JSCE Newsletter No. 35, December 2011

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Committee

Ne ws let te r
No. 35, December 2011
Contents

June 2011 – May 2012
President
YAMAMOTO Takuro
Vice-Presidents
IEDA Hitoshi
IFUKU Makoto
SATOH Naoyoshi
TASHIRO Tamiharu
HAYASHI Yoshitsugu
Executive Director
OHNISHI Hirofumi
International Activities
Committee
Chair
UEDA Tamon
Vice-Chair
HIROTANI Akihiko
Secretary General
HORI Kenji
Deputy-Secretary
GeneralNAGAI Kohei
Members / Secretary
KOBAYAKAWA Satoru
SASAKI Kuniaki
TAKAHASHI Shu
NODA Masaru
YAMAGUCHI Eiki
International Chapter
Taiwan Section
Der-Her Lee
Korea Section
Dong-Uk, Lee
U.K. Section
SOGA Kenichi
Mongolia Section
Enkhtur Shoovdor
Turkey Section
Zeki HasgürIndonesia Section
Sutanto Soehodho
Thailand Section
Samart Ratchapolsitte
Philippines Section
Ricardo G. Sigua

Flash Report of The Great East Japan Earthquake -- p.1
Photo Report ------------------------------------------------- p.4

Report of the 13th International Summer
Symposium ------------------------------- p.6
Student Network ---------------------------- p.7

The 2011 Earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku(The Great East Japan Earthquake)
The damage by the tsunami on the coast of Miyagi
Prefecture (Flash Report)
Photo credits : Professor Fumihiko Imamura,
Associate Professor Shunichi Koshimura,
Assistant Professor Kentaro Imai, Tohoku University
Author: The JSCE Secretariat
An earthquake which centered off the coast of Sanriku occurred around2:46p.m. on March 11, 2011, and very strong tremors were measured in the vastarea, at the level of seven on the Japanese intensity scale in Kurihara City,
Miyagi Prefecture, upper six in Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaragi and Tochigi, andlower six at Chiba, Saitama, Iwate and Gunma. Magnitude 9.0, announced by
the Japan Meteorological Agency, was the greatest in recorded history in Japan,
and a great number of aftershocks occurred as well.
Soon after the earthquake, a great tsunami occurred off the coast of thePacific Ocean and inflicted enormous damage on the coast of the Pacific Ocean
from the Tohoku region to the Kanto region. As of 7 p.m. on April 13, thenumber of death has reached 13,392 and 15,133 people are still unaccountedfor. (According to the National Police Agency)
The Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), in response to this disaster,
created a task force on March 11, on March 18, the directors board approved
the establishment of Special Committee on the Great Disaster and started toconsider dispatching an investigative team, and on March 23, the joint
communiqué by the presidents of three societies, i.e. the Japanese GeotechnicalSociety, the City Planning Institute of Japan and JSCE, was issued. Here, thisarticle is to introduce what the tsunami disaster was like on the coastal area of
Miyagi Prefecture, by showing the photos provided by the Tsunami
Engineering Laboratory, Disaster Control Research Center, School ofEngineering, Tohoku University.

Vietnam Section
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Yotsuya 1-chome,Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
160-0004 JAPAN
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Fax: +81-3-5379-2769
http://www.jsce-int.org
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Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

Photo 1 – The town hospital on ahill seen from the Onagawa Port.
The tsunami overflowed the hill,reaching the first floor of thehospital. (Photo taken byAssociate Prof. ShunichiKoshimura)1

JSCE Newsletter No. 35, Decemaber 2011
coastal levee and the coastal forest were expected tokeep off tsunamis and mitigate damages, but thedamage was too ruinous this time. In the picture,
the seawater remains in the ground scoured by thetsunami. (Taken by Assistant Prof. Kentaro Imai)

Photo 2 – Viewing the ocean from Onagawa
Bypass, Onagawa Town. This is the highest placethat the tsunami reached in Onagawa. The ocean isviewed way far-off. (Taken by Associate Prof.
Shunichi Koshimura)

Photo 5 – Flooded Sendai Plains in the vicinity ofTobu Road. The flooded area spread more than 4
km inland from the coast. Rubbles of the destroyedhouses were drifted and you can see some grease
floating on the surface of the remaining water.
(Taken by Associate Prof. Shunichi Koshimura)

