2023. 5. 10

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.127
TC21 Special Session at CECAR 9 and
TDA Field Survey in the Philippines
TC21, the 21st Technical Committee of the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC), sharedand practiced the concept of TDA with the aim of building societal resilience to disasters through atransdisciplinary approach (TDA). During the first period (2016 to 2019) of these activities, ACECC conducteda report at CECAR 8 (8th Civil Engineering Conference in Asian Region) in Tokyo in April 2019 and publishedits report* in the form of an e-book.
*Activity Report (2016-2019), ISBN: 978-4-8106-1014-7, http://www.acecc-world.org/TC21/

This is a report on TC21’s (Transdisciplinary Approach for Building Societal Resilience to Disasters) efforts
during fiscal 2022 in which it held a special session both online and in person as part of CECAR 9 (9th CivilEngineering Conference in Asian Region) in Goa, India in September 2022 and carried out a TDA field survey
in Leyte, the Philippines.
1. Overview of Involvement in CECAR 9At CECAR 9 in fiscal 2022, TC21 held a special session called: Six years of activity of TC21 and statementfrom the members for future DRR. During this session, five panelist members were invited by the Asian Civil
Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC), and TC21 presented its activities over the last six years with afocus on TDA, as well as discussed the future outlook of TDA.
An award ceremony was held on the second evening of CECAR 9, with TC21 picking up the ACECC TC Award.
On behalf of TC21, Chairperson Mikio Ishiwatari was presented with a commemorative trophy.
TC21 Special Session ProgramTime
14:30 - 14:35
14:38 - 14:48

14:50 – 15:50

15:50 – 16:00

ContentOpening Remarks“Footprint of ACECC TC21 to Promote Transdisciplinary Approach(TDA) for Building Societal Resilience to Disasters”“Disaster Management and Evacuation under COVID-19 in Taiwan”“Project Monitoring Information System for monitoring andevaluation of school reconstruction program after 2015 Gorkha
Earthquake in Nepal”“Reframing disaster resilience strategy for climate risk and COVID19 pandemic: A transdisciplinary approach”“Web-GRiD: The Role of Academe in Building Resilience”
Panel Discussion
Closing Speech

1Speaker
Hon. Congressman Romeo S. Momo (TC21 Co-Chair)
Yoshihiro Katsuhama (Nippon Koei)
Mr. Ting-Chi Tsao (Sinotech Engineering Consultants, Inc.)
Dr. Youb Raj PAUDYAL (Nepal Reconstruction Authority)
Dr. Khamarrul Azahari Razak (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)
Dr. Dexter S. Lo (Xavier University, the Philippines)
Mikio Ishiwatari (TC21 Co-Chair; Visiting Professor at the
University of Tokyo / Visiting Senior Advisor to the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA))ACECC TC Award

TC21 Special Session at CECAR 9

2. Survey to Verify Disaster Reconstruction Efforts in Tacloban and Ormoc in the Philippines
From February 5 to February 12, 2023, a post-reconstruction
field survey was conducted in Tacloban and Ormoc in thePhilippines. More specifically, municipal government
employees, local residents, and citizens' groups wereinterviewed (in Ormoc, a courtesy visit was made to themayor) and efforts were carried out to check the areas wherelocal residents had been relocated to as well as to collectinformation.
While nine years have passed since Typhoon Yolanda inField Survey in the Philippines

2013, Tacloban faces difficulties in acquiring land forrelocation and in installing public utilities. We confirmed that relocation efforts have still not been completed
and cases where relocation efforts were carried out without the municipal government’s development approval
due to a lack of cooperation and coordination between the national government and the municipal government,
resulting in relocation sites not suitable for development being selected.
In Ormoc, which suffered damage due to Typhoon Uring in 1999, the banks and slit dams built with support
from Japan continue to function. However, we confirmed that the city has faced difficulties in cracking down
on illegal construction and expansion of houses along embankment roads during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the details of the survey were reported at the TC21 Special Session during the 3rd World Bosai Forum
held on March 10, 2023, and there are plans to present papers on the survey going forward.
3. Future Activities
TC21 has been active for six years and it has now been granted permission by ACECC to prolong its activities
for a further three years. As for the next fiscal year, in addition to plans to publish a special TDA issue of theJournal of Disaster Research, a Special Session at the ACECC Executive Committee Meeting in Taiwan is setfor September, as well as field survey research overseas (Nepal, the Philippines, and Malaysia are possiblecandidates). Through these activities, we intend to continue to undertake efforts to promote TDA and build
greater resilience against disasters.
Note that various information including the work of TC21’s efforts is published on the following websites.

