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Wildfire Averages - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)

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Global Warming Chart - Here's How Temperatures Have Risen Since 1950 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

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The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses on two sectors: "Media and Technology", updated daily and featuring the latest statistics from the media, internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries; and "Economy and Society", which current data from the United States and around the world relating to economic and political issues as well as sports and entertainment.

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Infographic: Each Decade Hotter Than the Last

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The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses on two sectors: "Media and Technology", updated daily and featuring the latest statistics from the media, internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries; and "Economy and Society", which current data from the United States and around the world relating to economic and political issues as well as sports and entertainment.

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Humanity is facing a challenge unlike any we've ever had to confront. We are in an unprecedented period of change.  -David Suzuki 

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Humanity is facing a challenge unlike any we've ever had to confront. We are in an unprecedented period of change.  -David Suzuki 

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Great video on building water resilient cities.

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Great video on building water resilient cities.

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Increasingly important climate based threats for BC

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Increasingly important climate based threats for BC

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-Wildfires
-Flooding/Rainfall
-Extreme snowfall
-Extreme heat/droughts

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Read more on Japan's flood preventing mega tank here.

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Read more on Japan's flood preventing mega tank here.

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It has been called Japan's underground 'Parthenon', a cavernous complex charged with protecting Tokyo and surrounding areas from catastrophic flooding-a risk experts warn is growing as climate change advances

It has been called Japan's underground "Parthenon", a cavernous complex charged with protecting Tokyo and surrounding areas from catastrophic flooding-a risk experts warn is growing as climate change advances.

Above ground, there is little to give away the cathedral-like feat of engineering that forms the main reservoir of the Kasukabe flood tank, the largest facility of its kind in the world.

The immense structure-deep enough in some parts to hold the Statue of Liberty-funnels away and redirects excess water from storms and typhoons, protecting one of the globe's most populous capitals.

Soaring pillars weighing 500 tonnes each support the main reservoir, a bare concrete tank the length of two football fields.

Staff at the facility in Saitama, north of Tokyo, are on constant alert, especially during Japan's rainy and typhoon seasons from June to late October.

"In this area, torrential rain, typhoons and even daily rainfall can cause damage by submerging houses and roads," the site's chief, Nobuyuki Akiyama, told AFP.

The reservoir has helped reduce the number of homes affected by water damage in nearby areas by around 90 percent, he said.

In Tokyo alone-a city cut through by more than 100 rivers-there are 10 other underground reservoirs and three flood tunnels, and more flood-protection structures are being built.

And in western Japan's Osaka, a flood facility similar to the Kasukabe reservoir is being built at a cost of 366 billion yen ($3.5 billion). Construction is scheduled to finish in 2044.

In Tokyo alone-a city cut through by more than 100 rivers-there are more than ten underground reservoirs and three flood tunnels, and more flood-protection structures are being built

But experts warn more may be needed, as global warming makes what were previously once-a-century storms increasingly common, and catastrophic.

"Japan... has a climate in which floods and heavy rain tend to occur frequently," says Kei Yoshimura, professor of meteorology at the University of Tokyo and expert on river flooding.

"But on top of that, now global warming is advancing," Yoshimura told AFP.
More typhoons
In recent years, the rainy and typhoon seasons have brought regular destruction.

Massive flooding and landslides killed more than 80 people in west Japan this July, and a typhoon last year killed nearly one hundred people in the country's east.

Japan's Meteorological Agency says the number of typhoons a year that threaten Tokyo has jumped 1.5 times in the last four decades.

The Kasukabe reservoir is connected to a 6.3-kilometre (four-mile) tunnel and the system can release accumulated water into the nearby Edogawa river at a rate equivalent to discharging a 25-metre (83-foot) swimming pool every second, with the power of a jumbo-jet engine.

Built in 2006, at a cost of 230 billion yen ($2.2 billion), the facility swings into action around seven times a year.

Japan's anti-flood systems are considered world-class, with the country having learnt bitter lessons from several mammoth disasters after World War II

Excess water flows in automatically, and operators pump it out from the main tank when it approaches capacity, Akiyama said.

This year it had already been used seven times by September, with water discharged twice after an unusually long rainy season, he added.

Official studies credit the single facility with having saved 148 billion yen in disaster clean-up costs so far.

Japan's anti-flood systems are considered world-class, with the country having learnt bitter lessons from several major disasters after World War II.

But experts including Yoshimura say that infrastructure alone isn't enough, especially with advancing climate change, and Japanese authorities have stepped up efforts in recent years to remind citizens to evacuate homes early when requested.

The Kasukabe system accepts visitors when it isn't in use, in part to promote the importance of disaster management.

"This underground facility is great but it's only one defence measure," Toru Tamai, a 79-year-old pensioner who attended a recent tour, told AFP.

"I live on low ground, so floods are a clearer and more present danger than any other natural disasters," he added.

"In the end, you can't count on anyone but yourself."

© 2020 AFP

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The underground 'Parthenon' protecting Tokyo from floods

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It has been called Japan's underground "Parthenon", a cavernous complex charged with protecting Tokyo and surrounding areas from catastrophic flooding-a risk experts warn is growing as climate change advances. Above ground, there is little to give away the cathedral-like feat of engineering that forms the main reservoir of the Kasukabe flood tank, the largest facility of its kind in the world.

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18 Major Flood Events Have Hit Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas Since March 2015 | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

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How do we make climate resilient cities?

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How do we make climate resilient cities?

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What makes a city resilient changes depending on the location of the city and the unique set of climate based shocks and stresses that come with being located there. For example, a city like Prince George has had to develop resilience in the form of snow removal in the winter months. This is a very minor example however, and the intensity of climate threats will only increase with time. Japan's Kasukabe reservoir is a great example of the large scale resilience projects that will become more and more common.

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Photo of Japan's "Kasukabe reservoir" which greatly improves its city's resilience against rainfall and typhoon flood water.
The underground 'Parthenon' protecting Tokyo from floods (phys.org)

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Urban Resilience Education - New International Master Degree | Urban Resilience Research Network

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Resilience can come in many different forms, from simple measures put in place to limit car use lowering green house gas emissions, to reinforced buildings that withstand earthquakes, or underground open spaces that remove and store large amounts of flood water from streets in the case of flood level rain events.

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As climate change progresses, natural phenomenon that can negatively effect urban communities have and will continue to become more and more common. This is where the need for resilient cities come from. These climate based threats are guaranteed to increase quantity and force, meaning that cities will need to develop a certain amount of resilience based on their unique environment's climate threats.

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Urban Resilience | Canvas @ Yale

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A city that is perfectly resilient is suited to its environment completely and can withstand any form of shocks or stresses that may occur. The shocks and stresses that are becoming increasingly important in the field of urban resilience are that which are born from climate change.