Melted snow likely cause of northeastern Japan landslide: expert

Nature, is by nature…nature.

The landslide occurred because of melting snow.

The tragedy occurred because the construction company built houses in a place known to be at risk.

And we are absolutely sure that no construction company stripped the mountain above of trees, are we?

Still waiting to see anyone held to account for the tragedy at Izusan in 2021.

The tragedy occurred because the construction company built houses in a place known to be at risk

If you look at the region I sincerely do not think there was a developer or big construction company involved. It is rural, a bit isolated and well off the beaten track. Most of the buildings were in all likelihood built onesy-twosey probably many years apart by their property owners. It is not a development that went up at the same time. It's rural. There are farm fields immediately adjacent to the hill and I would bet whomever works those fields lived in the affected homes.

I would also challenge the claim that the site was a known risk. I have looked at the master flood map for Japan and it is not in a yellow or red zone. Can you point to any study or document stating that area was a known risk zone?

And we are absolutely sure that no construction company stripped the mountain above of trees, are we?

Look at Google Maps and you can see that is not the case. In addition photos of the slide show the crown of the hill is fully wooded and you can see the trees mixed in with the landslide.

Desert, I did see an actual zonal map shown on the TV news, with aerial photos of 50 years ago, 30 years ago and today, and a local map with that particular part shaded red as a land slip danger zone. It is possible however that the map was drawn up more recently, i.e. after the houses were built there.