Journal of Natural Disaster Science

SNOW DAMAGE IN AN URBAN AREA WITH HEAVY SNOW FALL : DEFINITION OF THE AMOUNT OF SNOW DAMAGE AND APPRAISAL

Teruyosi UMEMURA
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology
Seiji KAMIMURA
Research Associate, Department of Mechanical engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology
and
Hitoshi OTAKI
Japan Management Academy Co. Ltd.

(Received 26 April 1991 and in revised from 18 September 1991)

Abstract

Snow damage in urban areas where the residents suffer heavy snow cover is defined and evaluated. The amount of snow damage, h (yen/d), is expressed as

h=ke + e"

where k is the factor representing the seasonal drop in utilization, e the expense in non-snowy time for nine factors that included roads, sidewalks, buildings, and e" the expense for these factor only in snowy time. A total of 4.2 million yen per day was calculated for an area of 0.24 km^2 bordering Nagaoka Station in Niigata Prefecture. The calculated values agree with results of a questionnaire given residents. The method reported is useful for evaluating various plans for snow disaster prevention.

Key words

amount of snow damage, heavy snow fall, urban area, snow removal, economic evaluation