ICUS NEWSLETTER

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

VOLUME 9 NUMBER 3
OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2009

PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURE
AND COMPLIANCE WITH TODAY’S SAFETY LAWS
By
Osamu Goto1
Architecture needs to satisfy
various demands, one of which issafety laws. All architecture evenexisting historical architecture-mustcomply with these requirements.
However, a lot of historicalstructures do not satisfy modern
safety requirements.
There are two main reasons on
this issue. The first is that today’s
standards are higher than those at thetime when the historical structures
were constructed. The second isthat many years have passed since
the construction and the structuralsafety has deteriorated with age.
To bring these historical architectures
up to today’s safety standards, it isnecessary to refurbish their structure.
However, the historical value
may be lost due to refurbishment.
Therefore, a new method is needed.
There are laws and regulations
that determine the safety.
In
Japan, building standard law andfire safety law often outline themethods and equipments required.
However, these can influence thevalue of historical structures. For
example, even if only the old part ofbuilding is refurbished, these laws
require improvements to the wholebuilding.
Therefore, special measures areneeded within such laws andregulations in order not to lose
historical value. Such special
measures are seen not only in Japanbut also in many other countries.
For example, all architecture built
before a law or regulation is enacted
is covered or exempted by separate
special measures for historicalarchitectures.
In Japan, one problem is that

Beam smoke detector

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Page 2
there is little historical architecture
to which special measures can beapplied. Another problem is that it
is not clear how to apply special
measures. However, in the case ofhistorical architectures designatedby the national government(“Kokuhou” and “Jyuyo-Bunkazai”),
there are national guidelines forseismic diagnosis and earthquake
proof
reinforcement. However,they give the initiative for diagnosis,
reinforcement and fire protection is
given to the owners of “Kokuhou”
and “Jyuyo-Bunkazai”. But most
historical architectures won’t be able
to follow “Kokuhou” and “JyuyoBunkazai” due to high cost and timerequired. It’s a very severe problem
in Japan. So it is necessary to quickly
propose new special measures thatcan be applied easily to historicalarchitecture.
The author has researched therelationship between laws and how
they apply to secure the safety ofhistorical structures in Britain,
France, Germany, and the UnitedStates. This research shows thesame problems in these countries.
But the solution is different in eachcountry.
In Britain, there are reference
standards for refurbishments ofhistorical and cultural architectures,and such standards are includedin the “British Standard”. British
Standard is set by a third party, andthe local government or institution
for inspection confirms the special
measures based on standards, suchas in the case of the Shakespeare
Globe Theatre.
In the United States, there is thestate code for general architectures
executed by the International
Code Council. But for historicarchitecture, the local government
has set the original codes; forinstance, California State has set the2007 California Historical Building
Code.
In France, there is a commission
for security under the governments
and the commission decides therelevant means for taking special
measures in the care of historicarchitectures. The commission
for security is broken down into

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Shakespeare Globe Theater,
London, Britain Reconstruction ofhistorical architecture
In general, thatched roof is not
permitted in down town area, but
this architecture permitted by using
fire resistive board and a sprinkler
system in the roof.
national, prefectural, and city
council levels. Risks are decided
by use, scale and accommodation
number of the architecture. If therisk is high, a commission of theupper government decides theappropriateness of special measures,as demonstrated by the Cathedral
Saint Corentin.

In Germany, first whether
architecture has historic value
is decided by town planning
officers of the local government.
Then a safety officer of the local
government decides the relevant
special measures for the historicarchitectures under their discretion
without affecting the historical

Cathedral Saint Corentin , Quimper, FranceThis stand pipe is the special fire prevention equipment for the wooden
roof frame of this cathedral.

Page 3value, such as enhanced escapeoptions to compensate for narrow
spaces.
The procedure of the law and how
to decide the appropriate methods
are different in each country. But
practical consistent ways between
safety and historic preservation arealmost the same in each country.
So we can learn many useful facts
for how to maintain safety andhistorical value.
First of all, even if the historicalstructure doesn’t comply with safety.
This means that weak points remainin the building, so to compensate forthis weakness the other regions andparts are reinforced by appropriate
specifications and equipment whichhave higher quality than the basic
ones required by the safety laws andregulations. This method is called
the engineering approach.