2ACECC TC21 website: http://www.acecc-world.org/TC21/

ACECC TC21 Domestic Support Committee website: http://committees.jsce.or.jp/acecc02

To finish, I would like to mention that the transportation costs for CECAR 9 and the costs of the TC21 fieldsurvey in the Philippines were subsidized by the JSCE International Scientific Exchange Fund Charitable Trust.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the trust for its support and assistance. I hope that we continue toreceive advice and cooperation from a broad range of people.
【Reported by Masashi Inoue, Secretary-General, TC21 Domestic Support Committee(Eight-Japan Engineering Consultants Inc.)】

10th Joint Company Information Session forInternational Students (Online)
Since 2013, the International Student Network Group of the International Activities
Center has, for the purpose of providing information on the businesses of Japanese
civil engineering companies, overseas projects, and recruitment, held a company
information session for international students studying in Japan. The event has been
held every year in Tokyo and every other year in the Kansai area. This TenthCompany Information Session for International Students was held on Saturday,
December 10, 2022, in collaboration with the IAC International Engineers Groupand the Global Civil Engineer Research Subcommittee of the Consultants

Ji Dang（InternationalStudent NetworkGroup, IAC）

Committee. The event was held online as it was last year. A total of 129 international
students from universities all across Japan and 13 Japanese companies participated on the day. The companies
that took part are as follows.
[Participating companies]
Eight-Japan Engineering Consultants Inc., HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION,
JAPAN-CHINA CONSALTANT CO., LTD., KAJIMA CORPORATION,
Katahira & Engineers International, Kochi Marutaka Co., Ltd., NEWJEC Inc.,
Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., OBAYASHI CORPORATION, PENTA-OCEAN CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD.,TOA CORPORATION, TSUCHIYA CORPORATION, Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd.
The Joint Company Information Session was held in three parts: the (1) Opening Session, the (2) CompanySessions, and the (3) “Senpai” Sessions. In the first part, the Opening Session, the purpose of the CompanyInformation Session was explained during the opening remarks, and then Ms. Catherine Kariuki (Nippon KoeiCo., Ltd.) and Ms. Xuening Guo (NIPPON ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS CO., LTD.), who play a key roleat a Japanese construction consultancy company respectively, gave a talk entitled “Senpai’s Experience inStudying and Working in Japan”, in which they discussed topics such as research activities at Japanese3

universities, job hunting, and work afterjoining a company. This was followed by a“1-minute pitch” segment where therepresentatives

ofeachparticipatingcompany gave an outline of their company
and the contents of their company session
held in Part 2.
In the second part, from 14:00 to 17:15,
each participating company held Company
Sessions in the form of a web meeting for
Presentation by Ms. Xuening Guo

20 minutes per session. In the Company

Sessions, information was provided on topics such as the contents of work, introductions to overseas projects,and recruitment.
After the Company Sessions drew to a close, Senpai Sessions were held by former international students who
have landed themselves a job in Japan. The 10 former international students that helped make the Senpai
Sessions a success were the aforementioned Ms. Kariuki and Ms. Guo, as well as Mr. Shrestha Ashishi (HazamaAndo Corporation), Mr. Amirfarkhan Bin Radzali (Nishimatsu Construction Co., Ltd.), Ms. Luisa Santa Spitia(Hazama Ando Corporation), Mr. Cuiping Liu (Asunaro Aoki Construction Co., Ltd.), Mr. Jaehong Huang(Obayashi Corporation), Associate Professor Ms. Ying Cui (Yokohama National University), Mr. Edalo Serge(Nippon Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd.), and Mr. Jonathan Gonzales (Nippon Engineering Consultants Co.,Ltd.). The Senpai Sessions provided a platform for former international students to share their invaluable
insights and experiences as seniors, shedding light on the preparations they undertook and essential skills theyacquired while hunting for a job in Japan. Participatns eagerly asked their seniors questions, sparking passionate
discussions.
The International Student Network Group will continue toprovide information about Japanese companies and strive tocreate fantastic opportunities for international studies bycollaborating with former international students working atJapanese companies.
Lastly, I would like to introduce a community event that will beheld by the International Civil Engineers Group of theInternational Activities Center. On May 13, 2023, theInternational Civil Engineers Group will hold the second “Salonfor International Civil Engineers and Students in Japan” online.
This community event, entitled “Finding a Job in Japan as a
Foreign Engineer: Challenges and Solutions”, will see former
international students, who are now engineers or researchers
working at Japanese companies, share the issues, struggles, andchallenges they faced in seeking employment. I thoroughly
encourage international engineers and students who are4

The 2nd Salon for International Civil
Engineers and Students in Japanconsidering getting a job at a Japanese company to attend this event.
Find out more by visiting this webpage (https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/334).
【Reported by Ji Dang, International Student Network Group (Saitama University)】

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