I C U SNewsletter
Volume 11

Number

4

Jan. to Mar. 2012

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

IMPORTANCE OF BASIN-SCALE SEDIMENT CONTROLAS COUNTERMEASURES FOR GLOBAL WARMING
By Norihiro Izumi
Professor, Course of Civil Engineering, Hokkaido University
What Hurricane Katrina
left behind

Hurricane Katrina made landfall
on the Mississippi Delta in August29, 2005, and caused 108 billion
USD in damage and more than
1,800 fatalities, resulting in one of
the worst disasters in the history of
the US. There are several possible
main causes of such extraordinary
damage. Some people say that themagnitude of the hurricane wasmost likely worsened by global
warming, and others predict thata rise in atmospheric temperature
will increase the number of extreme
events such as huge hurricanes, andthat Hurricane Katrina may be justone example of global warming’s
effects. There was, however,another cause that deserves special
attention.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
is working to prevent flooding of
the Mississippi River in diverse
ways such as by constructing damsin the upper reaches and levees andfloodways in the lower reaches.
New Orleans, which was severely

damaged by Hurricane Katrina, islocated in a lowland area. The Army
Corps of Engineers is making its
best efforts to protect New Orleansfrom future floods.
Owing to these effective measures,the amount of sediment flowing into
the lower reaches of the Mississippi
River has been drastically reduced.
At the downstream end of theMississippi, a vast stretch of deltaic
plain has been formed due to thedeposition of sediment transportedby the flow of the Mississippi.
Deltas will naturally sink into theHouses and cars devastated by water flow from levee breaks in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina broke levees and flooded much of New Orleans.
(Photos taken by the author in November 2006.)

ocean under their own weight,
and global warming and predicted
increases in sea level worsen thesituation. Although the deltaic
plain used to grow and elongate
offshore due to sufficient deltaic
deposits, it is now retreating due
to the decrease in sediment supply
from upstream. New Orleans used
to be protected from flooding by
the well-developed deltaic land
formed between the city and theocean, but it has become vulnerable
to hurricanes at present.
Basin-scale sediment control
for long-term
restoration of deltas

It has been said that nearly 6,000
square kilometers of wetlands havebeen lost underwater in the past 100
years. Some are afraid that a largepart of the delta is still disappearing
every year. In order to stop orreverse the loss, or even rebuild thedelta, long-term restoration suchas basin-scale sediment control isnecessary.
The Mississippi Delta used to beformed by the repeated avulsionof channels and switching of delta
lobes from one place to another.
However, the Mississippi has
been prevented from avulsions bylevees built by the Army Corpsof Engineers since the nineteenth
century. One of the most effective

sediment control strategies is
artificial diversions of large amountof sediment-laden water from
the Mississippi River to deposit
sediment in near shore shallow
waters, which are now dumped
directly into the deep watersof the Gulf of Mexico. Several
studies have been conducted on thefeasibility and optimal methodology
of artificial diversions. Kim et al.
(2009) has proposed a numericalmodel describing the formation ofdeltas, and predicted that more than
1,000 square kilometers of delta
can be recovered by appropriate
diversions over a hundred years.
The scientific and engineering
problems for large diversions havealready been solved, and the biggest
problem has been a social, politicaland economical issue. Particularly
since the Deepwater Horizon oil
spill in 2010, the need for basin-scale
sediment control for the long-term
restoration of the Mississippi Delta
has been increasingly recognized bypoliticians from an environmental
point of view. Artificial diversionof the Mississippi may be put into
practice in near future.
As most of the major cities inJapan are located on river deltas,
and they often suffer from typhoons,the problem of degradation ofdeltas is even more serious.
However, a number of deltas aredensely populated and intensively

Collapses of a bridge and a road by rapid flow
created by heavy rainfall along the Chubetsu River in August 2010.
Courtesy of Hokkaido Development Bureau.