Hotel converted historic architecture,
Goslar, Germany.
In general, such a narrow and low
corridor aren’t permitted to use as
evacuation way. But this corridor
was permitted by using doorway andstaircase for evacuation wider thanstandards.

Next, it is possible to restrict theusage or amount of accommodation
to ensure safety in the historicalwhich does not meet the safety
laws and regulations. In caseof new architecture, usage andaccommodation are decided bylaws and regulations and the same
specifications and equipments areapplied to each region equally. In
the historic architecture different
specifications and equipments canbe set according to region.
The reason for permitting such an
exception is to allow owners andmanagers to sufficiently ensure thesafety of architecture by themselves
considering each case individually.
In other words, the responsibilityof owners and managers to handle
risk management for architectureis strictly enforced in Britain,
France, Germany, and the UnitedStates. Moreover, the usage or
accommodation limit are notmaintained, violators are severely
punished.
This is the difference in philosophyof responsibilities and penalties
between Japan and Britain, France,
Germany, and the United States. We
should follow foreign examples.
One more important point is thatthe government highly recommends
and historic preservation officers
permit improvements to historicalstructures from an engineering
approach. In Japan, when the historicarchitecture is refurbished, it is notclear how to preserve the historicvalue or how to improve without
losing the historic structure.
Especially in the case of“Kokuhou” and “Jyuyo-Bunkazai”,
the owners must apply for permission
from the national government inadvance by National Preservation
Law for Cultural Properties. But thenational government doesn’t reveal
the standards for permission in thislaw. If the differences between theregions that have historical value
and the other regions are clear, it
will be ensure for owners to apply
for permission. Also, it will be easier
for architects and constructionengineers to propose new methods
and ideas for safety and historicpreservation.

I hope that Japan will refer to theexamples of other countries and takea positive engineering approach tosecuring the safety of historicalarchitecture.
( 1 Kogakuin University, Japan)

Residence, Wurzburg, Germany: thelarge hall of this building is changed
using way and accommodation
number by the way. So the escapelight for emergency is temporary.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Page 4

The 2009 Samoa Earthquake Induced Tsunami:
A Quick Survey from the Field
On 29 September, at 17:48
UTC (06:48 Local time), a major
earthquake of magnitude 8.1
occurred off the coast of the Samoa
islands. The tsunami generated bythis earthquake struck the Samoa
islands and killed at least 149
people in Samoa, 34 people in
American Samoa, nine people in
Tonga, and resulted in the mostdevastation due to tsunami in thehistory of the Samoa region. Dr.
Shunichi Koshimura, Associate
Professor, Tohoku University, and hiscolleagues conducted a post-tsunami
field survey on Tutuila island,
American Samoa, from 5 to 8 Oct.,2009, focusing on the measurementsof tsunami run-up height, flow depth,
extent of inundation zone, structural
damage inspection, and collected
eyewitness accounts.
Measured tsunami run-up heights
are summarized. The tsunami hit
more severely along the western
coast of Tutuila island. The highest
run-up of 16.3m was measured atthe village of Poloa which is locatedon the western coast of the island.
The village of Poloa was totally
devastated and two people in thisvillage were killed. And 12.4m
inundation height was measured
at Amanave (southern coast of theisland) where the tsunami penetrated
roughly 200m inland. Severe damage
was also observed at the village ofLeone, where 6m tsunami attacked.
The tsunami penetrated morethan 200m inland and left extensive
amount of debris in the lagoon.
Pago Pago harbor is located in thebottom of the inverse L-shape bay
and was hit by 5m tsunami that were

Tsunami damage in the villageof Leone

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Samoa island and its vicinity

Tsunami run-up measurement

penetrated more than 500m inland.
We surveyed the structural damage
in Pago Pago harbor by on-site
inspection with GPS measurement,
which leads on the understanding of
the relationship between the tsunami
hazard and structural vulnerability.
As a preliminary result, we foundthat 35 out of 127 houses within theinundation zone were washed away.
During the survey, we interviewed
the survivors to collect eyewitness
accounts on the tsunami arrival time,the initial sea surface movement,
and the number of tsunami attacks.
Along the southern coast of Tutuila
island, the tsunami was likely to havestarted by depression (Leone, Poloa,
and Pago Pago) and the second
wave was the highest (Leone), which
was consistent with the observed
tide record at Pago Pago harbor.
The most important result of theinterviews was that the residents
were aware of tsunami and knewthat they should move to higher
ground as they felt strong groundshaking. In this event, the PacificTsunami Warning Center (see thename lists) issued a warning at 07:04(16 minutes after the earthquake)and the national weather service

