I C U SNewsletter
Volume 13

Number2

Jul. to Sep. 2013

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

Important lessons to be learned
from the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake Disaster
By Kimiro Meguro
Director, International Center for Urban Safety Engineering
Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, Japan
September 1st is a national disasterday in Japan, commemorating the1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that
occurred on September 1st in 1923.
This year marks the 90th anniversaryof the earthquake, that caused theseverest natural disaster in Japan.
Damage due to this earthquake
spread over the Kanto region andthe total number of fatalities andmissing were as high as 105,000.
Tokyo recorded the highest numberof fatalities, followed by Kanagawa,Chiba,
Shizuoka,
Saitama,
Yamanashi, and Ibaraki. In cities,
such as Odawara and Yokohama
in the Kanagawa Prefecture, which
is close to the epicenter, severe

structural damage, fire, landslides,
debris flow and liquefaction due tostrong ground motions and tsunami
damage in the coastal areas wereobserved. Over 40% of Tokyo’s
downtown was completely burned
down by fires, which lasted over 40hours, resulting in the highest numberof fatalities. More than 65,000

Damage in Yokohama City (Left) and Tokyo Down Town area (Right) due to the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake
Strong ground motion was the main cause of damage in Yokohama while in Tokyo,
spread of fire was the main cause the besides strong ground motion.
[Source: National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan]

people were killed or went missing
due to fires, which accounts for
95% of the total fatalities in Tokyo.
Because of this fact that the fire was
the major cause of death, preventing
a fire from spreading has become
the main focus of urban earthquake
disaster countermeasures.
Figure 1 Burned-out areas by fire broken out at a different seismic intensity
calculated by the wooden house collapse ratio

at various locations.
But the scale of fire at an
early stage immediately after theearthquake is apperently not large,
thus firefighting can be carried out
by the citizen themselves, which
proves to be the most efficient way
towards tackling fires. However,when the structural damage issevere with many collapsed houses
and buildings, firefighting by the
citizens becomes difficult due to thefollowing reasons: 1) the citizens
expected to firefight are trapped
under the damaged structures, 2)
the citizens proioritize the rescue ofother trapped victims to firefighting,3) it is very difficult for citizens or
non-professionals to manage a firethat breakes out under a collapsed
structure, 4) collapsed structures
may block narrow streets, restricting
both citizens and firefighters toaccess the fire site. Figure 3 showsthe evidence of this mechanism.
Learning from there lessons,and understanding the importanceof seismic capacity of structures,
facilitates are better preparation
towards a future earthquake
disaster.

No. of fire breaks /ha that spread

However, based on the researchcarried out by the author’s group, it
was found that, structural damage
was the major cause of widespreadof fires in both the 1923 Great Kanto
earthquake and the 1995 Kobe
earthquake disasters. Althoughvarious countermeasures that weretaken after the kanto earthquake werevaluable as symptomatic treatmentsor post-event measures, it is very
important to retrofit structuresof low earthquake resistance
immediatedly for tackling fire
following a big earthquake, often,
the firefighting demand greatly
exceeds the capacity of existing
public firefighters, as a number offires are broken out simultaneously

JMA Seismic Intensity (by Dr.Takemura)
Figure 2 Location of prefectures and focal areaof the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake

Page 2

Figure 3 Relationship between the ratio of firebreaks that spread and
JMA seismic intensity calculated by collapse ratio of wooden houses
by Dr. Takemura (Fires broken out from non-collapsed houses could
be extinguished by the general public.)

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 13, No.2

Heavy Rain in Tokyo Metropolitan Area on July 23, 2013
By Dr. Miho Ohara

During this summer, Japan
experienced frequent heavy rains,causing casualties and housing
damages in several areas as listed in
Figure1. Among these events, thisarticle focuses on the heavy rain, that
occurred in eastern Japan due to theseasonal rain front on 23, July 2013.