Page 2

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 11, No.4

Image of the Mississippi Deltaand new land created by two
diversions as predicted bynumerical simulation (Kim et al.
2009). Courtesy of Wonsuck Kim.

used for industry, so that basinscale sediment control as seen in
the Mississippi River cannot bedirectly applied to many rivers inJapan. We have to give a great dealof thought to countermeasures that
effectively enable the protection ofdeltas in Japan. In addition, there isanother sediment-induced problem
which is of particular importance inJapan.
Recent sediment disasters
in Japan and its vicinity

Heavy rainfall occurred in theupper reach of the Chubetsu River,a tributary of the Ishikari River in
Hokkaido, on August 23 and 24,
2010. Rapid flow caused by theheavy rainfall gave rise to bankerosion and the resulting collapses

Distribution of rainfall per houron August 24, 2010. The rain
area illustrated in red is a lineshaped rain band which caused
the heavy rainfall along the
Chubetsu River.

of a bridge and a road. Four people
were involved in the collapses andtwo lost their lives. It is suspectedthat the heavy rainfall was caused
by “a line-shaped rain-band.”The line-shaped rain-band stayedover the Chubetsu River basin forseveral hours, resulting in a large
amount of precipitation. Recordhigh precipitations per hour wereobserved at eight observation points
including 43 mm/h at Higashikawa,
54 mm/h at Ishikari and 42 mm/h at
Sapporo.
Seoul,
Korea,
experienced
extremely heavy rain in late July
2011. This was also caused by astationary rain-band. Main streetsin central Seoul were inundated
and a large landslide took place
at Mt. Umyeon in southern Seoul.
This one hundred year flood andthe resulting disasters caused a totalof 53 dead or missing people. The
rain-band causing this flood gave
rise to a similar disaster in Japana few days later – the Niigata andFukushima heavy rains in July
2011. The upper reaches of ShinanoRiver tributaries were severely
damaged by overflow and bankerosion, and Aizu in Fukushima
suffered from sediment-induced
disasters. In total, six people diedor went missing in this disaster.
Typhoons Talas and Roke madelandfall on Japan soon afterward in
the same year. At the beginning of
September 2011, Typhoon Talas
produced more than 2,000 mm
rainfall within three days over theKii peninsula. Rainfall of 2,000 mm
is equivalent to the annual rainfall inTokyo and twice the annual rainfall
in Sapporo. Disasters caused by
Typhoon Talas were characterized
by a rash of landslides and theresulting formation of many natural
dams. These landslides turned out

to be deep-seated landslides, which
include deep regolith, weatheredrock or bedrock. The number ofdead or missing persons was as highas 92. In late September, Typhoon
Roke attacked the Tokai District
and caused floods and sedimentinduced disasters, and the numberof dead or missing persons was 18.
Basin-scale sediment control
in mountainous areas

As described above, sedimentinduced disasters caused byheavy rainfall and typhoons inmountainous areas are serious
problems in Japan. In most of Japan,
it is predicted that global warming
will increase rainfall by twenty
percent and, as described before, thiswill raise the frequency of extreme
events such as huge typhoons ordeluges (Global Climate Prediction
Information 6th Edition, JMA).
The distribution of sediment along
a river in an equilibrium state isbasically determined by the averageannual rainfall in that basin. In abasin with relatively small annual
rainfall, a large amount of sedimentis stored in the mountainous areas.
Once rainfall increases, sedimentstored in mountainous areas isdestabilized and redistributed more
uniformly over the whole basin.
Therefore, a fast increase in rainfall
due to global warming may activate
sediment movement and cause
an increase in sediment-induced
disasters.
The areas most affected by thisredistribution of sediment arevalley floor plains and alluvial fans.
Valley floor plains are the transportroutes of sediment from mountains
to lowlands, and alluvial fans arelocated at the outlets of sedimenttransport routes. In the examples

A rash of landslides and theresulting formation of natural
dams at Nagatono and Akataniin the Kii mountain range due toa large amount of rainfall caused
by Typhoon Talas.

