IISEE Newsletter
Mar 3 2020
Number 178

In This Issue Reports on Study
Trip -Global
SeismologicalObservation Course-International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering BRI Japan
1 Tachihara Tsukuba Japan 305-0802

tel+81-29-879-0678 facsim+81-29-864-6777

Reports on Study Trip -Global SeismologicalObservation CourseBy Mr. Ahmed Hussein ISSE from Somalia

 International
Friendship Party

Our study tour started with our visit to theNational Data Center at Japan Weather
Association in Tokyo and had a fruitful
meeting and lecture with Mr. Toyomi
Sakamoto very experienced and talented
seismologist he shared with us his
experience and knowledge about the historyof nuclear test and CTBT, functions of NDC,IMS stations in Japan and overseas. And
finally we visited National Data Center daily
working office and observed how they dodaily activity and monitoring and how theyreceive data at the same time share or send

 Attendance at theBRI-GRIPS
symposium on“Future of postdisaster assessment
for buildings”
 IISEE Seminar forearthquake
engineering held on
February 19

data to others.
After lunch we experienced traveling with Shinkansen (Japanese bullettrain) running at speed of up to 320 km/h from Tokyo station to Hiroshima
and stayed at nightin convenient hotelnear to Hiroshima
central station.
In the next day the
first place we visitedwas Miyajima Islandembarked on a highstandard safetyboat from Miyajima
guchi station toMiyajima port thenwe had a seeing ofMiyajima, I enjoyedreally beautiful
places like theshrines both old andnew one in theisland. Then at thePeace Education: Lecture by an A-bomb survivor

IISEE Net andTraining
IISEENETIISEE-UNESCO Lecture
NoteIISEE E-learning
Synopsis Database
Bulletin Databaseafternoon we comeback to Hiroshima and we had peace education lectureby an A-Bomb survivor, Ogura-san. After that we observed thedocumentary of Peace Memorial Museum, victims’ mementos, photos andmaterials like melted glass, charred clothing and the Atomic Bomb Domeand many more.
I had a life time experience in there and a lot of history and could feel andconclude that we have to learn a lot from war and advocate peace memorial
museums in everywhere on this planet because What happened inHiroshima was a man-made disaster.
Next morning we headed to Nojima fault around Ezaki Toudai and weobserved a real fault and surface displacement, after that we headed toNojima fault preservation
museum and saw the great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
memorials which was thelatest highly devastating,although in Awaji Islandand Kobe area arerecovered from thatdevastation we witnessed
the memory of thatdisaster, then in theafternoon we visited todisaster reduction andhuman renovation institutewhere I saw and observed
the devastating impacts ofearthquakes and Tsunamis
through audio and visual,graphics and models, andphysical artifacts.
Last day of this study trip
was sightseeing of Kyoto
city and we visited Nijo-joCastle, Kinkakuji Temple,and Kyoto Imperial palace,Nojima fault preservation museum
those were breath taking
sights and we grasped
about cultural heritages of Japanese people, the Castle and Temple’sarchitectural design was great and how they keep their history wellpreserved and continue spreading it to the younger generations.
This trip is very valuable to me as it would help me understand theconditions of the Japanese government and people face in responding todisaster reduction and renovate in a more proactive way which
acknowledges the importance and usefulness of different techniques andscientific researches.
The experience we gained in this trip will somehow enrich our insights on
global seismological observation and disaster management and policies in
an international context.
Finally I would like thank everybody who contributed and assist our study
trip.

By Mr. Dookhee Jaikishan From Mauritius

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

These four days of study trip has been a very mesmerising experience forme. I have lived a great and probably oncein a lifetime learning period. It was anopportunity to understand a couple of pages
from the great history book of JAPAN. After
having been clearly explained on theresponsibilities of the National Data Centre
by Sakamoto san from JWA, the group left
for Hiroshima through the Shinhansen line. I
enjoyed very beautiful scenes on the way
and most importantly some enchanting
glimpses of the great Mount FUJI.
The next day, the visit to the Miyajima
island made me gained some knowledge about the Shinto religion and at
the same time discover the beauties of that place. The journey continued
with a visit at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Now, here, I won’t
be able to express in words the emotions that I have gone through, a mixof great sadness and anger. Great sadness at the apocalyptic scenes ofdestruction and suffering of the victims and anger at those people who
dropped the A bomb over Hiroshima. Anyway, history cannot be re-written
but all the people around the world should join our efforts so that such athing should never occur again. The highest event during this tour has
undoubtedly been the lecture by KEIKO san, the courageous A bomb
survivor. I consider myself highly privileged to have this opportunity ofattending such a speech. The narration of the event has been done in so
detail that my emotion level was very high. I have never imagined of thesuch sufferings that the people of Hiroshima endured. I now consider thepeople of Hiroshima as HEROES. Heroes, in the sense that you have showed
your courage and ability to the world by reconstructing a beautiful andlively city after such a disastrous event. I bow down and salute all thepeople who were involved in this reconstruction act.

