuoka Regional Headquarters of Japan Meteorological Agency, “Disaster weather urgent news in northern Kyushu in Jul, 2012,” p. 3, 2012.
[6] “Ukiha official Record of torrential rain disaster in northern Kyushu in July, 2012,” the general affairs section of city of Ukiha, p. 3, 80, 2014.
[7] The promotion conference on agriculture restoration in Yame from torrential rainfall in northern Kyushu consisits from City of Yame, an agricultural cooperative of Fukuoka, Fukuoka prefecture Chikugo office of agriculture and forestry diffusion center, and the comittiee of agriculture of Yame. It was established at the general meeting in October 15, 2012 for early agriculture restoration and vigourous rural community revitalization affected immence damage.
[8] The dialogues on agricultural volunteers was held with concern party, such as Sansonjyuku, Disaster volunteer center in Hoshino, city of Yame, the committiee of agriculture of Yame, an agricultural cooperative Fukuoka Yame Kurogi district center, etc, in Kurogi bureau of Yame.
[9] Disaster volunteer center in Hoshino which established in November, 2012 was incorporated as NPO Ganbariyoruyo Hoshino Village in Feburary, 2014, and this paper use this latter name since their activities have been carring out continuously in September, 2014 when this paper written.
[10] This data reffered from the list of the classification of agricultural lands of the report, agriculture census 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
[11] Sansonjuku, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/sansonjuku, established November 24, 2011 [accessed August 24, 2014]
[12] NPO Ganbariyoruyo Hoshino Village, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/hoshinosien, established August 3, 2012 [accessed August 30, 2014]
[13] The restoration project for mountain villages Ukiha, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/, the search keyword is “うきは市山村復興プロジェクト” established Novemnber 25, 2012 [accessed August 30, 2014]
[14] The society for earthquake disaster reconstruction in Niigata, eds., The guidebook countermeasure for earthquake disaster of agriculture and farming village, 2009.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

[1] [1] Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, Commitiee of making society of mutual aid, “Kyoujyo Syakai Dukuri ni Mukete,” May 27, 2013.

[2] [2] R. Ito, et al., “Disaster Volunteer Activities for Supporting Rural Areas in Mie Prefecture,” J. Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering, Vol.77, No.11, pp. 881-884, 2009.

[3] [3] K. Asahiro, et al., “Research into the distribution of damage to farmland in Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, from the heavy rains in the northern part of Kyushu in 2012, and difficulties for the recovery,” J. Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, Vol.77, No.5, pp. 649-654, 2014.

[4] [4] Japan Meteorological Agency, News Releases, “The naming of torrential rain that occoured in northern Kyushu from July 11 to 14,” July 15, 2012.

[5] [5] Fukuoka Regional Headquarters of Japan Meteorological Agency, “Disaster weather urgent news in northern Kyushu in Jul, 2012,” p. 3, 2012.

[6] [6] “Ukiha official Record of torrential rain disaster in northern Kyushu in July, 2012,” the general affairs section of city of Ukiha, p. 3, 80, 2014.

[7] [7] The promotion conference on agriculture restoration in Yame from torrential rainfall in northern Kyushu consisits from City of Yame, an agricultural cooperative of Fukuoka, Fukuoka prefecture Chikugo office of agriculture and forestry diffusion center, and the comittiee of agriculture of Yame. It was established at the general meeting in October 15, 2012 for early agriculture restoration and vigourous rural community revitalization affected immence damage.

[8] [8] The dialogues on agricultural volunteers was held with concern party, such as Sansonjyuku, Disaster volunteer center in Hoshino, city of Yame, the committiee of agriculture of Yame, an agricultural cooperative Fukuoka Yame Kurogi district center, etc, in Kurogi bureau of Yame.

[9] [9] Disaster volunteer center in Hoshino which established in November, 2012 was incorporated as NPO Ganbariyoruyo Hoshino Village in Feburary, 2014, and this paper use this latter name since their activities have been carring out continuously in September, 2014 when this paper written.

[10] [10] This data reffered from the list of the classification of agricultural lands of the report, agriculture census 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

[11] [11] Sansonjuku, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/sansonjuku, established November 24, 2011 [accessed August 24, 2014]

[12] [12] NPO Ganbariyoruyo Hoshino Village, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/hoshinosien, established August 3, 2012 [accessed August 30, 2014]

[13] [13] The restoration project for mountain villages Ukiha, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/, the search keyword is “うきは市山村復興プロジェクト” established Novemnber 25, 2012 [accessed August 30, 2014]

[14] [14] The society for earthquake disaster reconstruction in Niigata, eds., The guidebook countermeasure for earthquake disaster of agriculture and farming village, 2009.