ICUS NEWSLETTER
International Center for Urban Safety Engineering

Institute of Industrial Science
The University of Tokyo

VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4
JANUARY-MARCH 2007

International Center for
Urban Safety Engineering

TSUNAMI RISK IN THAILAND
By
Absornsuda SIRIPONG*
Tsunami disasters, such as theone that occurred on December 26,
2004 can cause tremendous lost of
livelihood, properties and ecosystems
in many countries around the Indian
Ocean. Thailand was the fourth
affected country with a death toll of
8,396. A tsunami disaster mitigation
procedure is proposed for Thailand.
Tsunamis, with return periods of 475
and 975 years, may reach more than
20 m-height along the entire
subduction zone. Away from thesubduction zone, the amplitudes are

significantly lower, but there is strong
variability along the coastline ofThailand. In particular, the highest
recorded tsunami amplitudes are at
Kao Lak, Cape Pakarang (15.7
meter), which were hardest hit during
the 2004 event. The high waves along
this stretch of shoreline are evidently
caused by local bathymetry andtopography. This illustrates theusefulness of a method to identify
stretches of coastline that are
particularly vulnerable to tsunami
impact. The recent researches on real-

Resort villa buildings at Kao Lak damaged by the tsunami which
occurred on December 26, 2004 (Photo courtesy of Prof. K. Meguro)time tsunami prediction are important
to enable safe evacuation and coastalzone management. Withoutsophisticated system of instruments or
tsunami modeling, local people
should be given adequate informationon actual tsunami disasters,
characteristics of tsunami wave,
evacuation route and refuge places.
Knowing that a coastal area may besubjected to certain coastal hazards isimportant to create awareness. Risk
knowledge will help to manage it andto mitigate damage as a result.
Three fundamental areas of effort
to cope with tsunami disaster were
proposed by Dr. Eddie N. Bernard,
the Director of NOAA/PMEL(Pacif ic Marine Environmental
Laboratory): 1. Tsunami Hazard
Assessment, i.e. preparation ofinundation maps; 2. Tsunami
Warning, i.e. installation of sea level
gauge and seismometer networks anddeployment of tsunami detection
buoys; 3. Mitigation Program, i.e.,
preparation and analysis of tsunami
hazard and risk maps for emergency
management.
Before planning any method toprevent tsunami disaster, we should
first know where the tsunami risk
areas are. The seismologist,
geophysicist and geologist can map
the risk and tsunami hazard zone
from small scale (local area) to large
scale (whole country coastline) forpage 2further planning. This can be done
from historical data andpaleotsunami and past earthquake
records in the area of interest. During
the Workshop on Seismic Hazard in
Thailand, January 16-19, 2007 at
Chulalongkorn University, the Thai
scientists with assistance from theexperts from the US Geological
Survey (USGS), worked on anearthquake hazard map of Thailand.
Not all submarine earthquakes
generate tsunami. For the Indian
Ocean, two potential sources havebeen identified, namely Mekran near
Pakistan coast and the Andaman to
Sumatra subduction zone. The
frequency of historical tsunamis canbe found in many old documents,
paintings, and proxy data ingeological time. The earthquake
source and geophysical characteristicsof the two tsunamigenic-earthquakes
should be investigated byseismologists. These data can beused to infer the tsunami recurrent
interval. Based on the plate tectonics
theory and the history of past eventsin the area, Professors Kerry Sieh
(California Institute of Technology)
and Emile Okal (Northwestern
University) roughly estimated thatthe recurrence interval for an oceanwide tsunami generated by amagnitude 9.3 submarine
earthquake, similar to the December
26, 2004 event, occurring at the same
spot, is about 500-1000 years. The
recurrence interval at any one spot
for a local earthquake of magnitude 8
is roughly estimated at 120-400
years. The recurrence interval for a
local tsunami of magnitude 8, that
may occur anywhere along the 5,000
km long Indian-Burma trench isestimated to be about 30-100 years.
Given the range of numbers
provided above, a conservative
recur rence range for hazard
mitigation planning purposes can beprovided. Due to additional
uncertainties inherent in attempting topredict future natural hazard events,
500 years is used as a conservative
estimate for the magnitude 9 event
and 100 to 120 years, for a local
earthquake of magnitude 8. Overtime, it is likely that these numbers
will be refined as further studies in
specific areas are conducted.
Consideration should be given to
conducting studies that model the

