Photo/Illutration The landslide originated in an area upstream from the Izusan district of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. Photo taken July 7 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Officials from the Shizuoka prefectural government and the Atami city government knew about the risk of collapse posed by an inappropriately constructed landfill on a steep mountainside one year earlier than previously stated.

That revelation came from recently released administrative documents detailing official discussions about how to deal with the problem site and its nonresponsive owner.

At a meeting held on December 2009, officials recognized that measures were needed to prevent the landfill from collapsing because they could possibly assume administrative liability.

In recently disclosed documents from January and November that year, officials also noted concerns of a possible washout and collapse of the landfill.

At a news conference held on Oct. 18 this year, prefectural and city officials said that they only learned of the risk it could cause damage to residents in October 2010.

But they were, in fact, aware of the danger a full year earlier, the documents show.

A real estate company in Kanagawa Prefecture submitted a plan to the city in 2007 to build a mound of fill dirt there.

Afterward, the company carried in earth and illegally built up the mound of dirt beyond what was allowed.

According to the newly released administrative documents, officials said at a meeting in January 2009 that they were worried about soil loss at the site.

At a meeting held in November 2009, staff from the prefectural civil engineering office who had toured the site said rain would cause the landfill to collapse.

In December 2009, officials noted that they had trouble contacting the company and expressed concern over the possible consequences. They warned that they could be held liable for damages caused should the landfill collapse.

They said it would be necessary to implement preventive measures. Some officials also proposed administrative subrogation and shouldering the cost to implement disaster prevention measures.

Afterward, officials repeatedly issued administrative directives to the company, urging it to carry out disaster-prevention work and stop hauling in dirt until it started.

But the company did not make any improvements at the site, officials said.

The landfill is believed to be responsible for a deadly landslide that occurred on the morning of July 3 this year in Atami after days of heavy rain, destroying or damaging 132 homes and buildings. Twenty-six people were killed and one person remains unaccounted for.

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