Photo 3 – A reinforced concrete building that fell
down in Onagawa. It is considered that the bearing
power of the piles was lost by the earthquake and it
fell down by the tsunami which came subsequently.
Until then concrete buildings had been believed tobe able to withstand tsunamis. You can see anautomobile which was drifted onto the roof of thebuilding in the back. (Taken by Associate Prof.
Shunichi Koshimura)

Photo 6 – A dock at the back of Kesennuma Bay(Minami-machi). The tsunami flooded up to the2nd floor. It flooded up to the Kesennuma City
Office. (By Shunichi Koshimura)

Photo 4 – The damage situation of the coastal leveeof the Birds Ocean and the coastal forest. The2Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

JSCE Newsletter No. 35, December 2011

Photo 7 – The damage situation at the Shikaori
District of Kesennuma City. Large fishing vessels
and other things destroyed the protection line of thecoastal levee, which is seen in the front of the photo,and were drifted deep onto the city area. In addition
to the boats and ships, oil tanks, lumber, farming
rafts, vehicles that were washed away by thetsunami are part of the factors that spread thedevastating damage. (By Professor FumihikoImamura)

Photo 8 – Taken from the hilltop of Minamisanriku-cho. Almost all the buildings were washedaway except a number of reinforced concretebuildings on the beach. It was reported that theapproximately 75cm-deep ground subsidence
occurred in Minami-sariku-cho due to theearthquake. (By Shunichi Koshimura)

Photo 9 – The floodgate of Minami-sanriku-cho. It wasexpected to be closed and prevent the tsunami frombreaking in, but the tsunami exceeded far beyond theheight of the floodgate and destroyed the entire town
completely. (By Shunichi Koeshimura)

Photo 10 – The damage situation in the Matsuiwa District in Kesennuma City – All the houses werecrushed down and only debris are remained. (Taken by Associate Prof. Shunichi Koshimura)

Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

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JSCE Newsletter No. 35, Decemaber 2011

Photo Report from JSCE Magazine

Opening of the Hanshin
Expressway No.8 Kyoto Line(Kamogawa-higashi – Kamitoba)―An urban expressway passing through thecrowded city area―
Photo credit: Hanshin Expressway Company,
LimitedAuthors: Kohei Nanjo, Regular Member,
Hanshin Expressway Co., Ltd.
Yasuto Sakai, Member of the Editorial Board
The Hanshin Expressway No. 8 Kyoto
Line (Kamogawa-higashi – Kamitoba), 1.9 km
long, was opened on March 27, 2011. Thereby,
the section from Yamashina to Kamogawahigasi (Sin-jujo-dori) of the No. 8 Kyoto Line,
which had already been placed in service, andthe section from Kamitoba to Daini Keihan
Road Junction (Abura-koji Line) of the No. 8Kyoto Line were directly connected, which has
greatly improved the accessibility to theeastern part of Kyoto, to the southern part of
Kyoto and also to Osaka.
Out of the total 1.9 km, which wasextended this time, 1.8 km is the section ofsteel girder that adopted weather proof steel infull, and positively adopted a rational structure
combining the steel-concrete composite slab
and the narrow box girder type.
Since this section which was opened thistime is crossing important structures such as
the Kintetsu Kyoto Line, which is now inoperation, and major arterial roads such as
National Road No. 24, Kuzebashi-dori,
Aburakoji-dori, and the Hanshin Expressway
No.8 Kyoto Line Kamitoba Entrance, it wasconstructed with a method to minimize theeffects on the surrounding areas as well as thetraffic by adopting the large block erection
method and the incremental launching method.

Photo 1: Viewing the Higashiyama mountain range
from on this roadPhoto 2: A steel
fastening structure
unifying the girder
and the pier, and anarrow box girder
was partially adopted.

Photo 3: The erectionof the bottom steel
plates of thecomposite slab.
Photo 4: Unifying thegirder height,
considering thecontinuity since it
passes along theKamo-gawa River.

Photo 5: LED roadlighting which wasadopted for thearterial road of
expressways for the
first time in Japan.