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 4

tsunami impact for each country, as
different portions of the active
subduction zones around the Indian
Ocean rupture to relieve built up
stress. Both Sieh and Okal recognizethat the December 2004 event did not
relieve all stresses along the southern
portions of the Indian-Burma plates.
This may be the cause of Javatsunami on July 17, 2006.
Norwegian experts such as F.
Løvhol t an d C . B. Harb i t z(Norwegian Geotechnical Institute)proposed a model for future tsunami
risk for Thailand in both short andlong term. The earthquake source isdeveloped based on available
seismological and geodetic
inversions, and the simulation using
the submarine earthquake source as
initial condition agree well with sea
level records and r un-up
observations. They concluded that
another megathrust earthquake
generating a tsunami affecting thecoastline of Thailand is not likely tooccur again for several hundredyears. This is in part based on theassumption that the Souther nAndaman Microplate Boundary near
the Simeulue Islands constitutes ageologic barrier that will inhibit
significant rupture across it, and inpart on the decreasing subduction
rates north of the Banda Ache region.
It was also concluded that the largest
credible earthquake along the part of
the Sunda-Andaman arc that could
affect Thailand, is within the next 50100 years an ear thquake ofmagnitude 8.5, which is expected tooccur with more spatial and temporal
irregularity than megathrust events.
Numerical simulations haveshown such earthquakes to cause
tsunamis with maximum water levels
up to 1.5-2.0 m along the west coastof Thailand, possibly 2.5-3.0 m on ahigh tide. However, in a longer time
perspective (say more than 50-100

years), the potentials for earthquakesof similar magnitude andconsequences as the 2004 event will
become g radually larger andeventually pose an unacceptablesocietal risk. These conclusions
apply only to Thailand, since theeffects of an M 8.5 earthquake in thesame region could be worse fornor th-wester n Sumatra, theAndaman and Nicobar Islands,maybe even for Sri Lanka and partsof the Indian coastline. Moreover,further south along the Sunda arc, thepotentials for large ruptures are now
much higher than for the region that
ruptured on December 26, 2004.
Paul Somerville, Hong Kie Thioand Gene Ichinose from URS
Cor poration, Pasadena Off ice
assessed the tsunami hazard over along time scale using Probabilistic
Tsunami Hazard Analysis (PTHA).
Probabilistic Seismic Hazard
Analysis (PSHA) has become astandard practice in the evaluationand mitigation of seismic hazards on
structures, infrastr ucture, andlifelines. Its ability to condense thecomplexities and variability ofseismic activity into a manageable setof parameters greatly facilitates thedesign of effective seismic resistantbuildings and infrastructures.
Although PSHA usuallyconsiders the ground shaking hazard
from earthquakes, the same approach
can be used to estimate other seismic
hazards, such as fault displacement,
surface folding due to subsurface
faulting, soil liquefaction, lateral
spreading of soil, and landslides.
They have extended the capability of
PSHA to include tsunami wave
height at the shoreline.
PTHA can be used to identify
whether a significant tsunami hazard
may exist at a particular coastal
location or over a stretch of coastline.
If the hazard is found to be