Tsunami debris left in Leone
lagoonoffice of Pago Pago disseminatedthe guidance of evacuation throughthe radio at 07:02 (14 minutes after
the earthquake). This awarenessprobably contributed to reducing
the number of fatalities in Tutuila
island (34 casualties reported). For
instance, a school bus driver in
Poloa village, who had just left thestudents in the school, was awareof tsunami after the earthquake andtook the children back to the higher
ground. This sort of awareness- thatstrong ground shaking is a sign oftsunami,-is the most important factor
for surviving a tsunami disaster.
Acknowledgements:
The study was partially supported
by Science and Technology ResearchPartnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) of JST and JICA.
Survey team members ;Shunichi Koshimura (Leader,
Associate Professor, Graduate Schoolof Engineering, Tohoku University),
Yuichi Namegaya (Researcher,
Geological Survey of Japan, AIST,Japan), Yuichi Nishimura (AssistantProfessor, Institute of Seismology andVolcanology, Hokkaido University,
Japan), Yugo Nakamura (Researcher,
Institute of Seismology andVolcanology, Hokkaido University,
Japan), Gerard J.Flyer (Geophysicist,
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center,
NOAA, USA), Akapo Akapo (Director,
National Weather Service, NOAA,
American Samoa), Laura S. L. Kong
(Director, International Tsunami
Information Center, UNESCO/IOCNOAA, USA)
(By S. Koshimura
Tohoku University, Japan)

Page 5

Japan’s Expected Role for Transboundary Collaborationin the Mekong Region
In order to establish a regional
cooperative framework in East
Asia, namely, creation of Asian
free trade regions attention to
ASEAN (Association of SouthEast
Asian Nations) countries has been
increasing. As one of ICUS’s focal
study regions, this article summaries
current interactions between Japanand East Asia, especially in the
Mekong area.
In January 2010, China and Korea
largely reduced trade tariffs with six
major ASEAN countries, including
Singapore and Thailand, and Free
Trade Agreement (FTA) between
ASEAN and India, Australia and
New Zealand went into effect. Japan
has already completed FTA andEconomic Partnership Agreement(EPA) with ASEAN countries, andPrime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama hasrecently reintroduced the concept of
the East Asian Community (EAC).
Through a series of these moves,
Mekong-Japan Exchange Yearwas promoted in 2009 under thecatchphrase of “Together toward
the future, Mekong and Japan.” The
Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting,which included Cambodia, Thailand,
Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos, washeld in Tokyo in November 2009
and the Tokyo Declaration of theFirst Meeting among the Headsof the Governments of Japan and
the Mekong region countries andthe Mekong-Japan Action Plan 63
were announced. Many visions areshared among these countries, suchas becoming mutually importantpartners in political, economic andsocial perspectives, and cooperatingwith various regional frameworks.
In addition, it was recognized that
the Mekong region still confronts
regional and global challenges
including climate change, natural
disasters and infectious diseases,
which are threats to human security.
To realize the Green Mekong, Japan
committed to important actions on
climate change and environmental
and disaster management in theregion. Japan committed to promotetechnology and knowledge transfer
to the Mekong region for improving
environmental
management,
especially for water resourcesmanagement and flood control.
Many technical and financial
assistance strategies were declaredbut, as the Mekong is the longest“international river” in Asia, more
support is required to realize theGreen Mekong through facilitating
cooperation and collaboration among
riparian countries in cross-boundary
environment. This means that manyof the proposed actions, such as

A dam construction in the upstream of a river
tributary in Vietnam

strengthening capacity to tackle
rapidly-spreading infectious disease
and reducing flooding damage by
extreme climate change, expand
beyond national borders.
In the Mekong, upstream anddownstream
issuesinterlacehierarchically in both mainstream
and tributary systems. Economic
discrepancy, political conflicts andcultural differences lie hidden acrossnational borders. Therefore, in orderto promote effective regional actions,especially from an environmental
management perspective, solving
orfacilitating
cross-boundary
issues becomes a very challenging
but unavoidable problem. By
collaborating with riparian andstakeholder countries, internationalorganizations and Mekong River
Commission, Japan is expected
to take leadership in coordinating
cross-boundary issues from a neutral
position with Yuai (友愛 : Prime
Minister Hatoyama’s principle, thespirit of friendship). Considering
current ASEAN situations, there is
still a long way to go until East Asian
Community (EAC) can be realized,
but this starting point is one of many
important and enduring tests ofJapan’s commitment.
(by A. Kawasaki)

