Locals Lose Suit over Dam Discharges in Western Japan Rain Disaster

Matsuyama, Ehime Pref., March 18 (Jiji Press)–Local residents living in the lower reaches of the Hiji River in the western Japan prefecture of Ehime lost a damages lawsuit against the central and local governments on Wednesday over emergency dam discharges during a massive rain disaster in 2018. Fumitaka Furuichi, presiding judge at Matsuyama District Court, rejected the petition filed by 31 residents for compensation totaling some 538 million yen. The residents had claimed that they suffered harm due to alleged deficiencies in operational procedures during the water discharges conducted to prevent the dams from collapsing and in the dissemination of evacuation information. The plaintiffs plan to file an appeal. At the time of the disaster, the Nomura dam in the city of Seiyo in Ehime and the Kano River dam in the city of Ozu in the same prefecture carried out emergency water releases. Both dams are managed by the land ministry’s Shikoku Regional Development Bureau. The discharges caused flooding downstream in the Hiji River, leaving eight people dead. The focus of the trial was whether the changes to the operating rules of the two dams, the water release operations and the evacuation information provided by the cities of Seiyo and Ozu were appropriate. Furuichi said that the changes to the dams’ operating rules had proven effective in responding to the frequent small- and medium-scale floods, and that the rule changes cannot be deemed to have been deficient in terms of ensuring safety. Regarding the plaintiffs’ claim that the dam operators failed to carry out sufficient prerelease of water during the heavy rainfall, the presiding judge said it cannot be recognized that the operators were able to foresee the occurrence of massive rainfall at that time. He dismissed the claim on the grounds that there were no special circumstances requiring flexible application of the operating rules. As for the provision of the evacuation information by the local governments, Furuichi said that the city of Seiyo evacuated most residents through door-to-door visits by volunteer firefighters and that although the city of Ozu could not escape criticism for issuing its notices late, its actions “cannot be deemed markedly unreasonable.” In a related development, some residents of the Mabi district of the city of Kurashiki in another western Japan prefecture of Okayama, which was also hit by the 2018 massive rains, sued the central government and others for inadequate flood control measures. The case is being heard at Okayama District Court. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]