If torrential rains hit, there could be a “Atami catastrophe”… [Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture] Neighboring residents are terrified of an 11-meter-high “illegal sediment mountain” in danger of collapsing.

The president of the construction company that purchased the land in question said, “We will do everything properly. According to the city ordinance, the maximum height of earth and sand is 2 meters. However, they started bringing in large amounts of soil by dump truck every day, and the height has now exceeded 11 meters. If we were hit by a torrential rain, the earth and sand would collapse and swallow my house in an instant,” said a neighbor.

Two years have passed since the mudslide disaster in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, in which 28 people were killed when a fill collapsed. Residents of Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, are also concerned about illegal piles of earth and sand. The city has overburdened the area, and it is in danger of collapsing.

The city gave the contractor a permit in November 2008. The city gave permission to the contractor in November 2008 to store soil brought in from outside the city. The city permits it on the condition that the amount of soil and sand be 3,000 m3 on a 1,562 m2 lot and that the height of the soil pile be up to 2 m. However, the soil was to be stored in an unpermitted location. However, earth and sand were thrown into unauthorized areas, and at one point it spread several meters across a residential area,” said a local real estate official.

The site was originally a field and orchard, but it has changed dramatically since Mr. O, the president of the company in question, purchased the property.

In July of last year, a guerrilla downpour caused earth and sand to collapse and flow into the city road. The area where the back road used to be is now impassable due to the large amount of water that has accumulated there.

An official of the city’s environmental promotion division spoke up.

A city official from the Environmental Promotion Division said, “We have been patrolling the site since April ’21 and have repeatedly given guidance to Mr. O. and the workers. Administrative guidance was given three times, and interviews and phone calls were made dozens of times. However, the sediment continued to increase, and as of November ’22, the amount of sediment deposited amounted to 18,000 m2, six times the amount permitted.”

The city issued an improvement order to Mr. O on April 14. We tried repeatedly to call him on his cell phone, only to receive a message saying, “The phone is either turned off or out of range.

Mr. Masato Murata, a lawyer and expert on environmental issues, pointed out, “The contractor only accepts the leftover soil and makes money.

The contractors ignore the regulations because they can only make money by accepting the leftover soil. Even if they are caught, they pay only a small fine and are not removed. Unless each city, town, and village creates detailed ordinances to deal with the situation, there will be more piles of earth and sand all over the country.”

Kumagaya is not the only place where the “Atami catastrophe” could occur again.

From the May 12 and 19, 2023 issue of “FRIDAY