IISEE NewsletterFeb 28 2014
Number 106

In This Issue• Study Trip toHiroshima & Kobe
• Study Trip Reports
by Global CourseParticipants• IISEE Council forTraining andPromotion held inTokyo

International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering BRI Japan
1 Tachihara Tsukuba Japan 305-0802

Study Trip to Hiroshima & Kobe
-Global Seismological Observation CourseBy Ms. Yoriko Iiba & Dr. Bunichiro Shibazaki of IISEEThe participants of the Global Seismological Observation Course visited
Hiroshima and Kobe from February 6 (Thu) to 8 (Sat).
On the morning of Feb. 6, theparticipants had the lecture titled,“Japan’sPerspectiveonNuclearDisarmament,” by Mr. Ken Ono,
Principal
DeputyDirector,
Arms
Control and Disarmament Division,Disarmament, Non-Proliferation andScience Department at the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Japan. After thelecture they headed east to Hiroshima
by Shinkansen, a bullet train.

• Participants’ Reports
for GRIPS IntensiveLectures• General Meeting &International
Friendship Party• In Memoriam• Participants
Recruitment for
2014-15 Starts Soon
• BRI Strong Motion
Observation ~ 50years’ Data

tel+81-29-879-0678 facsim+81-29-864-6777Lecture at MOFA

Next morning they visited theHiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and have learned the importance of lastingworld peace. In the afternoon they moved to Kobe and visited the Disaster
Reduction and Human Renovation Institution studying the lessons from theGreat Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
Although they intended to visit the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Hokudan
Earthquake Memorial Park on thefinal day, it wassnowing. A heavy
snow blocked thebridge and highways and brought
the delay of theShinkansen schedule. They cancelled
the entire scheduleon Saturday. However it was luckyfor them to takethe Shinkansen inthe morning andAt Hiroshima Peace Memorial ParkcamebacktoTsukuba
beforeevening.

Study Trip Reports by Global Course Participants
IISEE Net andTraining
IISEENETIISEE-UNESCO Lecture
NoteIISEE E-learning
Synopsis Database
Bulletin Database(1)Mr.Gonzalo Antonio Fernandez Maranon (Bolivia)
Once we got in the Museum and I read this phrase “War is the work of man,war is the destruction of human life,” I could imagine what was inside theMuseum, how the US took the decision to drop the bomb over Hiroshima andhow the clear summer weather helped the US army to realize such a horror
project.
Just looking around and hearing the speech of the somewitnesses, I started to feel inside the day that there
was not only the A-bomb impact but also the “postaftershocks impacts,” which became the saddest day inthe history. There were dark rain and fire all around,people were trying to help each other with little
strength left, and many survivors also got some illness
due to the radiation; and there are more sad histories.
However, Japanese people were able to forgive thosewho developed that monster plan, taking efforts andshowing example of humility, supporting each other like Sadako’s history,
developing and leading groups with peaceful behavior, and building thatbeautiful square to remind us of those who were murdered without a reason.
These are the reasons why all the CTBT state parties must take into account toput the treaty into force in order to prevent another Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Earthquakes
The 2011 off the Pacificcoast of Tohoku
Earthquake
Reports of Recent
Earthquakes
Utsu Catalog
Earthquake Catalog

As Japan’s flag has the rising sun, Hiroshima and Nagasaki became again
important cities for the world, now with the museum that show what humancan do and cannot do.

(2)Mr. Isikeli Waisega Duwai (Fiji)
When we visited the Peace Memorial Museum, I learned that the bomb wasfired by the US army to ensure that the effects of the bomb could be accurately
observed and the selected target should within an urban area and at least three
miles in diameter. Hiroshima was chosen to be the target since there was noAllied Prisoner of War Camp in this city.
It was unfortunate to say and see the loss of humanity
who doesn’t know anything and suddenly hit bysomething which was very deadliest in the world, theworld first atomic bomb.
This trip was very tremendous and an eye opener
because most of the things I heard before were justrumors from many media outlets, conversation andspeech, but looking at things on the real eyes makes
viewers more emotional. It’s just like staying at thescene of the bombing way back in 1945.
It’s an unforgettable experience to observe the pain of those who suffered fromthis bombing. The lesson that has been brought from this museum is that for all
countries with nuclear powers to be pleased to refrain from the nuclear power
as the form of destruction and be a member of the CTBT treaty withaccommodation. This is for the betterment of the world and future generation.

