Shizuoka Pref. Begins Removing Soil Mounds Left After Deadly Atami Mudslide
Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan has begun removing mounds of soil that remain after last year's deadly mudslide in Atami City.
The July mudslide left 27 people dead and one person missing.
More than 20,000 cubic meters of soil was estimated to remain where the mudslide originated.
Shizuoka's prefectural government in August this year ordered the real estate company that owned the plot when the mounds were created to remove that soil. But the company did not comply with the order.
The prefectural government decided last month to remove roughly 16,000 cubic meters of soil on behalf of the company as it was at risk of collapsing.
On Tuesday, after a senior prefectural official declared the start of the procedure, workers from a construction firm began cutting grass and measuring the plot.
The prefecture plans to move the soil to a temporary storage site by the end of March and dispose of it by the end of fiscal 2023.
The work is expected to cost about 9.6 million dollars. The prefecture plans to bill the real estate company for it later.
The real estate company filed a lawsuit last month asking for the prefecture's order to be canceled.