Meeting held at Bangben School, Ranong in March 14, 2007
to explain about tsunami disaster and evacuation plan

page 3

Probabilistic tsunami hazard for the northeastern Indian Ocean for three return periods(From P. Somerville, Hong Kie Thio & Gene Ichinose, 2005, Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Analysis,a report by personnel communication)
significant, then further analyses can the amplitudes are significantly lower, (Ken State University), J. Beitel andbe performed, such as:
but there is strong variability along the K. Moran (University of Rhode- Probabilistic tsunami run-up and coastline of Thailand. In particular, Island) studied the sedimentary
inundation calculations at the site the highest calculated tsunami characteristics of the 2004 Indianbased on the probabilistic tsunami amplitudes are at Kao Lak and Ocean tsunami. These studies showed
wave height at the shoreline
Phuket, which were hardest hit during the historical tsunami records in the- Probabilistic tsunami loss calculations the December 26, 2004 earthquake. sediment deposits.
based on the probabilistic run-up The high waves along this stretch of
and inundation
shoreline are evidently caused by local
CONCLUSION
In probabilistic ground motion bathymetry and topography. Thishazard analysis, the estimation of illustrates the usefulness of thisThe tsunami disaster mitigation
ground shaking level for a specified method in identifying stretches of can be done by mapping tsunami
magnitude and distance from the coastline that are particularly hazard and risk on the vulnerable
source is based on ground motion vulnerable to tsunami damage
coasts. The researches on
attenuation relations. This kind of
Historical tsunami and tsunami probabilistic tsunami hazard andapproach is not feasible for tsunamis, deposit data are also important for tsunami recurrence are useful for
because fault orientation and ocean assessing the tsunami hazard. Past developing an evacuation plan andbathymetry cause a large variability in records provide clues to what might coastal zone management. The
the height of the tsunami, which is not happen in the future, such as practical applications of tsunami riska simple function of the distance to frequency of occur rence and assessment, in both quantitative andthe source. To estimate the tsunami maximum wave heights. Instrumental qualitative terms, for implementation
height at a particular location along and written records do not often span into mitigation strategies for thethe coast for a given earthquake, they over a long enough time to assess the terrestrial and marine environments
have adopted a waveform excitation full range of a region’s tsunami include:
and propagation approach instead of hazards. Therefore V. Brocko 1) Building Codes (potential damage
trying to develop tsunami attenuation (University of Colorado) and P.
due to wave action and flooding)relations. They computed the Dunbar (US National Geophysical 2) GIS Mapping
complete tsunami wave field for each Data Center) are developing a 3) Land-use Planning (taking noteearthquake scenario.
Tsunami Deposit Database. For
of wave action & flooding)
They have carried out preliminary paleotsunami studies in Thailand, Dr. 4) Disaster Planning (in identified
tsunami hazard calculations for the Brian Atwater from USGS ishazard zones)
Sumatra-Andaman subduction zone developing regional cooperation and 5) Emergency Management
based on the earthquake recurrence cross-learning with field exercise in 6) Emergency Personnel Training
model of Peterson et al. (2004), who Phang-nga to forecast the next
(necessary aspects relevant toperformed a PSHA for the island of tsunami in the Indian Ocean as wellmarine situations)
Sumatra and surrounding regions. as to build capacity for tsunami 7) Rescue and Response (cargo,
The calculations use a set of 2,000 hazard assessment. The taphonomy
tourist, inter-islands f ishing
scenario earthquakes to provide a of sediments deposited by the Indian
community, marine situations
probabilistic description of tsunami Ocean Tsunami along the west coast
related to shipping, recreational
wave height occurrences in the region. of the Malay-Thai Peninsula wasboating)
In the figure on top of this page, the studied by University of Pennsylvania 8) Insurance Needs
probabilistic tsunami wave heights for group (B.P. Horton, A. Hawkes and S. 9) Community Education
return periods of 72, 475 and 975 Engelhart). J.R. Schmidt, M.E. Kirby 10) Simulated Tsunami Drill andyears, corresponding to probabilities and B.P. Rhodes from California State
Exercisesof exceedance of 50%, 10% and 5% University studied the Holocene
in 50 years are shown.
coastal lagoon for paleotsunami* Professor,
At return periods of 475 and 975 deposits at Kamala Beach, Phuket
Marine Science Department,
years, tsunami heights reach more and Tap Lamu, Phang-nga Province,
Faculty of Science
than 20 m along the entire subduction Thailand. At Ban Talae Nok, Ranong
Chulalongkorn University
zone. Away from the subduction zone, province, K. Monecke and A. Moore
Bangkok, Thailand