Nonaligned upstream development affects the lifeof downstream residents in tributary systems in
Cambodia

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Page 6

Survey of September 30, 2009 Sumatra Earthquake
On September 30, 2009 at 17:16, anintense earthquake (M7.6) occurredjust off the western Sumatra coastin Indonesia (Location: 0.789°S,
99.961°E). The focal depth was
80 km (USGS). The epicenter was
45 kilometers from the port city ofPadang, Sumatra. An after shock(M6.2) occurred 22 minutes later,
followed by a third quake (M6.8),
which struck 225 km southeast of
Padang. This continuous shaking
caused widespread destructionin the area of Padang Pariaman
District. Most inhabitants in theaffected areas have lost their houses
due to collapse by seismic motion
or landslide. The official death toll
confirmed was 739, with another 296
people missing and presumed dead,primarily in Padang Pariaman
District. A total of 863 people wereseriously injured, and 1,356 people
slightly injured. Damage to houses
was widespread with 121,679 houses
severely damaged, 52,206 moderately
damaged, and another 57,510 lightly
damaged, rendering homelessestimated was 250,000 families,
many people were too frightened
to return home (UN OCHA). We
conducted a survey of the damaged
area from Oct. 16 to 18.
There were many damagedbuildings in both Pariaman and
Padang. Over 300 building wereobserved quickly during thissurvey.
Structures affected by thisearthquake were low-rise residential
masonry, hotel buildings, government
offices and industrial facilities. Lowrise residential masonry buildings
are generally constructed with bricks
and they are either one story or twostory buildings. In the structural
type, engineered and non-engineered
structures in the seismic affectedareas may be classified into three
general categories; namely, wooden
structure, unreinforced-masonry
structure and masonry structure withframe.
There were much typical damage
to wooden houses and masonryhouses constructed with bricks.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Compared to brick masonry houses
with or without RC slabs and/orcolumns, they performed better;
however, there were instances of
total collapse due to intense groundshaking. Pancake-type collapse wasobserved in the buildings of China
Town. These buildings are probably
the most vulnerable to seismic
motion and may collapse during thenext strong earthquake.

roadways were constructed on thethin ridge with soil surface along
the river. The failure points occurredat the attacking side of river, where
the foot of the slope loses stability
because of erosion due to water
flow. Typically, the slope at theattack side may be unstable due toerosion of the foot.
There was a large slope failureof volcanic sediment. Since thevolcanic sediment is a type of pumicesoil, under water supply it can easily
fail on the sliding surface of theclay layers. When the earthquake
occurred, a wedding ceremony was
being held on the sliding soil mass.
This failure shown the photo above
caused the deaths of 200 people
attending the party.

Totally collapse of wooden house

Slope failure along mountain roadPan-cake type collapse in China town
From an assessment of 15 bridges,
no significant damage was observed
from this earthquake. Bridges in theepicentral area are mainly truss or
simple beam bridges. The damage tobridges were mainly caused by the
failure of approach embankments
and uneven settlement of piers.
During the survey, roads wereavailable to traffic. The damage
to roadways was also observed inthis study. Surface ruptures andfailures of embankment along
the river and slope cut caused
damage to roadways at several
places in Padang and Pariaman.
In particular, slope failures occured
in places with volcanic sediments
and volcanic soft rocks, such asin Pariaman. Extensive slope
failures were observed along themoutainous road. Some of these

Large slope failure of volcanic
sediment
The railway is normally used
for leisure on the weekends. The
railway was available on the firstweekend after the earthquake. Slight
failure of railway embankments
was observed, however they werecompletely recovered after the first
leisure day.
The most remarkable geotechnicaldamage was caused by liquefaction
and accompanying lateral movement.

Page 7The liquefaction sites are locatedbetween the coastal line and a small
river with ground layers of sandand a shallow ground water levelin the marine deposit. Settlement ofbuildings and foundation damage
due to liquefaction-induced groundfailure and lateral spreading resulted
in the collapse of masonry houses
and/or severe cracking walls.
Most industrial facilities arelocated in Southern Padang City.