of sediment-induced disasters
described above, it is often observedthat valley floor plains are severely
damaged. Alluvial fans will also
suffer from sediment-induced
disasters by a further increasein rainfall. In order to mitigate
damage, basin-scale sedimentcontrol is necessary. Unstablesediment should be tentatively
stored in sediment reservoirs toprevent the rapid movement of
sediment, but such stored sedimentneeds to be passed to lowlands in
one way or another.
The Chubetsu River and Typhoon
Talas disasters may be theprologue to an increasing amountof sediment-induced disasters on
account of global warming over the
next few decades. Further studies
on efficient and smart means forcontrolling basin-scale sedimentneed to be conducted before it is
too late.
References

Kim, W., D. Mohrig, R. R.
Twilley, C. Paola, and G. Parker(2009), Is it feasible to build newland in the Mississippi River delta?,
Eos Transactions, 90(42), 373-374.

ICUS Newsletter Jan. to Mar. 2012

Page 3

Symposiums marking the one-year anniversaryof the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake in Japan
By K. Meguro, H. Sawada, M. Ohara and M. Koshihara

One year has passed since thatday on March 11, 2011, when
the Great East Japan Earthquake
occurred. During this period, many
symposiums, seminars and meetings
related to this disaster were heldin Japan. This article provides an
overview of the events which ICUS
members participated in.
Prof. K. Meguro, director of
ICUS, managed the symposium
as one of the comittee members“Protecting life and the country fromcatastrophic disasters - originatingfrom the 24 academic societies-”
held by the Science Council ofJapan. This symposium was heldamong 24 different academic
groups for the social and industrial
infrastructure of the country on 29
February, 2012. The purpose of thesymposium was to review the natureof the traditional specialization,
deeply exchange the fundamental
relationships among the academic
societies, and recommend basic
policy on our country and the future
direction of the academic groups.
The Japan Society of Civil
Engineers (JSCE) also held thesymposium “One year after the2011 Great East Japan Earthquake-International
SymposiumonEngineering Lessons Learned fromthe Giant Earthquake-“ with thecooperation of related domestic andinternational academic societies.
Dr. Ohara participated in this
symposium as a moderator. The
purpose of this symposium was todiscuss the fundamental problems
and the future strategy of social
safety against giant disasters.
This symposium concluded withdiscussions on the importance ofcooperation among all related fields– civil engineering, architectural,social science, and economics – tomeasure the concrete preparednessof the society and the progress ofreconstruction in the Tohoku area.
Prof. Sawada managed the“Forum on the collection and useof information regarding to theenvironmental and disaster risk inwide area” held at The University ofTokyo on March 12, 2012.
Dr. Koshihara also managed
some symposiums organized by
the Architectural Institute of Japan(AIJ).
ICUS members intend to continue
to contribute to the reconstruction
from this disaster and provide
a variety of information to thesociety.

Symposiums held marking one year after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake in Japan
Date

Title

Host/ Organizer

2012.1.18

2nd Symposium on “How we re-evaluate policies on Land andInfrastructure after the occurrence of a major disaster,"

Science Council of Japan

2012.2.11

The road to disaster mitigation and sustainable society
considering lessons learned from the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake

Science Council of Japan

2012.2.1617

Japan-UNESCO/UNU Symposium on the Great East Japan
Tsunami on 11 March 2011 and Tsunami Warning Systems:
Policy Perspectives

United Nations University/ UNESCO

2012.2.21

Debriefing meeting of the results of investigations on safetyissues of nuclear power plants by investigation committee

Japan Association for Earthquake Engineering(JAEE)

2012.2.29

Protecting life and the country from catastrophic disasters originating from the 24 academic societies-

Science Council of Japan

2012.3.3-4

One Year after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake International Symposium on Engineering Lessons Learned
from the Giant Earthquake -JAEE, AIJ, JSCE, The Japanese GeotechnicalSociety, The Japan Society of MechanicalEngineers, Seismological Society of Japan

2012.3.5-6

One year and the future since the occurrence of the 2011 Great
East Japan Earthquake- Social safety and catastrophic disaster -JSCE2012.3.12

Forum on the collection and use of information regarding
environmental and disaster risk over a wide area (21st Seiken
forum)

Institute of Industrial Science, the University of
Tokyo

Page 4

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 11, No.4

Collaborative survey on disaster information
in a rural mountainous area of Thailand
By A. Kawasaki

