♪ hello there. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. where we're watching all the latest on the u.s. election. protestors in philadelphia are grappling with issues that have been central to this election. violence, equality, race. they are venting their anger after another fatal shooting of a black man at the hands of

police. then str demonstrators have been on the streets since officers killed walter wallace, jr. police responded to a call about a man with a knife. wallace approached him and officers shot him. he was 27 years old. >> my heart feel like -- >> his family says wallace suffered from mental health issues. democratic presidential nominee joe biden and his running mate kamala harris issued a statement. they wrote they cannot accept that in this country, a mental health crisis ends in death. the protests are the latest in the u.s. to demand justice after police killings. some people have taken to looting. >> you can't let that go on. again, a democrat-run state, a democrat-run city, phil filth.

philadelphia. we don't have that. the republicans don't have it. >> city officials have imposed a city wide curfew, and they've asked for patience as they investigate. after author and civil rights activist george takai has lived with racism since he was a boy. i spoke with him earlier about pre prejudice, pushing back, and the way forward. what is happened in philadelphia is not unique. it's a regular occurrence. and we have been having this throughout the united states. as you know, the history of slavery and then jim crow, a the civil rights movement. >> some have painted the movement against inequality as radical. what power is there in such words? >> well, we have a leader in our country who keeps referring to it as the cnese virus or wuhan

flu. and so asian-americans are being attacked because we have -- because of this constant reminder of the asian aspect. the origin of the disease. it's all very directly personal to us. i kw one who was attacked, an asian-american, who was attacked not a chinese american, a japanese american, because we all look alike. >> united nations officials say since the outbreak of covid-19, violence against asian-americans has reached an alarming level. how does that make you feel, george? >> well, it's alarming, but you know, as a asian-american, and specifically as a japanese-american, we have gone through something that's much, much more -- many times more, to

use a mild world, alarmi. after the bombing of pearl harbor, suddenly, overnight, we were looked at with fear and suspicion, and outright hatred, simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed pearl harbor. and we were categorized as enemy alien, totally illogical. i was a 5-year-old child then. i wasn't an enemy, i was a 5-year-old kid, and i wasn't an alien. i was born right here in los angeles. >> what is your vision of america? >> i subscribe to, and i have worked at and contributed to the ideals of american democracy, a people's democracy. we have shining ideals of people, a nation of diversity. each contributing his or her o unique challenges, vantage points based on their culture,

their history, their place in society, to make this a world that tries t make the reality, the shining ideals of our country a nation ruled by laws, a nation that subscribes to due process as the pillar of our justice system. equality, all men are created equal. >> and how can people realize that vision? >> this is a participatory democracy. and we all engage and participate in striving to reach those ideals. >> thank you very much for your time, george, and your insights at this pivotal time in this country. >> thank you. i enjoyed our conversation. that will do it for us here in new york. now i'll hand it to our studio in tokyo. >> thank you very much for that, catherine. catherine kobayashi in new york.

turning to asia now, where the u.s. secretary of state has vis idded sri lanka. he rashed out at china forgiving massive loans to the island nation. beijing criticized the indo-pacific strategy war proposes. mike pompeo met for talks with the president and the foreign minister on wednesday. the secretary of state slammed china's infrastructure investment in sri lanka. >> we see from bad deals, violations of sovereignty and lawlessness on land and see that the chinese communist party is a predator and the united states comes in a different way. we come as a friend and as a partner. >> sri lanka agreed in 2017 to lease its southern port to china for 99 years in a bid to write off a $1.1 billion debt on the construction cost. critics call the deal classic case of debt trap. the chinese embassy in colombo

released a statement accusing the u.s. of using pompeo's visit to meddle in china-sri lanka relations. the japan and other nations see it as a hub for a free and open indo-pacific. you linking the middle east and asia. beijing said wednesday that vision trumpets the old fashioned cold war mentality. sri lanka is seen playing a key role in china's belt and road initiative. france and germany announced new nationwide lockdowns on wednesday as a second wave of coronavirus infections threatens to overwelle europe. >> i decided that we needed, starting from friday, the lockdown that had earlier stopped the virus. >> french president emmanuel macron stressed that manufacturing, agriculture, and construction industries will continue to operate to minimize the impact on the economy. the four-week lockdown in france

will require all restaurants and shops to close, apart from those selling daily necessities. people will only be allowed to leave home to commute to and from work or for oer essential reasons. france has seen a rapid surge in covid-19 infections in recent weeks. the figure has topped 1.2 million, the highest in europe, with fatalities exceeding 500. experts have warped that the situation is threatening to overwelle the country's medical institutions. germany has experienced more than 10,000 daily infections over the past week. german chancellor angela merkel announced plans to close bars, restaurants and theaters for vember. schools will stay open and shop also operate with strict access limits. >> translator: it is very clear that we must act right now to this national emergency.

