IISEE NewsletterNov 30 2017
Number 151

In This Issue• Reports on Tohoku
and Niigata StudyTrip• Photos of Tohoku
and Niigata StudyTrip• Fire DrillIISEE Net andTraining
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Note
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Reports on Tohoku and Niigata Study Trip

(1)By Mr. Ibrahim Gamal Ibrahim ZAHRA (Egypt, SeismologyCourse)
In As H. G. Wells once said, “adapt or perish, now asever is nature inexorable imperative,” that was ourimpression during our study trip to Miyagi and Niigata
prefectures. During 5 days of a study trip to the North andthe West we experienced how the Japanese people is readyto coexist with disasters and how they plan to get alongwith such a harsh environment.
In Miyagi, we visited places affected by 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami. However devastating it was, it is admirable towatch how each city and town has almost recovered and how resilienceis the society.
During our small stay in Niigata, which suffered from a horrible
Chuetsu earthquake in 2004, we visited Yamakoshi town. We weretouched by its beautiful nature and learned how they badly sufferedfrom landslides after the Chuetsu earthquake. We also learned about
heavy damage in Kawaguchi town near the epicenter of the earthquake.
It was very important to learn how the people cooperated and becamevery close to pass through that severe damage.
I believe the most important lessons were the importance ofcollaboration and the need to accept help from others in addition to how
to pass the memories of what happened to the next generations so thatthey can learn about what happened and get ready. We all hope that we
can convey such experience and lessons to our countries and achieve
such level of resilience.

(2)By Mr. Bhenz RODRIGUEZ (Philippines, Tsunami Disaster
Mitigation Course)
The International Institute for Seismology andEarthquake Engineering (IISEE) – Building ResearchInstitute (BRI) conducted a five days study trip in theaffected areas of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake fromNovember 06 – 10, 2017. The participants were divided
into two groups, one was composed of the Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering students while the other group in which I belong was theTsunami Disaster Mitigation course. Our group was able to visit some of
the coastal cities such as Sendai, Ishinomaki, Kesennuma, Rikuzen-

Takata, Ofunato, Kamaishi and Miyako.
Going to these areas, it made me realize that the tsunami hazard
issomethingthat a country needs to give a higher degree of emphasis.
Earthquakes
By simply looking at each watermarks and traces of tsunami waves inThe 2011 off the Pacificdifferent area, I thought “what would be the landscape if same event
coast of Tohoku
happens in our country?” It can be more devastating especially if theEarthquake
government would not plan properly.
Reports of Recent
This study trip helped me to understand the depth of my work in
Earthquakes
the Philippines. Construction of seawalls and embankments as well as
the information from the historical events will help a certain area be
Utsu Catalog
resilient in such catastrophic event. I was really amazed about how
Earthquake Catalog
Japan was able to ascend and recover from this risk. Other tsunamiprone countries can learn from how Japan faced the life after this great
Call for Papers tsunami.
IISEE Bulletin is now
accepting submissionsof papers for the seismol og y, ea rt h qu ake
engineering, andtsunami. Developing
countries are targeted,but are n ot limited.
Your original papers
will be reviewed by theeditorial members andsome experts.
NO submission fee isneed.
Try to challenge!!

(3)By Ms. Rizalyn Centino ILUMIN (Philippines, Earthquake
Engineering Course)

The fruitful 5 days study trip in Tohoku Region andNiigata Prefecture gave us vast information and I thank all
the organizers behind this event.
The educational tour focused on the two previous
major disasters which are the 2004 Mid Niigata Prefecture
Earthquake and 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku
Earthquake. Hard lessons learned from these catastrophes transformed
Japan as the leading nation in disaster management preparedness. The
10-year reconstruction program with 32 Trillion Yen total budget reveals
their government’s sincerity and outstanding decision making. I learned
that an effective solution in persuading the affected families tovoluntarily occupy the relocation sites was to provide livelihoods,
hospitals, schools and other recreational amenities and not justconcentrate on relocation houses alone.
Moreover, site visits to the Temples greatly helped us understandand embrace the Japanese culture and traditions. As I have learned, wemust build better structures before disastrous events occur.

(4)By Mr. Jorge Alberto Stanley FLORES GONZALEZ (El Salvador,
Earthquake Engineering Course)

I know that Japan is one of the countries in the world
most prepared and used to earthquakes, but the one asintense as that took place on March 11, 2011 accompanied
by tsunami that devastated everything in its path wasbeyond what they have had. However, after the earthquake
the people of Japan joined together, to help, to encourage,
and to tell themselves "let's not give up"
During the study trip I had the opportunity to see the terrible
images on television and the spot in the northeast coast of Japan where
the earthquake and tsunami with my own eyes. We were able to learn
not only what happened at that time, but how fast the Japanese people
reconstructed their infrastructure with the same ability to stand up
together.
What got my attention was the importance of urban planningwhich plays an important role when it comes to prevention, because
good planning can reduce many losses.

Another remarkable action is that they are in a continuous
learning to create more prevention measures and diffusing the citizens
about prevention methods and counter measures that makes people
more resilient for the upcoming disasters, so they can prevent morecatastrophes.

Photos of Tohoku and Niigata Study Trip
Kamaishi

Enjoy, Now
Sendai

Nagaoka

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IshinomakiFire Drill

By Ms. Riho Aoki, Staff member, IISEEBuilding Research Institute had a Fire Drill which made theassumption that fire occurred inside of the building on November 21st.
According to instructions of announcement and evacuation personnel,
staffs took the refuge in predetermined spot where was located outside.
We also had Fire Extinguishing Drill by using fire extinguishers, andsome training participants of IISEE joined it.

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Fire Extinguishing Drill