Inspection of some industrial plants
in Padang and Pariaman showedthat the earthquake did not cause any
major damage to industrial facilites
except some small scale damage.
Two ceramic isolators in electric
power station were damaged,
but were repaired two days later.
However, seven to ten days wereneeded to restore electric power in
Padang city. Electricity was fully
recovered by ten days.

Two port facilities in Padang
were surveyed. The cement plantand coal storage did not sufferconsiderable damage and theeconomic loss due to the subsidenceor lateral movement of coastal line
was little. Liquefaction and slightdamage at the ferry crossing wereobserved. No damage was found in
the petroleum tank yard.
(by M. Numada)

Project on Amazonian Carbon Dynamics“CArbon Dynamics of Amazonian
Forests” (CADAF) project is a science
technology and research partnershipfor sustainable development project
under the framework of both the Japan
Science and Technology Agency(JST) and the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA), and will
start from January 2010. CADAF is a
giant project spanning 4 years with abudget of approximately 1.5 million
USD per year. Prof. Sawada and Dr.
Endo are participating in the projectwith the Forestry and Forest Products
Research Institute (FFPRI), Japan;
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da
Amazônia (INPA) and National

Institute for Space Research (NPE),
Brazil. The objective of the projectis the development of quantitativeevaluation technology for assessing
the carbon dynamic of Amazonian
forests, including methodologies
for Reduced Emissions from
Deforestation and forest Degradation(REDD). We are in charge of mapping
the carbon dynamic of the whole
Amazonian forest using satellite datain the project. From 20th November
to 1st December, we went to Sao Pauloand Manaus in Brazil for discussion
with the project participants, andthen stayed at a test site inside theAmazonian forest near Manaus for a

day and discussed the common goalsof the participating parties. We will
inform you of some of the highlightsof this project by newsletter over the
next year.
(by T. Endo)

Overview of field survey
at Amazonian forest

Disaster Drill held at the University of Tokyo Hospital
Disaster drill was held at the
University of Tokyo Hospital from13:30 on October 1st, 2009. Prof.
Meguro and Dr. Ohara are studying
disaster management manual system
for University of Tokyo Hospital with
the University of Tokyo Hospitaland the Division for Environment,
health and Safety. The disaster drill
was planed based on the disastermanagement manual.
In the drill, occurrence of theTokyo Metropolitan Earthquake withmagnitude 7 was assumed. The Drill
consisted of 2 parts. The first part was
the training for checking the safety ofpatients, staffs and facilities in eachward of the hospital just after theearthquake and reporting the results
to the disaster command center.
Based on the reports from each ward

and sections, the disaster command
center decided that the hospital has thecapability to accommodate disastervictims transported from outside.
The second part of the drill was thetraining of triage and treatment foroutside disaster victims. Triage is the
medical activity for sorting patients
according to the severity of theirinjuries in order to provide maximum
medical treatment under the

restriction of medical resources. The
mimic disaster victims were sorted to
be Red; Severely-injured to be treatedurgently, Yellow; Moderately-injured,Green; Slightly-injured after the firstand second triage.
Lessons learnt from these drills will
be included to brash up the contents
of disaster management manuals.

Disaster command center

Triage of mimic patient(by M.Ohara)

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Page 8USMCA 2009 was held in Incheon, Korea

Experts from 7 countries delivered 82 presentations at USMCA 2009, Incheon
The National Institute for Disaster
Prevention (NIDP), Seoul, Korea; theKorea Disaster Prevention Association(KDPA), Seoul, Korea; the Korean
Society of Hazard Mitigation(KOSHAM), Seoul, Korea; and ICUS
organized the Eighth International
Symposium on New Technologies
for Urban Safety of Mega Cities in
Asia, (USMCA2009), at Incheon,
Korea on October 15-16, 2009.
This symposium were supportedby the Incheon Metropolitan City
Government (Korea); Incheon Urban
Development Corporation (Korea);
The Foundation for the Promotion ofIndustrial Science (Japan); and Global
Center of Excellence for Sustainable
Urban Regeneration (Japan).
The two-day symposium program
was arranged in three keynotes, twoplenaries and 12 technical parallelsessions.
The symposium was inaugurated
by Dr. Byung-Ha, President of