>> according to johns hopkins university in the u.s., there have been more than 44.3 million cases worldwide. over 1.17 million people have died. in japan, the number of cases still remains relatively low. but officials are still anticipating a possible shortage of beds to care for covid-19 patients. the health ministry released data on wednesday showing that tokyo and prefectures of fukushima and okinawa have hit stage three on hospital bed availability that. means that major problems could arise in the medical system. and in another sign, the positive rate in alamori hit 10.7%. >> translator: the situation is different prefecture to prefecture. but it appears the number of new cases is increasing in some areas, so we have to be on our

toes. >> authorities reported more than 700 new cases across the country on wednesday, pushing the overall total to past 99,000. and more than 17 hub people have died. training for 80,000 volunteers for the tokyo olympics and paralympics has resumed online due to the coronavirus. the games have been postponed to next year because of the pandemic, and the training had been suspended. about 170 volunteers took part in a session on wednesday. they were briefed by staff from the tokyo games organizing committee on the history of the olympics and paralympics. the volunteers were invited to punch the air to show unity. they were all sent quizzes about paralympic records. >> translator: i hope the games will be memorable events for everyone.

including me. >> organizers say the online sessions will continue until december. the volunteers will receive training in line with their specific roles from april. meanwhile, the international paralympic committee will send a team of up to six refugee athletes to the tokyo paralympics. a refugee team took part for the first time in the 2016 paralympics in rio de janeiro. it consisted of an athlete from syria and one from iran. the ipc will select team members from a pool of refugee athletes who meet the eligibility criteria for the tokyo games. the team will be led by ileana rodriguez, a refugee from cuba who represented the united states at the 2012 london paralympics. she says she hopes the team will provide a platform to raise awareness of the plight faced by all refugees. let's check out the world weather now with our

meteorologist tsietsi monare. so the typhoon you've been tracking is now dumping heavy rainfall in vietnam. how much rain are we talking about? >> yeah, a lot of rainfall. the typhoon made landfall around midday on wednesday, and it has brought, you know, copious amounts to already saturated soils, meaning flooding is a very major concern. look at the numbers of the rainfall here in hanoi province, about 140 millimeters in 24 hours. and just south of da nang, we saw almost 500 millimeters. nor october alone, over 1.6 meters of rainfall alone. let's take a look at this video to see some of those devastating impacts, where at least 26 fishermen were missing at sea wednesday. the typhooner to down roofs, capsized boats and caused flooding. over 250,000 soldiers have been

placed on stand by in preparation for major relief efforts. and the region has been hit by worse floods and mudslides in decades in just the month of october. so it's been quite vastating along those parts. if you look outside your shot there, another storm is developing, going to follow the same path through the fill pee s -- philippines and headed towards vietnam. for japan, we'll be seeing a lot of clear skies going into the central parts. the frontal system and the low pressure basically causing unstable weather. we saw lightning and possibilities of some thunder in certain parts of the north. for today, warmer weather for sendai and tokyo. sendai at 18 and 23 towards the capital city. across the united states, we've been monitoring zeta, basically moving closer to the gulf coast. zeta brought heavy rainfall already, because of the outer bands of the storm reaching out

to much of theite. we do expect flooding in certain places. but cool weather for much of the north and for all those that will be along the northern plains. minnesota, minus 1. these are your low temperatures for the next three days or so. very cold conditions coming up along those parts. single digits for win peg and chicago. that's all your weather. take care.

and that's nhk "newsline" for this hour. i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. thanks for staying with us. ♪ welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm yanaka marie. we've seen frequent natural disasters here in japan this year. and possibly heavy rain, unreelementing heat waves, as well as intense typhoons making landfall leading to flooding across the country. due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, organizing safe evacuation has become much more

challenging. on today's "in depth" we look at ongoing measures and new strategies to better plan for disasters. first, we take up the issue of flooding. in july, rain broke records all over japan. it pummelled kumamoto prefecture in southwestern japan, causing some of the worst damage, including flooding along the kuma river. over 60 people lost their lives to floods and landslides. flooding disasters can be compounded by further tragedy. such as residents washed away by the raging waters when they venture out to check river conditions. so the government has been working with locals since last year's typhoon to ensure such accidents never happen, by creating a river monitoring system. >> reporter: this typhoon last october brought record breaking

rainfall and caused widespread damage in japan. the embankment of this river collapsed, flooding many houses around it. this local resident went to check the river during the torrential rains. seeing it was about to overflow, he warned his neighbors by phone. he took a risk. just 30 minutes later, the lec y -- levy was breached. >> translator: the situation was unbelievable and scary. >> reporter: the typhoon prompted the government to expand the network of river surveillance cameras it has been developing to help local residents to test the realtime situation remotely. nationwide, cameras will be set up in 3900 locations at river where is potential disaster lurks. the system was set up at less cost than previous ones.

