In a bid to cut costs while hosting next year’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, the organisers have struck upon a unique solution: a luxury cruise ship docked at the Nagoya Port which will become a ‘floating’ Athletes’ Village and will house nearly one-third of the total 15,000 athletes and officials.
The organisers said they decided against constructing a Games-specific infrastructure to cut costs.
The ‘floating village’ will have all the usual amenities that athletes get at Games Villages — dining halls, gymnasiums and medical services besides free internet. But the timing of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will throw up a fresh challenge for the athletes housed in the floating village. The 2026 Asian Games is scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4 in Aichi and Nagoya, considered to be the peak typhoon season. This is why the athletes — who will soak in unmatched views of the Pacific Ocean — will be briefed on how to cope if the waters turn violent.
The Organising Committee is preparing a ‘contingency plan to evacuate athletes in case of tsunami, typhoons or natural disasters’, two senior Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) officials told The Indian Express.
Last month, during a meeting of the Asian Games Coordination Committee in Nagoya, the delegations of 45 participating nations were briefed about the emergency evacuation plans and temporary accommodation, along with a detailed advisory outlining do’s and don’ts.
“The Japanese authorities are very experienced in dealing with natural disasters, and the OCA has every confidence that they will take adequate measures, especially in informing the athletes of the contingency plans,” Vinod Tiwari, the Deputy Director General of the OCA, told The Indian Express.
Tayyab Ikram, the chairman of the Asian Games Coordination Committee, said ‘Nagoya is more exposed to these kinds of natural disasters than Tokyo’, which hosted the Olympic Games in 2021.
“We visited a couple of premises that can be used as shelters. We spent a lot of time discussing evacuation plans and management in case of an unfortunate, natural occurrence,” Ikram told this daily, adding that the local officials provided them ‘full data’ on the previous instances.
According to the Nagoya University Disaster Mitigation Research Centre, ‘as a coastal city with many rivers, Nagoya is particularly vulnerable to flooding in the event of a tsunami.’ The city is also susceptible to typhoons in the season roughly from May to October, peaking in August and September.
In 2019, when Japan hosted the Rugby World Cup, three matches were unprecedentedly cancelled owing to Typhoon Hagibis, which killed more than 100 people and caused flooding. Even during the 2021 Olympics, contingency plans were made to evacuate athletes in case of a natural disaster like an earthquake, given the high seismic activity in Japan as the country sits on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’.
The emergency measures for the Asian Games were further necessitated after it was decided to use cruise ships for accommodation rather than constructing apartments to house athletes.
Tiwari said 4,600 athletes and officials—roughly one-third of the total 15,000 participants—would stay on a luxury cruise liner docked at the Kinjo Pier in the Port of Nagoya. Another 2,400 athletes and officials will be accommodated at a pier roughly 15 minutes from the cruise ship.
Tiwari and Ikram hailed the concept of the ‘Floating Village’ and added that it could be a ‘possible guidance for future editions’.
“We believe the cruise ship will become the symbol of the 20th Asian Games – a striking focal point and the first luxury ‘Floating Village’ in the history of the OCA,” Tiwari said. “For many athletes, it will be a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience to stay on a cruise ship – not just the accommodation but the camaraderie of the athletes from different sports and different NOCs (National Olympic Committees). It will be truly a unique and exciting experience.”
However, staying at the shore will present unique challenges, especially in the typhoon season. Ikram said that following consultations with the local organisers, it was decided that all ‘athletes will be properly briefed and demonstrations will be conducted to educate them.’
Tiwari added: “Regarding the cruise ship, in case of a natural disaster such as a typhoon, the cruise ship will evacuate from the Port of Nagoya to the open sea with athletes and team officials. This is according to the Nagoya Port regulations.”
“Regarding the athletes and officials staying in the Asian Games Villas (temporary container homes) at Garden Pier, 6.5km from Kinjo Pier, athletes will evacuate to the nearest evacuation point. Transportation will then be arranged to relocate them to temporary accommodation such as hotels and other facilities.”
The officials added that ‘the safety and well-being of our athletes is always the top priority, not only for the OCA but also for the organising committee.’
“The only concern is that there will be only one gangway onto the cruise ship, and the OCA is asking if there can be a second gangway to make sure there is no congestion entering or leaving the ship,” Tiwari said. “The organising committee will express this concern to the cruise ship company and hope that a solution can be found in time for this special mission.”