KDPA, Dr. Wook Kwon, Presidentof KOSHAM, Mr. Sang-Soo Ahn,
Mayor of Incheon City and Prof.
Kimiro Meguro, Director of ICUS.
Keynote lectures were given by Dr.
Yeon-Soo Park, Adminsitrator of
National Emergency Management
Agency, Mr. Yasuyoshi Ichikawa,
ICUS Visiting Prof. and Prof.
Haruhisa Shimada, Tokai University.
Plenary speakers were Prof. Sudhir
Misra, IIT Kanpur and Prof. WaonHo Yi, Director of NIDP.
About 260 people participatedin the symposium, and 82 papers
were presented in technical sessions
covering a wide range of issues in
the area of urban safety, including
green growth technology for urban
safety; urban risk and response
strategy against climate change;
safety assessment of existing
infrastructure;decision-making
technologies for dealing with urban
disasters; advanced technologies formonitoring and assessment of urban
safety; rehabilitation an retrofittingof urban structures against disasters;
emergency management for urban
disasters; risk assessment, predictionand early-warming of urban disasters;
and application of GIS,GPS and
RS to enhance the urban safety.
ICUS prepared the Excellent Young
Researcher Award to encourage
activities of young researchers in
the field of urban safety engineering.
The winners of this award were: Dr.
Tae-Ho Ahn, Mr. Kotaro Sakurai and
Ms. Risa Kuwahara (IIS, The Univ.
of Tokyo).

Young researcher award recipients

Post-Conference Field Study Trip
USMCA 2009 participants visitedthe inside of the Northeast Asia
Trade Tower (NEATT), the supertall
skyscraper standing 305 meters (70floors); which is under constructionin New Songdo City, on 17th October.
This post-conference field study
trip to Incheon Bridge and 2009
Incheon Global Fair & Festival was
specially arranged by with the helpof the Incheon Metropolitan City
Government.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

New commercial and residential construction in Songdo New City

Page 9At the USMCA2009 in Incheon, Korea, three researchers were selected as winners of the Young ResearcherAward. One winner briefly introduces his award-winning research below.

Design of Crack Self-Healing on Concrete Structures
This study aims to develop andapply self-healing concrete as a
new method for crack control andenhanced service life in concrete
structures. This concept is oneof the maintenance-free methods
which, apart from saving direct
costs for maintenance and repair,reduces the indirect costs – a saving
generally welcomed by contractors.
In this research, the self-healing
phenomenon of autogenous healing
concrete using geo-materials forpractical industrial application wasinvestigated. Moreover, in order
to apply this concept to the field,
a self-healing concrete, designedby the author, was fabricated byready-mixed car in a ready-mixed
concrete factory, then used for theconstruction of artificial waterretaining structures and actual tunnel
structures. The results show that theconcrete cracks were significantly
self-healed after 28 days re-curing.
Crack width of 0.15mm was selfhealed after re-curing for 3 days andthe crack width decreased from 0.22
mm to 0.16 mm after re-curing for
7 days. Furthermore, it was almost
completely self-healed at 33 days. It

was founded that this phenomenon
occurred mainly due to the swelling
effect, expansion effect and recrystallization. From these results,
it is considered that the utilizationof appropriate dosages of geomaterials has a high potential fora new repair method for cracked
concrete under the water leakage
of underground civil infrastructuresuch as tunnels.

(a) Crack(b) 3days(c) 7days(d) 33days(By T. H. Ahn,
IIS, The University of Tokyo)

Process of self-healing on self-healing concrete at water/binder ratio of 0.47

RNUS Activities
Regional Network Office for Urban
Safety (RNUS) played an importantpart in the Outreach International
Programbetween
Universiti
Technologi Malaysia (UTM) andAsian Institute of Technology(AIT) on December 18, 2009.
AIT and UTM committed to send
studStudents in the Department ofRemote Sensing and Geoinformatics
visited AIT accompanied by seniorlecturers and pursued collaborated
academic activities from December
14 to 20. On December 18, as apart of the activities, Prof. Haruo
Sawada of ICUS gave an hour’lecture with the title “Introductionof ICUS Activities and Remote

Sensing Study in Regional Scale,”which included the role of RNUS.
Twenty-one students and two
lecturers from the department of
remote sensing, UTM, attended thelecture and listened intently to it,
and asked vigorous questions after
the lecture.
(By A. Kodaka, RNUS )Commemorative photo