Rapid economic growth in Asia
– which includes not only highpopulation concentration and overdevelopment in urban areas but
also large-scale land development
in mountainous areas, such as
conversion from forests to commercial
rubber tree and cassava plantation– is increasing the risk of disasters
such as floods and landslides by
increasing the population in disasterprone areas where people have notyet settled. For example, people in
the northeastern part of Thailand
have been affected by floods, storms,
landslides and drought, resulting
in delayed economic development
and social problems such as a lower
educational level relative to the restof the country.
In order to address these issues,junior researchers from ICUS,
the Asian Institute of Technology(AIT), Chiang Mai University,and the Loei Fund for Nature
Conservation and Sustainable
Development
Foundationarecollaborating to develop a disaster
information dissemination system
for improving local communitys’
disaster response ability in ruraland agricultural mountainous areas
where support from the national
and local governments cannot be
expected.

Loei Province, Thailand

Consultation workshop withlocal community
in Nam Moon Tum village

Questionnaire survey in Non
Rhattana village

In order to design and develop
such a system, localization based on
current local conditions and needs
should be carefully evaluated andconsidered. To clarify the current
problems and needs at the local
community level, we conducteda joint field investigation in Loei
Province in March 2012. First, weinterviewed provincial and district
officials in charge of disastermanagement in the region to clarify
the flow of disaster information fromthe national government to the local
community. We then organized
consultation workshops in twovillages in order to understand thecurrent means of disaster informationcollection and what systems aredesireable in the future. In addition,
their general concerns in daily lifeand literacy were examined througha questionnaire survey in threevillages with around 300 responses.
Our initial findings are as follows:1) independent disaster informationcollection and distribution systems at
the district level need to be developed
because currently disaster-related
information sent from the central
government is often useless in termsof the timing (too slow) and detail(the information is too rough forthe local level); 2) as a result, local

governments and communities judge
the possibility of flooding basedon information sent from forest
rangers in upstream mountains andvisual checks of the water level andvelocity of neighboring streams
by local leaders and residents
themselves because no scientific
data or analysis are available; 3)
there is a large gap among local
people’s consciousness against
disasters and response depending on
their previous disaster experience; 4)although about 70% of families havemore than one mobile phone, theywish to obtain disaster information
through community speakers or
television because mobile phones
are not available in most houses andfarms due to poor mobile reception.
With further deep analysis,
we hope to propose a disaster
dissemination system in the study
area with technological strategies
for implementation which can beapplicable in other mountainous
areas in Asia.
* This project was funded by the FY2011
Special Project Formation Investigationof SATREPS (Science and Technology
Research Partnership for Sustainable
Development), Japan Science andTechnology Agency .

ICUS Newsletter Jan. to Mar. 2012

Page 5

Professor Meguro’s visits to Nepal
By R. Guragain, Deputy Executive Director, National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET),
Community Earthquake Learning Centre (CELC)

Professor Kimiro Meguro, Directorof ICUS, visited Nepal from the 19
to 26 of January 2012, to supervise
and provide guidance to the researchof a JSPS/RONPAKU fellow basedin Kathmandu. During his visit, Prof.
Meguro also met with key persons
Nepalese research institutions,ministries and organizations related
to disaster management, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with
the National Society for Earthquake
Technology (NSET), Nepal, andconducted a seminar to leaders
and representatives of relevant
departments and organizations in
Nepal.
Prof. Meguro met government
officials from the various ministries
involved in disaster management todiscussbuildingcodeimplementationand the retrofit of government
schools, as well as helding meetings
with the Chief Representative of
the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) and his Excellency
the Ambassador of Japan to Nepal.
As a part of the ICUS objectives
to expand its international networkof organizations working in theurban safety engineering field,
Prof. Meguro signed an MOU with
NSET-Nepal, a society focusing on
the advancement of the science andpractice of earthquake engineeringand technology in mitigating
earthquake risk and enhancing
seismic safety in Nepal.
On the 26th of January, a seminaron “Earthquake Risk Managementin Developing Countries,” organized
by NSET, ICUS and World Seismic
Safety Initiative (WSSI), was given
by Prof. Meguro to representatives
from the relevant departments of theGovernment of Nepal, professionalorganizations, banking/insurancecompanies, UNDP, engineeringGroup photographof seminar participants

