STORY: How rainy Tokyo tackles floods by building a "city" below the city
SHOOTING TIME: May 15, 2024
DATELINE: May 16, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:25
LOCATION: Tokyo
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. STANDUP 1 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Japanese): SATORU IKEDA, Visitor
3. various of the facility
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
5. STANDUP 2 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Japanese): NAGANUMA, Visitor
7. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent

STORYLINE:

STANDUP 1 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
"Located in a temperate maritime climate and being vulnerable to flooding, the Tokyo metropolitan area has always been stepping up its efforts to combat floods. The rainy metropolis is building a 'city' below the city -- beneath its around 2,000-square-kilometer land lie 16,000-kilometer sewage pipes in total. Now I'm right here at RyuQkan museum, which introduces the Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel, one of the world's largest underground flood diversion systems, to explore how the Tokyo metropolitan area tackles floods."

SOUNDBITE 1 (Japanese): SATORU IKEDA, Visitor
"I saw this place on television and also in films.
I didn't know that this is used for tackling floods until searching the internet.
I checked its official website and decided to come."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
"Now follow me to check the No. 1 Shaft. The shaft is 70 meters deep and its diameter is about 30 meters, which is big enough for transporting vehicles for cleaning work. And after meeting this line, the rapid floodwater will flow into the pressure-adjusting water tank, which reduces the force of the floodwater.
The pressure-adjusting water tank measures 177 meters long, 78 meters wide, and 18 meters high. The 59 concrete pillars there, each standing 2 meters wide, 18 meters high and weighing approximately 500 tonnes, support a massive underground space that has earned a nickname meaning 'disaster-prevention underground shrine'."

STANDUP 2 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
"As you can see, the length of the pillar is much longer than its width. This was designed like this to mitigate the power of the floodwater when it flows through, thus reducing its damage to the structure.
Going further deep from the other side of the water tank, and passing a passage with water at our knee level, we can reach the location of the impeller, a key part of the drainage-pump station, which is the 'heart' of the Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel. Impellers like this are being rotated by four gas turbines, raising floodwater to the surface."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Japanese): NAGANUMA, Visitor
"I was shocked by the grand scale of the facility.
I was amazed by how wonderfully the facility was built.
According to the introduction, (the turbines could) suck up as much water as a 25-meter-long swimming pool per second. This shocks me."

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): ZHONG YA, Xinhua correspondent
"After being launched in 2002, the Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel has prevented flood damage amounting to approximately 148.4 billion Japanese yen."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tokyo.
(XHTV)