Following torrential rainfall, a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

was triggered which swept through the Izusan neighbourhood of

Atami is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households and a population density of 600 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Atami is located in the far ea ...

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 3 July 2021. 27 people died during the landslide and three injured. The city received of rainfall in a 48-hour period, which prompted authorities to warn residents of "life threatening" conditions. The landslide destroyed a number of houses and left roads covered with debris.

Search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations were underway as of 3 July, with local authorities reporting that they had received approximately ten phone calls from people trapped in their houses.

Background

is a seaside city located approximately from Tokyo, in the coastal prefecture of

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

in the

Chūbu region The , Central region, or is a region in the middle of Honshu, Honshū, Japan, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (''ken''): Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, Fukui Prefecture, Fukui, Gifu Prefecture ...

of Central Japan. Situated on the edge of the prefecture's mountain ranges, it is known for its steep valleys and hills. In the latter half of the 20th century, the city saw growth as a resort town, with development continuing inland. One of Japan's defining characteristics in terms of weather is its

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * ''T ...

in early summer, which spans from late May to early July. Prior to the landslide, there had been several days of continuous torrential rainfall in the vicinity of Atami. At the time of the incident, this rainfall was continuing to take place; approximately of rainfall was measured at

Hakone is a town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

, while a measurement of was gathered at

Gotemba, Shizuoka is a city on the southeastern flank of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,370 in 36,096 households, and a population density of 450 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography ...

Investigation

Investigations into the cause of the landslide are ongoing. Authorities are investigating suggestions by experts that improperly accumulated soil brought in for development purposes may have been partially responsible for the landslide.

References

External links

Information about heavy rain from July 1, 2021

Geospatial Information Authority of Japan The , or GSI, is the national institution responsible for surveying and mapping the national land of Japan. The former name of the organization from 1949 until March 2010 was Geographical Survey Institute; despite the rename, it retains the same ...

2021 meteorology 2021 disasters in Japan Atami, Shizuoka July 2021 events in Japan Landslides in 2021 Landslides in Japan 2021 in Japan {{Japan-hist-stub