by using solar power, the cameras can be installed eily without connecting to a power supply. the images are posted on a government website, and residents can check them on their smartphones or other devices. >> translator: i can see the situation without going to the river bank. now people don't have to take the risk i did. >> reporter: the community where takahashi lives formed a group on social media to ensure residents can see the videos and share other disaster information. >> translator: it is unavoidable that this area will have floods. so it is essential to evacuate quickly. i think sharing information using social media will be the key. >> reporter: both government and residents need to continue to look for ways to take advantage of the latest technology to

protect communities from floods. next, let's talk about evacuation preparedness. in japan, school gyms and other public facilities are typically used as emergency shelters during times of disaster. but now, with the pandemic, capacity is being restricted to maintain social distancing. in our next story, we see how local governments and businesses are capitalizing on regional characteristics to secure safe places to evacuate. >> reporter: this city is where the first of the shoguns were born more than 450 years ago. it's also famous for buddhist temples, lots of buddhist temples. more than 300 of them. so when the city started looking for more disaster shelter sites, it realized the solution might be right inside. the city was already short of

evacuation spaces for some 5,000 people. the pandemic added to the urgency. >> translator: we were ordered to make sure each evacuee would have foursquare meters of space. >> reporter: anai set out to talk to the temple overseers. the temples were better suited serving as temporary shelters than he expected. evacuees could sleep right on the flooring. many temples are divided into multiple rooms, allowing for social distancing. the grounds are often large enough for cooking and food distribution, as well as parking. >> translator: my fundamental belief is temples should help people. we're quite willing to accommodate those in dire straits during natural disasters. >> reporter: the city hopes to cultivate similar relationships for temporary evacuation sites all over town. next door to okazaki is this

city, famous for the car company based there. the city hopes that vehicles powered by rechargeable batteries can provide electricity in times of crisis. that would reduce the need for evacuation shelters. this car could supply four days of electricity for an average family. >> translator: by providing power, vehicles like these could enable people to stay home in a disaster related blackout. >> reporter: the city created a sticker to identify cars with any manufacturer that can do the job. it's also encouraging residents to buy vehicles of that sort so that half the cars in town will fit the bill by 2025. >> translator: evacuation doesn't always have to involve a

formal facility. in the right circumstances, other places may be good enough. >> reporter: natural disasters can come in an instant. these two cities hope to be ready by thinking outside the evacuation shelter box. >> the city plans to finalize an agreement to use about 90 local temples as emergency shelters within this year. but experts have warned that not all the temples are suitable, as they may not be up to earthquake and other current safety standards. the city plans to check for structural issues and reassess location safety. the automaker is planning to conduct experiments on evs as a power source during disasters. and another automaker has been using evs and fuel-celled vehicles at outdoor events and concerts. it's collecting data and user experiences that can be applied

to disaster situations. searching for emergency shelters is a challenge not only for local residents, but also for tourists. many were stranded in sapporo two years ago when a powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the area. a subsequent blackout recommendered temporary emergency shelters unusable. what happened then and what was learned from it? >> reporter: the magnitude 6.7 quake shook sapporo in the middle of the night. and 36,000 visitors were staying in the city at the time. and the foreigners among them faced more challenges.

>> translator: that day, there was a line of foreign tourists carrying their suitcases. >> reporter: as the night wore on, a growing number of tourists gathered outside the evacuation shelter. they couldn't find anywhere else to go, because the blackout had caused some hotels and public transportation facilities to shut down. >> translator: 70% of the evacuees were foreigners, and we couldn't communicate with them. i didn't even know how to ask if they were alone or traveling with their family. >> reporter: as travelers inundated the shelters, sapporo installed six additional temporary shelters to house them. but each those shelters quickly filled up.

why did the tourists overwelle the shelters? according to the city government's plan, the evacuees should have been sheltered in underground pedestrian tunnels located near many hotels. but the power outage made that plan impossible. the city is now planning to install two power generators beneath nearby roads. together, they would be capable of providing enough electricity for 72 hours in the event of a blackout. it has also expanded its evacuation shelter network, and is planning to create four additional shelters in the central district.

>> translator: we're now almost ready to house all evacuees. we hope to keep expanding our evacuation program as needed by keeping a close eye on tourism numbers. >> reporter: tourism is expected to recover next year as olympic events are scheduled to be held in sapporo. in the meantime, officials across japan continue to consider their safety measures to welcome visitors back. >> since the earthquake, the four additional temporary ev evacuation sites in commercial spaces have been completed, totalling 17 in sapporo. and more sites may be created depending on demand. due to the impact of global warming, extreme weather events are reportedly becoming more frequent. it's essential that we question how to protect our communities and nature.

when disasters strike, it's not just people affected, but also marine habitats. we leave you with images from the famous coral wreath, which were hit by july's typhoon. and that's all for today's "newsline in depth." thank you for watching our program, and make sure to do so next time, too.

europe once again with the continent's most powerful economies going back into lockdown. ♪ >> hello, you're watching al jazeera live from london. another cease-fire crumbles. azerbaijan accuses armenia of killing 21 civilians near a disputed territory. muslims across the world protest the french president's comme