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 4

page 4

Drought Monitoring Using Remote Sensing and Memories of
Stay at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
I had been seconded to the Asian
Institute of Technolog y (AIT),
Thailand, from ICUS as a long-term
Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) expert and Visiting
Assistant Professor for two years since
February 2005. Just after comingback to ICUS, I moved to Kyoto
University in March 2007. In thisarticle, I report my research activities
in AIT and the history of collaboration
between AIT and Japan.
DROUGHT MONITORING
USING REMOTE SENSING
The northeastern part of Thailand
has periodically experienced severe
droughts. One definition of drought,
agricultural drought, is said to occur
when there is insufficient soil moisture
to meet the needs of a particular crop at
a particular time. Drought monitoringaround Thailand, Laos and Cambodia,
especially agricultural drought, isbecoming increasingly important.
Remote sensing is capable ofmonitoring drought because it
simultaneously detects spectral datafrom the surface of a wide area.
Actually, several physical parameters
can represent the severity of drought
condition. Roughly divided, opticalregion (visible to infrared regions) andmicrowave region can be used to detectsuch parameters. For example, theSurface Energy Balance Algorithm forLand (SEBAL) predicts land moisture
indicators such as Bowen-ratio andevaporation fraction from visible, nearinfrared and thermal-infrared
radiances through surface energybalance equation. On the other hand,microwave sensor is better to detectvolumetric soil moisture and water
body rather than optical sensor
because the dielectric constant of waterin microwave region can be easily
discriminated from dielectric constantsof other matters. The author examined
techniques required to estimate soil
moisture from Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SAR) data, which is one of theactive microwave remote sensing.
The author has installed
equipments and measured soil
moisture at several paddy fields in
Buriram Province, northeastern
Thailand from October 2005.

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 4

Japanese Earth Resources Satellite-1(JERS-1)/SAR images observed from1992 to 1998 were available aroundfield measurement sites. Firstly, theIntegral Equation Method (IEM),
which models scattering of
microwaves between different matters,
was used. In the present research,surface roughness was measured byleveling. Autocorrelation length of
surface roughness, a quite difficult
parameter to measure, was stably
calibrated. By applying the IEM
model to temporal JERS-1/SAR
images, temporal change of soil
moisture was estimated. Then, soil
moisture distribution was mappedfrom 1992 to 1998. Long-term
observation is quite indispensable torepresent the regional trend of soil
moisture distribution. It was foundthat temporal JERS-1/SAR data arequite informative about regional
characteristics of soil moisture.
From time to time, highexpectations are given to real or nearreal time monitoring using remotesensing. However, in Thailand, it isquite difficult to obtain cloud-free
optical image, and accordingly,
difficult to exactly understand thesurface conditions on a daily basis.
Early drought warning system cannot
be achieved without optical remotesensing. While SAR can detect at allweather conditions and nighttime, thefrequency of the observations, dozens
of days, is low. Due to such longrecurrent periods, SAR cannot beutilized for the real/near-real time
monitoring. However, SAR images arehighly capable of mapping distributionof potential soil moisture. The author

expects that using both SAR data andoptical data, it would be possible tobetter prepare for droughts.
COLLABORATION BETWEENAIT AND JAPANDispatching JICA experts to AIT
by Japanese Government started in1969. Long-term experts, i.e. withlonger than six months stay, amounted
to 118 persons. Lately, Japan started
to gradually withdraw support to AIT.
Eventually, it was decided that I would
be the last long-term JICA expert
dispatched. Other than me, there areother Japanese faculty members, four
directly hired by AIT and four
seconded by other institutes of Japan
including Dr. Kato from ICUS.
In spite of this, the Japanese
Government is still interested incontributing to the humandevelopment of South and Southeast
Asia, and recognizes that AIT can be apartner to meet this purpose.
Collaboration between AIT and many
Asian universities has become more
and more active in terms of researchand education. Moreover, manymaster students of AIT are eager tostudy in Japan and obtain Ph.D.
degrees with the support of Japanese
Government scholarships. Actually,
the Department of Civil Engineering,
the University of Tokyo has welcome
many students from AIT. Withconsideration of these different levels
of interactions, I believe that AIT andJapanese universities will continue tocollaborate in the future.
(By J. Susaki,
Graduate School of Engineering,
Kyoto University)