(3)Ms. Indira Shiwakoti(Nepal)

Call for Papers
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!!

I have never thought that Hiroshima was such a city with a green environment,
and I am really happy on viewing the very developed Hiroshima now.
When we get out from tram, the view “THE HIROSIMA DOME” firstly reflects
how the destruction at that time was. By looking the condition of that building
we were able to imagine people’s circumstances around affected part by “ATOMBOMB.”In the museum there are some actual collected things
destroyed by heat and radiations i.e. melted rocks, rooftiles, weapons etc. and some of them are imaginarymodels such as falling of skins from body. We canquestion for the agreed countries to drop the bomb inJapan why they didn’t think about painful moment of
the people? Anybody has ego but killing or destruction
is not the only solution for the future generation.
Anybody who visits Hiroshima can feel and conclude
that we should destroy all the nuclear weapons from the universe. Otherwise,
there will be accidents not only the one like in Japan in small scale but also theone that will destroy all over the world.
Lastly I would like people to visit Hiroshima and feel the message about
harmfulness of nuclear weapons that were felt by Japanese people yesterdayand developing more destructive weapons today will be “PRECAMBRIAN EARTH”(without living organism) tomorrow if countries keep having such enemies
without caution.

IISEE Council for Training and Promotion held inTokyo
The meeting of the Council for Training and Promotion of the International
Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering was held in Yotsuya, Tokyoon the 26th of February. The Council is constituted on the purpose of giving
advice and suggestion to the BRI Chief Executive relating to the activities ofdissemination of knowledge and technology of seismology and earthquake
engineering as well as the planning and implementation of the training
program.
It is consisted of 18 members who are university
professors and emeriti, highranking officers in relatedorganizations
anddistinguishedjournalists.
Dr.
Yoshimitsu
Okada,
Chief
Executive of National Research Institute for Earth
Science and Disaster Prevention(NIED) is in the chair.
13 members including 2 substitutes joined the meeting.

IISEE Council for Training and Promotion

We greatly appreciate thecooperation and support that the council members have given IISEE.

Participants’ Reports for GRIPS Intensive Lectures
The participants of seimsology and earthquake engineering course and tsunami
disaster mitigation course attended the intensitve lectures in National Graduate
Institute of Policy Studies(GRIPS) in Tokyo from January 27 to Feburuary 7.
This is one of the master’s program curricula.

(1)Ms.Raquel Noemi Vasquez Stanescu (Venezuela, Seismology Course)
Enjoy, Now

Japan has been prone to severe natural disasters such as floods, mudflows,
landslides, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Due to its long history facing theravages of nature, it was necessary to adopt strictmeasures to contribute to the reduction of disaster
vulnerability and risk management, in order to protect
the population.
Japan has become one of the countries with moreexperiences in disaster risk management.
During our visit at GRIPS, we have learned about
disaster management policy, disaster mitigation, andrecovery policy. We were introduced to very important
topics such as basics of disaster risk management, identifying and profilinghazards, disasters and environmental issues, trends of disaster risks, property
protection measures, and disaster mitigation plan.
When I return to Venezuela, I hope that the lessons learned from the Kobe
earthquake (1995) and Tohoku earthquake and tsunami (2011), will be avaluable contribution to introduce risk reduction measures for my own country.

Contact Us
The IISEE Newsletter isintended to act as ago-between for IISEE
and ex-participants.
We encourage you tocontribute a report andan article to this newsletter. Please let us
know your current
activities in yourcountries.
We also welcome yourco-workers and friends
to register our mailinglist.
iiseenews@kenken.go.jp
http://iisee.kenken.go.jp(2)Mr. Md. Emdadul Huq (Bangladesh, Earthquake Engineering Course)
In GRIPS, there were 35 participants from different courses of Disaster
Management Policy Program including three Ph.D students for two weeks. In
this time we had two courses and also two study trips, one in Nagoya City andanother at Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Tokyo.
Disaster Risk Management course was taken by Prof. Ando and Disaster
Mitigation-Recovery Policy course was taken by Prof.
Morichi. We learned a lot from both teachers.
Especially Prof. Morichi was excellent. He has highexperience on disaster management policy related issue
in Japan. He explained every policy from his personal
experience that was very interesting.
Both study trips were also very interesting. In Nagoya
city, we visited Nagoya Castle, Ueno Castle, Atsuta
Shrine and superconducting magnetic levitation(SCMAGLEV) and Railway Park. We also visited ninja house and observed ninja
show. The ninja trap, tactics, tricks, disguise and weapon for protecting fromenemies were marvelous and incomparable.
In Tokyo, we visited 54 storied Roppongi Hills Mori Tower of urban development
to observe how the authority maintains this building and produce own electricpower.