Enjoy Now

Miyajima

On the third day we went to visit the Nojima fault preservation museum. Itwas with a lot of excitement that I crossed over another masterpiece ofJapanese know-how, the Akashi Kaikyo bridge. At the museum, a detailed
explanation was given about the event by the guide and it was impressive
to see how a small part the fault of the 1995 Kobe earthquake waspreserved. Now, I have a better visual understanding of a fault. Next, wewent to the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution wherevideo clips of natural disasters (mainly the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the2011 Tohoku tsunami) were played. I got the impression of living those
events through the clips. It was also very heart breaking to hear thetestimonies of people who have lost close ones during those disasters. But
at the end of the day, everyone showed great affection to their cities byovercoming their great desperation and restarting a new life.
On the last day, it was a brief rendez-vous with the Japanese history andculture. After witnessing snow falls for the first time in my life on the way, Ivisited the Golden temple in Kyoto city. The guide accompanying the groupgave a very good briefing about Buddism in Japan. Then, we visited theNijo-jo castle and the Imperial palace and again the lady guide narrated us
the lives of Shoguns and Emperors and their importance in the Japanese
history.
To conclude, this study tour is very important for the course. I have got amuch better understanding of the disastrous impacts of nuclear bombs,earthquakes and tsunamis. It has been an emotionally strong and culturally
enriching experience for me. I am indebted to JICA, IISEE and theGovernment of Japan for having given me the opportunity to live such anexperience. My deepest thanks to JICA, IISEE, the Government of Japanand last but not least to Shibazaki sensei, Hamano san, Sakuma san andInadome san. We have been taken very good care. Thanks a lot.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

By Mr. Bilal Saif from Pakistan

Call for Papers
IISEE Bulletin is now
accepting submissionsof papers for the seismology, earthquake
engineering, andtsunami. Developingcountries are targeted,but are not limited.
Your original papers will
be reviewed by theeditorial members andsome experts.
NO submission fee isneeded.
Try to challenge!!

On February 6-9, 2020, the participants of
the Global Seismological Observation Course
went to Hiroshima, Miyajima island, Awajii
Island, Kobe, and Kyoto for study andsightseeing trip.
It was a great 1st-time experience to travel
through Ferry service to Miyajima island. Thisisland is very beautiful and takes us to realenvironment of the Shinto religion. Theshrines built in the water were so attractive
and unique with beautiful landscapes.
It was really impressive to visit the AtomicBomb Dome and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The real stories ofsurvivors were quite emotional and heart touching that gives us a true
picture of August 6th, 1945 event. Hiroshima was almost ruined by theatomic bomb. People were hurt by the bomb very badly both physically andmentally. People were disappointed, and the economy was depressed.
Human beings should learn from the history of Hiroshima and to dosomething for the world without nuclear weapons, because it is the demandof times. In the museum, Sadako Sasaki’s history, a girl affected by
Hiroshima Bomb was very emotional for me. Nobody should experience theeffects of an atomic bomb again after knowing the story of Sadako andvisiting the children’s peace memorial.
It was a dream come true for me to pass through Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge(world’s largest suspension bridge) for Awaji Island. It was amazing to seea real Nojima fault and experience a simulated earthquake in the Nojima
Fault Preservation Museum and also got more knowledge about the “TheGreat Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake,” in which
about 6,500 people losttheir lives.
It was really impressive
to see how Japan
preserved the Nojima
fault and damages of theearthquake to teacheverybody how
destructive anearthquake can be.
The Disaster Reductionand Human Renovation
Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation
Institution (DRI) in Kobe
Institution
showed us all thedamage caused by thedevastating Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (Kobe earthquake) on January
17th, 1995. The Tohoku earthquake that struck Japan on March 11th, 2011,
one of the biggest earthquakes recorded in the last 100 years, which
generates the great tsunami waves that ruin the coastal areas very badly.