Mean of volumetric soil moisture of Burram Province, Thailand
in dry season (Upper: March and April)and rainy season (Lower: July and August)page 5

IIS — Chula Unisearch Workshop for Urban Safety
The first joint workshop between theInstitute of Industrial Science (IIS), The
University of Tokyo and the Civil
Engineering
Department,
Chulalongkorn University was held at
the Engineering Building of
Chulalongkorn University on February
27, 2007. Fifty-seven participants
attended the workshop.
The workshop began with opening
speeches by Professors Y. Yasuoka and
P. Lukkunaprasit. The following topics
were presented:- ‘Seismic Hazard Mitigation — The

Thailand Experience’ by Prof. Panitan
Lukkunaprasi.
- ‘Fire Egress Analysis for Buildings’ by
Assistant Prof. Thanyawat Pothisiri.
- ‘Importance of Maintenance ofConcrete Structures for Urban Safety’by Prof. T. Uomoto.
- ‘Blast Load Test on Ferro cement
Bomb Baskets’ by Dr. Thanakorn
Pheeraphan.
- ‘Satellite Observation Network forEnvironment and Disaster Monitoringin Asia’ by Prof. Y. Yasuoka.
- ‘Rainfall Estimation by Remote

Sensing Instruments’ by Dr. Virat
Chatdarong.
- ‘Urban transportation Safety: Current
Situations and Improving Strategies’ by
Assistant Prof. Kasem Choocharukul.
The workshop was closed with aspeech by Prof. Uomoto. At the end of
the workshop, it was agreed to hold thesimilar workshop at least once a year
from now on. The participants were
mostly engineers from industries andresearch institutes of Thailand.
(By T. Uomoto)Symposium on Japanese Contribution to Worldwide Disaster Mitigation
On January 18, 2007, thesymposium entitled “From Japan to theWorld: Initiatives to reduce seismic
vulnerability” was held at the Kobe
International Convention Center. Sixpresentations were delivered:- Ms. M. Suzuki, Shanti Volunteer
Association: “What has SVA recently
done for natural disaster mitigation indeveloping countries?”- Mr. M. Yoshitsubaki, Citizens Towards
Overseas Disaster Emergency:“CODE’s activities for addressing therecovery of affected people: What issafe and secure housing?”- Prof. K. Meguro, ICUS, The
University of Tokyo: “US$100
Retrofitting Method for MasonryHouses: Recent activities”- Dr. M. Takashima, Fuji Tokoha
University: “Development of a New
Tsunami Disaster Mitigation System
Considering the Regional
Characteristics in the Indian Ocean
Rim Countries”- Prof. K. Okazaki, National Graduate
Institute for Policy Studies: “Japanese
Government Activities for Improving
Low Earthquake Resistant Structuresin Developing Countries”- Prof. J. Kiyono, Kyoto University:“Cooperation Activities for Soil Testingand Disaster Education Supporting
Activities between Japanese andIndonesian University Students”
After the presentations, discussion
was opened. Because the number andfrequency of seismic events is relatively
low, the importance of sharing
experiences was highlighted. It was alsomentioned that funding for disastermitigation is limited and affects thesustainability of non-governmental
agency organizations.
(By K. Meguro)

RNUS Activities
Inspection of Reinforced Concrete
Bridges exposed to Marine
Environment in Thailand
RNUS conducted a project for theinspection of reinforced concrete
bridges exposed to marine
environments. Five bridges in 3
provinces in Eastern Thailand, namely
Samutprakan, Chonburi, andChanthaburi, were investigated. The
aim of this project is to collect data
about reinforced concrete bridges inThailand, especially related to their
durability. The project was led by Mr.
Pakawat Sancharoen, currently adoctoral candidate at the Graduate
School of Civil Engineering, theUniversity of Tokyo, with thecollaboration of a group ofundergraduate students from
Rajamangala University of Technology
Thanyaburi, Thailand. This project was
financially supported by the Central
Research Institute of Electric Power
Industry, Japan.
RNUS Seminar
Dr. Wonsiri Punurai, Lecturer of the
Department of Civil Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol

University delivered the presentation‘An Introduction to Ultrasonics and Its
Application for Characterization of
Cement-Based Material’ for the RNUS
seminar held on February 8, 2007. She
introduced the fundamental principles
of ultrasonic waves with examples of
their application in ConcreteEngineering. The seminar received aremarkable interest from graduate
students, researchers, as well as
instructors of the School of Engineeringand Technology (STE), Asian Instituteof Technology (AIT).
(By R. Sahamitmongkol)

Locations of the bridges
targeted by RNUS study

Inspection team taking sample
to determine chloride concentration

Dr. Wonsiri Punura (second from left),with Instructors of the STE, AITICUS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 4

page 6

The First IIS Alumni Party was held in Bangkok
The first IIS Alumni party was heldin Bangkok on February 26, 2007. It
was attended by 17 member including
Prof Y. Yasuoka, Prof. T. Uomoto, Dr. Y.
Kato and Dr. R. Sahamitmongkol andwas held at the Pathumwan Princess
Hotel, Bangkok. As this was the first
IIS Alumni party outside of Japan,
Prof. Y. Yasuoka made an opening

speech on behalf of the Director
General of IIS, Prof. M. Maeda.
The participants introduced
themselves and selected Prof. Suvit as
the first president of the IIS Alumni
Bangkok branch. It was also agreed tohold such party once every one or two
years.
(By T. Uomoto)Group photo of the participantsat the end of the party

Prof. Meguro promotes earthquake disaster mitigation in IranProf. K. Meguro participated in the“Workshop on Strengthening
Earthquake Resistant Capacity ofMasonry Houses in Iran” jointly
organized by the Building and Housing
Research Center (BHRC), the Japanese
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, andTransportation (MLIT), the Japan
Bank for International Cooperation(JBIC), the Infrastructure Development
Institute (IDI), and The University ofTokyo at BHRC, Teheran, on March
14, 2007. The event was attended byapproximately sixty participants
including representatives of theKerman Recovery Reconstruction
Agency, the Japan International
Cooperation Agency, JBIC, the Foreign
Affairs Ministry of the Japanese
Government, Iranian academicians,and professional engineers. The
workshop was opened with speeches
from Prof. Heidarinejad (BHRC), Mr.
N. Yamane (MLIT), and Mr. H.

Matsunaga (JBIC). After them, thefollowing presentations were delivered:- Mr. M. Sugahara: “Earthquake
disaster-prevention measures inJapan”- Dr. T. Tsugawa: “Latest earthquake
resistant and damping technology inJapan”- Mr. Eng. Zamani: “Results of static
loading test on masonry wall
specimens reinforced by PP-mesh”- Dr. Hasan Moghadam: “Practicalretrof itting experiments formasonry buildings”- Mr. Eng. Honarbaksh: “Practicalretrofitting experiments for Iranianpublic schools”- Prof. K. Meguro: “PP-meshtechnology and its availability/
applicability for masonry houses”- Mr. Salehi, Deputy Governor of
Kerman Province: “Earthquake
disaster control policy and specificcountermeasures in each province”

During the workshop, greetingsfrom the Japanese Embassy, deliveredby Mr. T. Yawata, were conveyed .
The proposal of retrof itting
adobe/masonry houses by PP-meshes
was welcomed by the audience as analternative to solve the problem ofmany low earthquake resistant houses
which is currently the largest issue forearthquake disaster mitigation in Iran.
The Iranian research community
expressed its eagerness to explore thisoption and assess the feasibility of
adopting it. After the 1991 Manjil
Earthquake, adobe houses have been
officially but unsuccessfully banned inIran. Therefore, it is a great
accomplishment that discussions on
the possibility to retrof it adobe
structures to prevent their collapse
have started in Iran.
(By K. Meguro)