Since this particular section is now underconstruction with two lanes temporarily,
considering the maintenance and inspection
after its full opening, introduced LED roadlighting which lasts long with good durability
and with little power consumption for theentire section, which contributes to thereduction of carbon-dioxide emissions.

4Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

JSCE Newsletter No. 35, December 2011

Photo 6: The construction of the No.8
Kyoto Line (Kamogawa-higashi –Kamitoba) that pass through the city area.
Photo 8: The erection by the large
block construction method at thecrossing of the National Road No.
24 Kamogawa West Entrance.

Report of the 13th International
Summer Symposium
Date: Friday, 26 August 2011
Venue: Uji Campus, Kyoto UniversityThe Thirteenth International Summer
Symposium organized by the International
Activities Committee of JSCE (Chair: Prof.
Tamon Ueda, Hokkaido University) was heldat Uji Campus, Kyoto University on 26 August
2011. The symposium is held annually so as toprovide an opportunity to exchange
information and ideas associated with various
aspects
ofcivilengineering
among
international students and engineers, including
Japanese. Another objective of the symposium
is to promote international exchange andmutual understanding between international
Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

Photo 7: The erection by the incremental
launching method near the intersectionof the Kintetsu Kyoto Line.

communities and Japanese students andengineers. The symposium started in 1999 andhas received high reputation as a valuable
opportunity for exchanges among students andengineers in English. In the symposium
proceedings, papers through full review
process are inserted.
The Thirteenth Summer Symposium wassupported by the International ScientificExchange Fund, JSCE. The symposium wasaided by the two Kyoto University Global
COE programs, Global Center for Education
and Research on Human Security EngineeringforAsian
Megacities,andSustainability/Survivability Science for aResilient Society Adaptable to Extreme
Weather Conditions.
5JSCE Newsletter No. 35, Decemaber 2011

The number of attendants of thesymposium was 124 (foreign students /engineers: 75; Japanese students / engineers:14; Committee members and others: 35). This
year's keynote lecture was given by Prof.
Hitoshi Furuta, Kansai University and theformer chair of International Activities
Committee of JSCE, entitled "Applications ofSoft Computing in Civil Engineering". In thetechnical sessions, 77 technical presentations
from 7 areas in civil engineering werepresented. The symposium was brought to aclose with the Reception where there werelively exchanges between the participants. The"Certificate of Excellence" was awarded,
during this reception, to 19 speakers for theiroutstanding papers and presentations.
The award winners are: Rajendra Soti
(The University of Tokyo) / Shanker Dhakal(Ehime University) / Rusnardi Rahmat Putra(Kyoto University) / Sherliza Zaini Sooria(Kyoto University) / Sha Lou (NagasakiUniversity) / Manojkumar Langhi (KyotoUniversity) / Khoi Nguyen Dao (University ofYamanashi) / Netrananda Sahu (KyotoUniversity) / Nguyen Hoang Duc (TokyoMetropolitan University) / Seto Wahyudi (TheUniversity of Tokyo) / Deepak Raj Bhat(Ehime University) / Mohsin Usman Qureshi(The University of Tokyo) / Rama Mohan
Pokhrel (Saitama University) / Muneyoshi
Numada (The University of Tokyo) / Esmael
Mohamed Omer (Institute of Transport PolicyStudies) / Yong Wu (Nagoya University) /Usman
Akmal(YokohamaNationalUniversity) / Yunjing Wang (NagoyaUniversity) / Xin Tian (Nagoya University)

Photo 1

6Technical session

Photo 2 The award winners(Keiichi Toda,Chair, Organizing
Committee of the Thirteenth International
Summer Symposium, JSCE)
Student Network