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Page 10

BNUS Activities“Release of pressure model”
for reducing earthquake
vulnerability
Most earthquake-related deaths
are due to structural collapse or lackof awareness among the inhabitants,
so for disaster mitigation, bothconstruction and planning play avital role in reducing casualties
and minimizing damage in theaffected areas. To promote disastermitigation, BNUS has prepareda “release of pressure model” asa guideline intended for use indisaster-vulnerable areas.
To make this model, different
factors were selected from aliterature study considering ward No.
68 in Dhaka city and from a socioeconomic survey of 200 households
in the ward. Major aspects of themodel include:
Root causes:- Prejudice
towards
ethnicminorities and social groups- Unequal distribution of economic
power- Belief in modernization andscienceDynamic pressures
Lack of:- Awareness of earthquake risk
- Awareness that Old Dhaka ismore vulnerable than other areas
Macro forces:- Economic strength creating work
opportunities- Aging population for bothgenders

Unsafe conditions
Physical environment:- Unsafe,
non-engineered
dwellings due to design faults- Aged and damaged buildings- Narrow staircases in buildings- Severe overcrowding in highdensity urban areas in Dhaka- Unsafe infrastructure due to lackof knowledge on seismic design
Impact of local economy:- Businesses run on the groundfloor or front of building withupper levels used for residential
purposes- Unsafe conditions in factories orindustrial areas
Social relationship:- Lack of mobility for the elderly,
such as escape routes during
disasters- Sub-standard living conditions
Public actions and institutions:- Lack of proper implementation ofdisaster management planning inolder and more-vulnerable areas- Lack of coordinated action- Lack of disaster preparedness at
all levels
Hazards
Primary impact:- Earthquake ground shaking
Secondary impact:- Fire, ground displacement
Shallow seismic survey
at Muchai Site, Rashidpur
A shallow seismic survey was
carried out to evaluate shear wave

Shallow seismic (SS) and vertical electrical sounding(VES) locations and the direction of electrical profiles
in the survey area

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

velocity to a depth of around30 meters. Hammer source wasused to generate the energy and a
12-channel seismograph was used torecord the data. Geophone spacing
was 3 meters. Data were recorded
when the ambient noise was at aminimum. The collected data were
processed using Pickwin software.
The survey was conducted at threelocations, as shown in the figure
below, with an example of the shear
wave velocity observed at Station
1. These shear wave velocities canbe used for site categorization usedin the national earthquake hazard
reduction program.
Dr. Tanaka visits BNUS
Dr. Shinji Tanaka from theTransportation Engineering division
AIT, Bangkok, visited BNUS,
BUET, Dhaka on December 7,
2009. During this visit, Prof. M.A.
Ansary of BNUS briefly introduced
the Earthquake Evacuation Plan for
Old Dhaka, the microzonation mapof Cox’s bazaar city, earthquake
recording instruments used in
Bangladesh, the effects of cyclones
Sidr and Aila, climate change
scenarios for Bangladesh, and other
BNUS research activities. Finally,
Prof. Ansary presented a gift toDr. Tanaka for visiting the BNUS
office.
(By M. A. Ansary, BNUS)

Shear wave velocity at Station 1

Page 11

Order of the Rising Sun to Dr. Suvit Vibulsresth

Dr. Suvit with Dr. Yasuoka andProf. Meguro
Dr. Suvit Vibulsresth received
the honor of the order of the Rising
Sun (Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon)

from the Japanese Government. He
graduated University of Osaka in
1964 and received his Ph.D fromthe University of Tokyo in 1989 after
studying at the Institute of Industrial
Science (IIS). He was a director of
the Department of Remote Sensing
on the National Research Councilof Thailand and became the first
Director General of the GeoInformatics and Space Technology
Development Agency (GISTDA) in
Thailand. This honor is the resultof his continuous contribution toestablishing friendship and scientificcooperation between Japan and
Thailand, particularly in the field of
remote sensing. He often attended
ICUS’s international workshops andis a collaborator of IIS, and is also
working the president of IIS Alumni
Thailand chapter. We congratulate
him on this prestigious decoration.
(by Prof. H. Sawda)