universities, and civil societies.
He highlighted the importanceof appropriate technology use indisaster risk management, withregard to local availability, economic
limitations and cultural acceptability,
discussing the possibility ofpromoting low cost retrofitting
techniques through providing the
public with micro-insurance anddouble incentive systems.
During his visit, Prof. Meguro
appeared on national television
to discuss issues of disastermanagement, and engaged with oneof the few municipalities in Nepal
that is implementing the buildingcode at the municipal level to discuss
the challenges they faced.
Through his visit to Nepal,
Professor
Megurofurthered
ICUS’s key objective of promoting
advanced research and expanding
the ICUS international networkof organizations working in thefield of urban safety engineeringand information collection anddissemination.

Theses of recent ICUS laboratory graduates
Meguro Laboratory❖ Development

of
Local
Government Support System
for Concluding Mutual-Support
Contracts Based on the Analysisof the Supporting Activities
Conducted in the 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake Disaster❖ A Study towards the Formation ofDisaster Management Planning
Process with Past Disaster Lessons-The Case of the Revision Processof "Standing Orders on Disaster"in Bangladesh-.

Page 6❖ Study on Application of the

Methods of Project Management
to Procedures of Preparing
Temporary Housings.
❖ Proposal of Financial Models
Contributing to Seismic Risk
Control and Risk Financing ofLocal Industries.
Ohara Laboratory❖ Study on Human Evacuation

Plan during Large-scale Floodin Metropolitan Area andDevelopment of Flood Disaster
Risk Viewer -Case Study in Koto

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 11, No.4

Delta Area-.
on Effective Use of
Early Earthquake Warning in
Manufacturing Industries.

❖ Study

Kuwano Laboratory❖ Evaluation of Stress Distribution

in Model Ground usig Bender
Element Method.

Sawada and Takeuchi Laboratory❖ Multi-sensor

Remote Sensing
Techniques to Manage Cambodian
Forests for Implementation of
REDD+ policies.
❖ Tsunami-Inundated Area Estimation

Using Remote Sensing Data.
❖ Development of a wavelet filter
for numerical elevation model.

and the measurement of grounddeformation with inclinometers
on sites.

Nagai Laboratory

Tanaka Laboratory❖ A Study of the Acquisition of

Resource Necessary for a Life andthe Social Network in a JapaneseMountainous Village.
❖ A Shear performance of HPFRCC
Beam That Mixed with Coarse
Aggregate and Steel Fiber.
❖ A study on achorage performanceand simulation of failure behaviorof beam-column joint by threedimensional discrete analysis.
❖ Particle size effect on Press-in pile

❖ Multi-Objective

Assessment
and Optimization of Highway
Monitoring System.
❖ Maximum Entropy Model for TripChain Estimation and Allocation
Method of Charging Stations forElectric Vehicles using Network
Traffic Simulators.
❖ The Effect of Coordination on
the Drivers Behavior in Signal
Change Intervals.

Koshihara Laboratory❖ Theoretic analysis of the timber

circulation system based onsustainability
Kato Laboratory❖ A Study on Feasibility of Infra-

Free Village as Post-Disaster
Reconstruction.
❖ A Practical Study on Promotion
MethodofCommunitybased Disaster Mitigation andPreparedness Activities forbuilding-up specific activities
according to characteristics ofeach district.

Farewell to Prof. S. Tanaka and Dr. M. Henry
By K. Meguro

From April 2012, Lecturer Dr.
Shinji Tanaka retired from ICUS
to join the Institute of Urban
Innovation, Yokohama National
University.
Dr. S. Tanaka joined ICUS as alecturer in March 2007. Over his five
years in ICUS, Dr. S. Tanaka andhis laboratory conducted researchworks on road traffic phenomena andproblems including traffic congestion
as well as environmental problems
as a part of ICUS’s Environmental
Informatics Division.

