Flooded bullet trains show Japan’s risks from disasters
By Yuri Kageyama
[...]
Japan’s technological prowess and meticulous attention to detail are sometimes no match for rising risks in a precarious era of climate change.
Experts say they also instill a false sense of security in a country inured to danger by the constant threat of calamitous earthquakes, tsunami and volcanos.
[...]
Japan already is in crisis over its aging and inadequately maintained infrastructure. Governments lack the funding and manpower to refurbish and replace tunnels, bridges and other structures to meet improved standards for resistance to earthquakes and other disasters.
On top of that, there’s an urgent need to improve early warning systems, build bigger seawalls and help people relocate out of vulnerable areas, Field and other experts said.
[...]