BNUS Activities
Armenitola Governmental HighSchool is situated in the most densely
and hazardous area of Old Dhaka. In
order to increase the knowledge baseand make the students fully aware of
their status during and after a disaster,
BNUS has provided, for the last coupleof months, different earthquake related
trainings that may help in reducing thelosses due to an earthquake .
The short course on First Aid
trained 77 students of class VI to IX
from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 2006. Eachday they underwent a 3-hour training
on First Aid. The general knowledge
on primary treatment and special careof injuries especially with casualty due
to earthquake was given emphasis in
this program.
Next, the search and rescue (SAR)

training program on how to deal withcasualty after a disaster wasconsidered. Thirty-three students out of
77 first aid trainee students wereselected for instruction from December
10 to 12, 2006. Here the students learnt
about different stages of SAR, different
styles of rescue from a damage sectorof a building, technique of stretcher use
with casualty, casualty evacuation with
fireman using a chair knot, technique ofdebris cleaning, etc.
Finally, a safety drill on the whole
scene due to an earthquake and theduties of the public was demonstrated
by the trained students at Armenitola
Governmental High School, Dhaka on
February 23, 2007 to have a clear cut
view of the earthquake situation. One
hundred fifty students participated in

the drill. The program was carried out
under the leadership of already trained
33 students. The guardians and theschool authority were present in the
program, in which the students
presented their duties before, during
and after an earthquake. To increaseawareness, each school student wasgiven an awareness poster.
(By M. Ansary)

ICUS PARTICIPATION – IIS OPEN HOUSE

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 4

Participants in the Safety Drillon Earthquake

page 7

ICUS Expands its Collaboration Network
Three new Memorandums ofUnderstanding (MOUs) were signed
between ICUS and the Department ofCivil Engineering of the Shibaura Instituteof Technology, Japan; the Global u-City
Construction & Information (Gucci) Hub
Department of Civil Engineering (BK21),

Han Yang University, Korea; and theDepartment of Construction Engineering,
National Kaohsiung First University of
Science and Technology, Taiwan. The
objectives of these agreements are to foster
the exchange of researchers, information,
and academic materials, to conduct joint

researches, and to organize academic
meetings, symposia, and workshops.
All these three institutes have very
close research interests with ICUS and weare looking forward to having a fruitfulcollaboration among us.
(By P. Mayorca)

Scholars from National KaohsiungFirst University of Technology
in a previous visit to ICUS

Delegation from Shibaura
Institute of Technology
during visit to ICUS

Professors Byung-Wan Jo
and Taketo Uomoto
after signing MOU

Dr. Shinji Tanaka joins ICUS
Dr. S. Tanaka joined ICUS fromMarch 1st, 2007. He received his
Master degree from the University ofTokyo in 1999. After working as a
researcher at the National Institute forLand and Infrastructure Management,
he became a Research Associate at theInstitute of Industrial Science, andobtained his Doctor of Engineering
Dr. Shinji Tanaka
Degree from The University of Tokyoin 2007.
engineering, and his research interests
His major research field is traffic are traff ic control, operation,

management and traffic behavior
analysis. In his doctoral dissertation, heanalyzed the influence of on-street
parking on traffic flow, proposed a new
on-street parking management schemewith creating parking spaces on street,and evaluated it by traffic simulator anddriving simulator. Joining ICUS, hewill conduct researches for asustainable city from an aspect oftraffic and transport.
(By T. Uomoto)

