The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is about to bear a major overhaul of its catastrophe climate data, with consultants proposing the introduction of a brand new ‘Danger Alert’ between the present ‘Special Warning’ and ‘Warning’ classes. The remaining report on this evaluate was compiled on Tuesday.

Currently, the JMA’s catastrophe data, described as ‘advanced and complicated,’ contains alerts for linear precipitation bands, typhoons, and guerrilla heavy rains. As Japan enters its peak wet season, vital discussions are ongoing about revamping the ‘Disaster Weather Information’ system, which highlights the danger of pure disasters by way of varied warnings and advisories.

The present system is criticized for its complexity. For occasion, each flood and landslide warnings are categorised underneath ‘Alert Information,’ however flood alert is stage 3, whereas landslide alert is stage 4. This discrepancy signifies that regardless of related names, the required security actions differ.

After over two years of discussions, consultants have finalized a report addressing these points. The proposal standardizes disaster-related data into 4 classes, resembling ‘flood’ and ‘landslide,’ and aligns warning ranges accordingly. For instance, flood data can be uniformly categorized underneath ‘flood,’ with frequent terminology throughout ranges like ‘stage 5 Special Warning’ and ‘stage 2 Advisory.’

Additionally, the proposal introduces a brand new ‘Danger Alert’ at stage 4, which beforehand lacked consistency.

Katsuya Yamori, chair of the evaluate committee, said, ‘We have achieved a unified expression format. This is a major step in the direction of less complicated and extra comprehensible expressions.’

However, some meteorologists have voiced considerations. Akira Mori, a meteorologist, remarked, ‘The time period “Danger Alert” may not be instantly clear to the general public. It appears inappropriate.’ He additional warned that creating a brand new alert stage above ‘Warning’ might dilute the sense of urgency related to present warnings.

Mori defined, ‘Warnings are issued when there’s a threat of a significant catastrophe. They are already critical sufficient. Adding one other stage above would possibly lead folks to suppose “it’s just a warning” and never take it significantly.’

The JMA goals to make these adjustments to make sure clearer communication of imminent risks and acceptable security actions. They plan to implement the revised system in two years, primarily based on right now’s report.

Source: TBS