Lessons from Mabi: Five years of recovery from the 2018 Western Japan flood

This July 2023 marks the 5th year since the flood disaster in Mabi, Japan, and CWS Japan, together with its partners, have re-visited the area to capture the lessons from the recovery process. This knowledge-sharing document was written with a view to capturing the key lessons from the early response to the long-term recovery of Mabi town. CWS Japan hopes that these lessons will be helpful for professionals, practitioners, and civil society around the world.

In early July of 2018, successive heavy rainfalls battered western Japan causing devastating floods in many prefectures including Hiroshima, Okayama and Ehime. Mabi town in Okayama prefecture was one of the most affected areas, as it stands on two rivers – the Takahashi and the Oda – both of which overflowed and flooded one-third of the town.  

CWS Japan responded to this disaster along with its partners during the first month, then decided to publish a report summarizing the important lessons. The report “Six Months since Western Japan Flood – Lessons from Mabi” was published in January 2019, about six months after the disaster, where issues such as risk communication, early warning, infrastructure measure, evacuation behavior, shelter and volunteer management were discussed.  A second report titled “Towards Mabi’s Recovery – Lessons One Year On” was published in July 2019, a year after the disaster, which mainly focused on the recovery process.