Shuto Suidobutso (Capital Submerged)

Japan has perfected the art of coping with typhonic rains and flooding rivers, and its flood defence system is an engineering marvel. The underground discharged channel was completed in 2006 and took 13 years to be completed. It is the world’s largest diversion floodwater facility.  The full story here. 

Excerpt:

"Cecilia Tortajada recalls making her way down a long staircase and into of one of Japan’s engineering marvels, an enormous water tank that crowns Tokyo’s defences against flooding. When she finally reached the tank’s ground, she stood among the dozens of 500-tonne pillars supporting the ceiling. In the cavernous, shrine-like cistern, she felt humbled.

“You find yourself being a tiny part of this humongous system,” recalls Tortajada, a water management expert at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy’s Institute of Water Policy, in Singapore. “You realise how well prepared Tokyo is.”

If Japan is a pilgrimage destination for disaster and risk-management experts like her, this is one of its main temples. The floodwater cathedral hidden 22 meters underground is part of the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel (MAOUDC), a 6.3 km long system of tunnels and towering cylindrical chambers that protect North Tokyo from flooding."

Image credit - BBC

Image credit - groovyjapan.com