The 3-D movies were very impressive, emotional and heart touching. I am
really impressed by the preparation of Japanese people that how they
prepare themselves to face future disasters and challenges caused byearthquakes.
I enjoyed really beautiful places like Kinkakuji Temple, Nijo – jo Castle, andKyoto Imperial Palace in Kyoto City the snowfall in Kyoto makes our trip
more memorable.
The trip gave us a lot of fun, excursion, sightseeing, knowledge, andinformation about the damages caused by earthquakes and nuclear
explosions. Lastly, I would like to thanks JICA, IISEE, and Government ofJapan for arranging this valuable trip for us. Here I also mention thecommitment of Mr. Hiko Inadome and Ms. Sakuma. They gave us morecare and guided the trip very smoothly and efficiently.

Atomic Bomb DomeInternational Friendship Party
By Mr. Takahiro Yamada, Head of Administration Division, IISEEIISEE hold a Friendship party in this period during the regular course,
andglobalseismologicalobservation
courseareinoperation. (on Feb 17th)
Lecturers of Global SeismologicalObservation course, Seismology
and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation
course joined us and we spent agreat time together.

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Attendance at the BRI-GRIPS symposium on“Future of post-disaster assessment for buildings”
By Dr. Tatsuya Azuhata, Chief Research Engineer, IISEEThe BRI and the GRIPS held their joint
symposium titled “Future of post-disaster
assessment for buildings” at the hall of theGRIPS on February 5. Prof. Nakano of theUniversity of Tokyo chaired it, and sevenspeakers talked about the related topic.
Three of them were abroad speakers from
Chile, Taiwan, and New Zealand. From theIISEE, Dr. Azuhata introduced the IISEE
training program and the lecture contents
Dr. Tatsuya Azuhata, Chiefon the post-seismic disaster assessment
Research Engineer, IISEE
briefly as a part of his presentation. Afterall presentations, they conducted thepanel discussion about efficient methods for data collection and analysis on
damages in case of a wide-area earthquake. All participants of theearthquake engineering course attended this symposium. It was significant
for them to grasp the current situation and to acquire advanced knowledge
about post-disaster assessment technologies.

IISEE Seminar for earthquake engineering held on
February 19
By Dr. Tatsuya Azuhata, Chief Research Engineer, IISEEWe held the IISEE seminar entitled "Failure Mechanism and Non-linear
Seismic Performance Evaluation of Buildings." on February 19, 2020. The
program was as follows.
1. Matsutaro SEKI, "Effects of Soft First Story on Seismic Performance of RC
Buildings and Sustainable Approach to Retrofit," BRI, Japan

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2. Tatsuya AZUHATA, "Seismic Design for Ensuring Bending Failure
Mechanism and Effects of it," BRI,Japan
3. Prakirna Tuladhar, "Lessons
after April 25, 2015 Gorkha
Earthquake, Nepal & Revision ofBuilding Code NBC105:1994",
Dept. Urban Development andBuilding Construction, Nepal
Dr. Seki and Dr. Azuhata
presented recent research results
relating to the seminar title based
Dr. Matsutaro Sekion the master's thesis by exparticipants. Also, we invited Mr.
Tuladhar, who is an ex-participantof the 2007-2008E course, from
Nepal and asked him to introduce
recent topics of seismic
performance of buildings in hiscountry.
The failure mode or the collapse
mode can significantly affect nonlinear earthquake responses ofbuilding structures. Dr. Seki
Dr. Tatsuya Azuhata
presented that infill masonrywalls, which designers are likely toneglect in the structural design,
may cause a collapse in the firststory. And he introduced retrofit
methods to avoid such a storycollapse. Dr. Azuhata talked about
the importance of ensuring design
to avoid shear failures ofstructural members. According to
his presentation, we can reducethe collapse probability ofbuildings drastically by avowing
Mr. Prakirna Tuladhar
shear failures. Mr. Tuladhar
introduced some examples ofbuilding seismic damages in the Gorkha Earthquake and presented lessons
obtained from analysis results on those damages.
I think that this IISEE seminar was helpful and significant for all trainees tounderstand and enhance their knowledge on earthquake engineering.