Prof. S. Tanaka, Dr. M. Henry

Dr. Michael Henry retired fromICUS to join the Division of Field
Engineering for the Environment,
Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido
University as an Assistant Professor
from 16th February 2012.

Dr. M. Henry joined ICUS as aproject researcher in April 2010.
During his stay, he continued his
research on the regional context ofsustainable concrete consideringsocial perspectives in Asian countries
as a part of ICUS's Sustainable
Engineering Division.
ICUS would like to thank them fortheir great contributions during theirstay and wish them all the best attheir new positions. We are looking
forward to collaborating with themagain in the future.

ICUS Activities January – March❖ Prof. K. Meguro visited Nepal

from Jan. 19 to 26 to sign a MOU
with the National Society for
Earthquake Technology Nepal.
He also visited Jakarta andPadang, Indonesia, from Feb. 18 to
22 for project on development ofseismic retrofitting technology inIndonesia with Dr. M. Numada.
❖ Prof.
H.
SawadavisitedMacedonia from Feb. 25 to Mar. 7
for a project on the development ofintegrated system for prevention
and early warning of forest fires.
❖ Prof. T. Kato visited Beijing,
China, from Mar. 28 to Apr. 2
for a meeting about a project onhuman resource development for
urban disaster mitigation planning
organized by JICA.
❖ Dr.
S.
TanakaattendedTranspartation Research Board(TRB) conference and workshop
from Jan. 23 to 27 in Washington,

D.C., USA.

❖ Prof. A. Kawasaki was at AIT in

Bangkok, Thailand, from Jan. 12
to Jan. 20, from Jan. 30 to Feb.
28, and again from Mar. 5 to Mar.
29 for operating the RNUS officeand conducting lectures. He also
traveled to Loei, Thailand from
Mar. 14 to 18 for a collaborative
survey on disaster information
in a rural mountainous area ofThailand with Dr. S. Kondo.

ICUS Newsletter Jan. to Mar. 2012

Page 7

Editor’s note…
The Great East Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami disaster and the Thai
Flood, both in 2011, greatly affected
not only these nations but also othercountries through economic damage
to the global supply chain. In recent
era of rapid globalization, a large
disaster in one nation is often not justa problem for that country. Response
to a great disaster, just as with global
warming, is an agenda which can’t
be handled by one country alone.
For tackling these global disasterand environmental challenges
as an academic institute, ICUS
has been promoting scientificcollaborations beyond the bordersof Japan, particularly in Asia. Some
examples are introduced in thisnewsletter, such as a joint survey
by junior researchers from ICUS
and Thailand and Prof. Meguro’s
meeting with researchers andgovernmental officials in Nepal.
At our annual event, the “10thInternational Symposium on New
Technologies for Urban Safetyof Mega Cities in Asia (USMCA
2012)” in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia,
a special session on “urban floodrisk management in a changing
climate” will be jointly organizedthrough collaboration with theUnited Nations University Institutefor Sustainability and Peace (UNUISP).

Network formation is one of
ICUS’s main missions. In addition
to strengthening the human networks
and research bases accumulated
from ICUS and INCEDE’s activities
since 1991, we would like to explore
new frameworks for researchcollaboration with both domestic
and overseas partners. I hope you
join ICUS’s activities and seek
an opportunity for collaboration
with us or other colleagues in our
network for building a foundation
for tackling global disasters andenvironmental challenges.
By. A. Kawasaki

USMCA2012 (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
We would like to call for participation in USMCA2012 (to be held from Oct. 10 to 12, 2012, in Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia). Further information is available at the USMCA2012 official website:
http://www.usmca2012.mn/

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering (ICUS)
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Tel: (+81-3) 5452-6472, Fax: (+81-3) 5452-6476
http://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

The International Center for Urban Safety Engineering (ICUS) is a research
center located at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo.
The purpose of ICUS is to identify, investigate, and resolve issues towards therealization of sustainable urban systems for the prosperity and safety of society
considering challenging socio-economic problems.