ICUS Activities• Prof. Uomoto visited RheinischWestfälische Technische Hochschule
Aachen University, Dusseldorf,
Germany from February 10 to 14
together with Dr. Kato. They attended aseminar at the Bundesanstalt fur
Materialforschung und -prufung (BAM.)• Prof. Uomoto and Dr. Kato visited the
Bosporus Channel Tunnel construction
site at the Bosporus Strait, Istanbul,
Turkey from February 14 to 18, and held
meetings with relevant personnel .
• Prof. Uomoto attended the joint
workshop between the Institute ofIndustrial Science (IIS), The
University of Tokyo and the Civil
Engineering
Department,
Chulalongkorn University held at
Bangkok, Thailand on February 27.
He also joined the IIS Alumni party
was held in Bangkok on February 26.
• Prof. Meguro attended the High Level
Meeting arranged by the Japan Scienceand Technology Agency, the National
Research Institute for Earth Scienceand Disaster Prevention, the Ministry ofConstruction and Urban Development,
the Research Center for Astronomy andGeophysics and the World Seismic
Safety Initiative in Mongolia fromFebruary 6 to 8. He made a presentation
on “Seismic Damage to Brick and Weak
RC Structures.”• Prof. Meguro visited Teheran, Iran toattend the “Workshop on
Strengthening Earthquake ResistantCapacity of Masonry Houses in Iran”
held in March 14. He introduced there
the latest developments of PP-band
retrofitting for masonry houses.
• Dr. Kato stayed at AIT for his research
work and teaching duties at RNUS
from January 29 to March 2.
• Dr. Kanada visited Korea from March
11 to 16 to deliver the lecture entitled“Recent new NDT method forinfrastructures” at the Han Yang
University and the Korea Highway
Corporation.
• Dr. Sahamitmongkol stayed at AIT for

his research work and teaching
duties at RNUS from December 29,
2006 to March 24, 2007.
• Prof. Byung-Wan Jo, Director of the
Global U-City Construction andInformation (GUCCI), Hub
Department of Civil Engineering(BK21), Han Yang University, visited
ICUS on February 22 to sign amemorandum of understanding withICUS.
• A delegation of scholars from Shibaura
Institute of Technology visited ICUS
on March 8. ICUS members briefly
introduced their research topics.
Future possible research collaboration
directions were discussed.
• After 3 years of research activities, theRC-39 Committee held its last
meeting to summarize its work
output on March 28. After it, Prof.
Amano delivered the speech:“Examples of cooperation with anacademic institution: ICUS, IIS, The
University of Tokyo.”

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 4

page 8
Editor’s Note
I have worked as the director of
ICUS since April 2001 and I am
retiring from ICUS at the end of
March, 2007. In these six years,
many problems occurred related tourban safety, such as NiigataChuetsu Earthquake (Japan,
2004), terrorist attacks on theWorld Trade Center (US, 2001),
asbestos problems (Japan, 2005),
Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami(Indian Ocean Rim, 2004), fakedbuilding design scandal (Japan,2005), among others. Even in
March this year, two large
earthquakes, the Notohantou
earthquake (Magnitude : 7.1) inJapan and another in Indonesia(Magnitude : 6.4), killed people asreported by newspapers and TV

programs.
It is impossible to eliminate all
the hazards which may happen in
the world. All we can do is reduce
the number of deaths and otherdamage due to these hazards byensuring people use infrastructuresafely enough. After the Sumatra
Earthquake,peopleandgovernments in South and South
East Asia started projects to monitor
tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, toteach the people about the tsunami
hazard, and to warn people after anearthquake as soon as possible.
Actually, when a smaller earthquake
occurred in Indonesia after the
Sumatra Earthquake, people livingon the coastal lines tried to run
away from the shores having thetragedies of the Sumatra Earthquake
fresh in their minds.

If you would like to contribute an article to ICUS newsletter orhave any comment or suggestion, please contact the editorialcommittee at icus@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
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
E-mail: icus@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
http://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

International Center for
Urban Safety Engineering

Although ICUS members havebeen working very hard to reduce
the negative impacts of hazards, it is
not an easy task to accomplish.
During my stay at ICUS, we tried toconcentrate mostly on preventing
disasters by all means. Some of theoutputs of these works have alreadybeen published as reports, and someare still undergoing, such as a newdisaster management system for the
Hospital of the University of Tokyoand seismic strengthening ofimportant buildings in the smaller
cities in Japan.
I would like to thank all ICUS
members for supporting me during
these six years and I hope ICUS willcontinue its works to produce amuch safer world from now on.
(By T. Uomoto)

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