General Meeting & International Friendship Party
On February 18, we had a general
meeting which is set for frank discussion
between regular course participants andstaff members. This is the second time
for the course.

General Meeting
The participants of the seismology andearthquake engineering course, thetsunami disaster mitigation course andthe global seismological observation
course, IISEE staff members, and as
the special guests, Chief Executive andDeputy Chief Executive of BRI came tojoin the party.
For the Global Seismological Observation Course participants, this is thefirst and the last party in IISEE.
Although the party time was short,everybody enjoyed it.

At the same day, during the lunch hour,
we had an international friendship party
at the BRI cafeteria. All the wonderfulmeals (at low cost) were prepared by
Eriko and her colleagues.

International Friendship Party

In Memoriam: Prof. Angel San Bartolome (Peru)
It was with profound sorrow that we received the sad news of the passing awayof Prof. Angel San Bartolome of Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru onFebruary 11 of 2014. Ms. Lucia Casaverde de Suzuki, 1980-1981 Earthquake
Engineering course participant, kindly informed us on the sad news of her goodfriend.
Prof. Bartolome was a participant of 1974-1975 Earthquake Engineering course.
He introduced his blogs in the IISEE Newsletter No. 100 in August. We would
like to extend the sincerest sympathy to his family and associates.

Back Numbers
http://iisee.kenken.go.jp/nldb/Participant Recruitment for 2014-15 Starts SoonJICA will soon send the general information of 2014-15 course to the selectedcountries. Those are India, El Salvador, Thailand, Turkey, Nicaragua, Nepal,Bangladesh, Philippines, Peru, Myanmar, and Mongol for seismology &earthquake engineering course, and Indonesia, Chili, Nicaragua, Philippines,Peru, Myanmar for tsunami disaster mitigation course. For further information,please ask a JICA Office in your country.

BRI Strong Motion Observation ～ 50 years’DataWe have been conducting strong motion observation for building structures since 1957. During
the past half a cenury, the great number of strong motion data were accummulated and used todevelop the technology for improvement of earthquake resistance design tehcnology. For furtherinformation, see http://smo.kenken.go.jp/ja .
*Research leader: Dr. Toshihide Kashima, Chief Research Engineer, IISEEOutlineTo enhance the seismic safety of buildings, it is necessary to understand the characteristics ofearthquake ground motions and the behaviors of buildings during earthquakes. The Building
Research Institute (BRI) is performing strong motion observation in order to investigate the actualdynamic behavior of buildings and is conducting research projects in relation to this motion.
BRI has installed strong-motion instruments in major cities throughout Japan. 74 observation
stations are now in operation as shown as below. One third of these stations are located in Tokyoand its outskirts. All of the stations are equipped with state-of-the-art digital strong motion
instruments and are connected to BRI via public telephone lines in order to maintain these
instruments and to collect strong motion data immediately after an earthquake. The dynamic
behavior of buildings during earthquakes is our target. Therefore, acceleration sensors arebasically placed at the top and in the basement of a building, and optionally on the nearby ground.
The BRI strong motion network has obtained a numberof noteworthy records, suchas the acceleration record
from the 1964 Niigata Earthquake and the 1978 Off
Miyagi Pref. Earthquake. The
former was the first set ofrecords from a disastrous
earthquake in Japan, and thelatter included a record witha PGA exceeding 1G. In
another example from the1993
Off-Kushiro
earthquake, a peak acceleration of711 cm/s2 was observed atthe ground surface at theKushiro JMA Observatory.
Moreover,anenormousacceleration
recordwasobtained in the new Hachinohe City Hall building forthe 1994 Far Off Sanriku
Earthquake. The peak acceleration at the 6th floor
reached about 1G. Damage
to the new building wasslight, but an adjoining older
building
wasseverelydamaged. The record wasvaluable for investigating thefailureprocessofthebuilding.