Ad hoc liaison headquarters: Information sharing and provision

When a severe snowstorm hit the Hokuriku Region from Jan. 12 to 15, 2017, national government representatives from all the national highway operation offices in Niigata Prefecture gathered to set up an ad hoc liaison headquarters and share information with related organizations.

The Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau dispatched personnel to Nexco, an expressway company, for information exchanges.

The Road Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; the Japan Meteorological Agency; and the Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism disseminated cautions regarding the extreme snowfall.

As a result, snow removal operations were carried out without causing traffic hindrances.

In addition, when traffic hindrances were expected to affect wide areas, all the road administrators and related organizations set up an ad hoc information-sharing website and shared information, even when road administrators in remote locations were unable to share information.

The ad hoc web system was accessible by smartphone from the field. Information was uploaded for wide sharing.

Thanks to this information sharing among road operators, information was promptly provided to road users.

The provision of slippery-road forecasts through government-private-academic collaboration

The Winter Life Promotion Association is based in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture. This multi-governmental collaboration includes organizations from various levels of government, as well as representatives from academia, private businesses and the media. The association conducts activities to help people enjoy winter life by fostering an environment for safe, secure winter living.

Every winter in Sapporo, more than 1,000 people slip and fall badly enough to require ambulance transport.

The association has crated multi-language leaflets targeting overseas visitors, whose numbers have recently been increasing.

In 2016, in addition to the English version, two Chinese versions (one simplified and one traditional) and a Korean version were published. (About 12,000 copies were made.)

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