Start-up to forecast risk of sinkholes due to damaged pipes as infrastructure ages across Japan

Excavators and rescue personnel working to construct a slope for rescue operations are seen at the site where a truck on plunged into a sinkhole. -- PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO (Japan News/ANN): A start-up established by officials of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is going to start a business of forecasting risks of damage in underground sewage pipes by utilising data sent from satellites and an artificial intelligence programme.

As it is believed that a sinkhole accident in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, was caused by damage to an underground sewage pipe, the start-up aims to prevent a recurrence of a similar accident by increasing the efficiency of risk forecasts made during checks of sewage pipes.