17th ICUS Open Lecture was held at IIS
The 17th ICUS Open Lecture washeld at IIS on November 4 withapproximately 150 participants.
Three presentations were given on
the lecture’ theme, “town planningwith all safety, cityscape andcultural properties,” and forcusedon the preservation of houses in
the Important Traditional Building

Dr. Y. Kariya

Preservation Area. Dr. Kariya
of Oyama National College ofTechnology discussed the houses
from the view point of preservation
as cultural properties. Dr. Kawaiof the Building Research Institutediscussed them from the view pointof safety against the earthquake.
Prof. Goto of Kogakuin University

Dr. N. Kawai

discussed the practical preservation
with diverse values after threepresentations, panel discussion
was held by the speakers and theimportance of considering various
value systems for traditional houses
was recognized.
(By M. Koshihara)

Prof. O. Goto

ICUS Activities• Prof. Meguro, Prof. Sawada,
Visiting Prof. Ichihashi, Assoc. Prof.
Kuwano, Assoc. Prof. Kato, Assoc.
Prof. Hong, Dr. Tanaka, Dr. Endo,
Dr. Numada, and Dr. Baruah attended
the 8th International Symposium on
New Technologies for Urban Safetyof Mega Cities in Asia (USMCA
2009) in Incheon, Korea.
• Prof. Sawada visited Soul, Korea
from Oct. 12th to 13th to make apresentation at the Korea Forest
Research Institute.
• Prof Sawada visited Beijing,
China from Oct. 17th to 21st to attend
the Asian Conference for Remote
Sensing.
• Prof. Sawada and Dr. Endo visitedSão Paulo and Manus in Brazil
from Nov. 20th to Dec. 1st to attend
CADAF project.
• Dr. Endo visited Busan, Korea

from Oct. 11th to 13th to make apresentation at the Dept. of
Geoinformatic Engineering, Pukyong
University.
• Dr. Numada visited Padang,Indonesia from Oct. 15th to 20th toinvestigate earthquake damage.
• Dr. Tanaka visited Dhaka,Bangladesh from Dec. 3rd to 8th toparticipate in and make a presentation
at the GCOE Seminar.

AwardsGraduate students Masamitsu
Suzuki and German Alberto Pardo

Rios of Kato Laboratory received
Excellent Presentation Awards at

the Japan Society of Civil Engineers
Annual Conference 2009.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.3

Page 12
Editor’s Note
In the main article, Prof. Gotoof Kogakuin University reported
difficulties and problems associatedwith the preservation of historicalarchitecture. The historical value
is as precious as safety andhow to refurbish aged valuable
architectures in order to secure
the safety without damaging their
historical characteristics is oneof the most important issues.
Currently, our mission – the searchfor urban safety – is in a similar
situation. Everyone would agree

that the safety of the urban system
is a very important matter, butother factors – including economic,
environmental, aesthetic, culturaland historical issues – should also
be taken into account. Such difficult
tasks can only be overcome by thedevelopment of social strategies aswell as engineering technologies.
We, ICUS, need to continue making
efforts with colleagues in many
countries to contribute to the safetyof urban systems.
During the period covered bythis volume, USMCA 2009 was
successfully held at Incheon, Korea,

thanks to our Korean colleagues
at NIDP, KDPA, and KOSHAM.
I would like to deeply express ourappreciation to all the participants
who contributed to USMCA 2009. At
the post-conference tour, we visited
the Northeast Asia Trade Tower toview the newly-constructed Incheon
Bridge and New Songdo City. Bothof these works made us feel therapid growth, prosperity and future
possibility of urban cities as aresult of the application of modern
advanced technologies.
(By R. Kuwano)

Call for Paper of USMCA2010
The 9th International Symposium on New Technologies for Urban Safety of Mega Cities in Asia (USMCA2010)
will be held in Kobe, Japan on October 13th and 14th, 2010. The symposium is co-organized by ICUS andthe United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), and marks the 15th anniversaryof the Kobe Earthquake of 1995 and International Day for Disaster Reduction on October 13th. The deadline
for abstract submission is June 30, 2010. Please visit the ICUS website for more information. The symposium
brochure will be sent to you soon.

If you would like to contribute an article to ICUS newsletter or have any comments or suggestions,please contact the editorial committee at icus@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp. Any article within the scope of urban
safety engineering and management will be considered for publication after internal peer review by
the editorial committee. To know the scope of ICUS activities, please visit ICUS homepage at http://
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
http://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

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