In Winning the Future
Since the Great EastJapan Earthquake struck
on March 11th, 2011. I
have visited several timesof the damaged areas
along
theJapan’s
coastline as part of myresearch program. Except
the priceless of humancasualties, the economic
loss caused by the damage of infrastructures isanother blow for Japan’s fragile economic. It
was hard to believe that infrastructures madeby massive concrete and steel structures werestumbled easily by nature forces from
Earthquake and Tsunami.
Japan is an exceptional nation when it
comes to the comprehensive infrastructure
facilities and its technology from highways,
railways, ports, bridges etc. Japan fully
understands that infrastructures across thenation are essential for their economic strength.
Like no other countries, infrastructures inJapan were designed to deal with disastrous
nature forces such as earthquakes and typhoons.
Therefore makes Japan a frontier in advanceinfrastructure technology and envied by othercountries.
Unlike Japan, Indonesia, the country
where I belong, is fallen behind in terms of thedevelopment in infrastructure facilities among
other nations. The fact is inconvenient to see
since Indonesia’s current economic holds thehighest GDP with robust growth among theSoutheast Asian countries. Particularly inengineering point of view, infrastructuredevelopment in Indonesia is facing setbacks
primarily due to their geographical conditions
and lack of research/expertise. Therefore, theAlso available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

JSCE Newsletter No. 35, December 2011awareness of each fellow countryman in
human capital investment is the answer
resolving technical difficulties and winning thefuture.
By: Wahyudi, Seto
(PhD student, The University of Tokyo)

Foreign Student from PakistanInthe13thInternational
SummerSymposiumofJapan
Society of Civil Engineers,
held in Kyoto, I washonored with the “Award ofExcellence” for the best
presentation in the sessionof “Rock Engineering andFoundation Engineering”. I obtained my Ph.D.
from The University of Tokyo in 2011, under
the supervision of Prof. Ikuo Towhata, wholeads a dynamic research group of
Geotechnical Engineering and a highly
equipped laboratory for advanced experimentalresearch. The most recent equipment,“Temperature Controlled Triaxial” whosedevelopment
involved
mytechnicalcontribution, serves as to reproduce thephysical weathering process of soft rocks.
I am always inspired by the diverseJapanesecultureandsuper-modern
infrastructure, during my five years of stay inJapan. As a civil engineer, I not only getversed with the knowledge but my exposure to
the great projects and interaction with best
professors of the world, brought me up as
nation builder for my country.
The recovery of Japan after the great
disaster of March 11 has inspired the wholeworld and set an example for the nations
tackling with natural disasters. I myself wish toplay an important role in the future research
related to the geotechnical problems faced byJapan during and after the earthquake. An
increase in slope disasters is observed after theEast Japan Earthquake, which will continue forlong duration. This is a present problem to theseismically disturbed slopes after the 2005
Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan which isaffecting the local roads and infrastructures.
Therefore, it needs to be investigated in detail.
I extent my gratitude to MEXT, Gov. ofJapan, for financial assistance during mystudies in Japan and appreciate the efforts ofJSCE to bring together young civil engineers
on one platform for valuable discussions.

Japan, JSCE and Me!
To me, a guy froma little village in thecountry of Nepal andmore importantly withan uneducated-to-veryless-educated as well as
financially challenged
family background, theonly option to survive
and progress in life wasto study well at any cost. It was either to getscholarship in succeeding class/level/degree orto get employed easily afterwards purely basedon the academic achievements, offsetting fromthe disadvantages, for instance, of any family
recommendation (so called power!). Following
my majoring in Science (especially Physics)
and Mathematics during the Secondary andHigher Secondary Schooling, I had developed
an amazing interests and habit of going
logically deeper and deeper into matters tograsp the root cause/reason interpreted in termsof mathematics or mechanics!
My enthusiasm for research was almost
dying by the middle of 2009 and I was almost
making a mind of not trying anymore for myhigher education abroad toward feeding mymind with the joys of research. Surprisingly, I
never ever made up a mind, to try elsewhere
except Japan despite the failures – probably I
was born to study in Japan anyhow!
Meanwhile, I was selected for a scholarship inSpecial Course in Disaster Mitigation Studyfor Asian Students at Ehime University (EU),where I had applied for with a kindcorrespondence of Asst. Prof. Dr. NetraPrakash Bhandary. Accepting my destiny, I
finally compromised and ended up with Ehime.
I still had a sincere hope that I would be savingsome money and, primarily, would be doing
excellence with my research working extrahard in an environment amidst the expert
Japanese professors.
I remember the very day, the 22nd ofSeptember 2009, when I landed onto Japan atKansai International Airport. I also rememberquite well my answer to a question by Dr.
Bhandary on how I was feeling while crossing
a bridge over sea by bus. “It’s wonderful!
Heavenly beautiful!”. As such I was viewing asea-landscape crafted with such a mindblowing architecture and civil/structural
engineering for the first time. Finally, I
reached my destiny, Ehime/Matsuyama.

By Qureshi Mohsin Usman(Asst. Prof., The Univ. of Wah, Wah Cantt, Pakistan)
Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/

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JSCE Newsletter No. 35, Decemaber 2011

Photo: A Section from Matsuyama Castle, a typicalJapanese castle and my ever ‘close friend’ standing
over the tall rock-fill walls (By my wife, Ar. SwetaAcharya/Dhakal)

While searching for more hopes, andimportantly, to fulfill the gap of social life cum
professional exposure that I acutely lacked at
Ehime, I decided to work in an organization
Nepal Engineers’ Association – Japan Center(NEA-JC) being in some active position, and I
fortunately got to work as Secretariat in its
2010/2011 tenure. Furthermore, I decided totravel many places in Japan to make Japanesetechnology my close and inspiring “friends”.
Continuing life in Japan hygienically had been
more important for me than to save any moneyfrom my little scholarship. Innocently speaking,do not have even one hundred thousand yen in
my account collected in this more than two andyears of stay in Japan unlike many
international students as I know. Anyway,Tokyo Sky-tree, Disney Land; Ginkakuji
Temple in Kyoto; Kobe Earthquake Memorial
Museum, Earthquake Memorial Park at Awaji
Island; Onaturo Whirlpool; mega bridge
systems joining Shikoku and Honshu islands;
Tottori ski-tour; Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Park, Yamato Museum at Kure; Fukuoka Cityand Tower; Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial
Museum in Kochi; and last but not least, myever ‘close friend’, Matsuyama Castle, areindeed amongst the most important images ofJapan that are stamped so impressively onto
the diary of my mind. I hope all these
impressions shall be of some benefit while I
work as a structural engineer or educator orplanner for the infrastructural development of
Nepal in future.
During my tenure in NEA-JC, I could
closely learn about many of the nice programs
8of JSCE. Very recently, I have been fortunate
enough to participate in the Annual
International Roundtable Meeting of JSCE
held at Ehime University as a delegate on
behalf of NEA and NEA-JC. I learnt a great
deal on the global experience regarding thePPP policies and guidelines for project
implementation including a typical scenario ofJapan. I could also share my tiny observationof the deficiency of effective and skilled peerreview body for the implementation andevaluation of big and important projects suchas high-rise buildings in Nepal, which I learnt
while working as the Joint-Secretary ofStructural Engineers’ Association- Nepal(SEA-Nep) before I came Japan.
Not only did I benefit from JSCE that way,
I have benefited much more by participating in
the various annual conferences of JSCE and its
Shikoku Branch. Most significantly, for its
13th International Summer Symposium lastAugust at Kyoto University, I submitted a 4page manuscript. My paper was reviewed by
two anonymous referees. In addition toimportant email-based suggestions from Prof.
Lam as well as Dr. Volkwein who I share myrelevant problems with at times, I got very nicecriticisms and suggestions from thesymposium referees. The comments have been,in fact, guiding me until today. I continued
trying my best to follow all the comments I
had received. Until the day of symposium, I
was much improved and confident. My efforts
were paid off – I got one of the best
presentation awards (certificate of excellence)of structural engineering!
Overall, I am thankful to Japan, JSCE,
and all who directly or indirectly supported mytiny research on “Modeling and Analyses of a
Newly Developed Rockfall Protective CableNet-Brake Structural System” conducted at
Geo-Disaster Research Laboratory of Ehime
University. If I am asked to share myexperience in very brief to my junior friends, Iwould say, “Whilst you continue to struggle toget what you are looking for, accept yourdestiny and try to make the best use of yourcurrent opportunity!”
By: Shanker Dhakal(Ehime University)
Send your comments and suggestions to: iad@jsce.or.jp
JSCE Website: http://www.jsce-int.org
Editorial Board:
Information Subcommittee,
International Activities Committee, JSCE
Editor-In-Chief: Dr. KOBAYAKAWA Satoru
Deputy Editor: Mr. USHIROOKA Hisanari
Also available on web: http://www.jsce-int.org/