Date

Death Collapsed
Toll
Houses

Area

Event

East Japan

Seasonal rain
front

0

1

Heavy rain

3

28

Aug 9

Akita, Iwate Heavy rain

88

Aug 23-28

All Japan

Heavy rain2

8

Aug 29-Sep 5

All Japan

Typhoon 15, 17

2

2

Sep 16All Japan

Typhoon 18

648

July 9-26

July 26- Aug 2 All Japan

In the afternoon of 23, July 2013,
sudden heavy rainfall attacked theTokyo Metropolitan Area. In thearea near Meguro city, where IIS is
located, the hourly reported rainfall
reported exceeded 100mm at 16:30.
Figure 2 shows the rainfall distribution
observed by the radar at 16:30. The
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
announced “Information of record
short-time heavy rain” to inform thatthe recorded rainfall is torrential withthe possibility of causing a disasterin that area. The last information wasprovided three years ago in Tokyo;
this implies that the heavy rain on
23 July 2013 was an unusual eventfor the people living in the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area.

According to Setagaya ward next
to Meguro ward, more than 100
houses were inundated below floor
level. Tokyu-Toyoko-line stopped
its train service for three hours dueto the cable troubles, affecting about
160,000 passengers. the Bullet Train“Shinkansen” also stopped for 40
minutes, since the rainfall exceeded
its operational standard level.
According to the Tokyo ElectricPower Company (TEPCO), about
14,000 houses suffered a power
outage until the total restoration at
20:30.

minutes at Kamimeguro station near
the river and the water level at Aobadai
Station along the Meguro river. At
16:22, the water level was recorded
to be 106 higher than the flood alertlevel. This figure shows that theintense local rainfall within one anda half hours drastically increased thewater level of the river. The Tokyo
Metropolitan Government and JMA
jointly announced the Flood forecastof the Meguro river running near the
Meguro station at 16:30. However
the flood forecast was called off at
17:20.

This rainfall had caused social
obstructions such as inundation ofhouses, stoppage or delay of trains,traffic restriction, power outage, etc.

Due to this heavy rain, the waterlevel of the Meguro river running in
the Meguro city increased. Figure
3 shows the observed rainfall in 10

Recently, the local governments
started using various medias to deliver
disaster information. At 16:22, thesiren was sounded along the Meguro

Figure 1 Events during July-September, 2013 in Japan

Figure 2 Rainfall distribution observed by radar (from Tokyo Metropolitan Government)

ICUS Newsletter Jui. to Sep. 2013

Page 3

◆Rainfall in 10 minutes at Kamimeguro Station (mm)30

Max：25mm(15:50)

20
10

14:00
14:10
14:20
14:30
14:40
14:50
15:00
15:10
15:20
15:30
15:40
15:50
16:00
16:10
16:20
16:30
16:40
16:50
17:00
17:10
17:20
17:30
17:40
17:50
18:00
18:10
18:20
18:30
18:40
18:50
19:00
19:10
19:20
19:30
19:40
19:50
20:00
20:10
20:20
20:30
20:40
20:50
21:00
21:10
21:20
21:30
21:40
21:50
22:00
22:10
22:20
22:30
22:40
22:50
23:00
23:10
23:20
23:30
23:40
23:50

0

◆Water Level of Meguro River at Aobadai Station (cm)

Announcement of ﬂood forecast of Meguro River(16:30～17:20)

400

Meguro River(Normal time)

Max：379cm(16:30)

200

14:00
14:10
14:20
14:30
14:40
14:50
15:00
15:10
15:20
15:30
15:40
15:50
16:00
16:10
16:20
16:30
16:40
16:50
17:00
17:10
17:20
17:30
17:40
17:50
18:00
18:10
18:20
18:30
18:40
18:50
19:00
19:10
19:20
19:30
19:40
19:50
20:00
20:10
20:20
20:30
20:40
20:50
21:00
21:10
21:20
21:30
21:40
21:50
22:00
22:10
22:20
22:30
22:40
22:50
23:00
23:10
23:20
23:30
23:40
23:50

0

◆Information Dissemination from Government●16:00 Establishment of Headquarter for ﬂood protection●16:30 Alert message on Twitter from Headquarter for ﬂood protection●16:58 Broadcast regarding ﬂood forecast on TV (NHK)●18:22 Alert message on Twitter / Mail service from Meguro Ward
●18:53 Alert message on Twitter / Mail service from Meguro Ward

TV(NHK)
Figure 3 Flow of flood risk and information dissemination from government

river to alert people near the river. In
addition to it, Headquarter for flood
protection in the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government established at 16:00
provided a message on the Twitter by
its account (@tokyo_suibo) at 16:30
as shown in Figure 4. The message
informed the flood forecast of the
Meguro river, specially mentioningthat the underground facilities needspecial attention to inundation risk.
After the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake, many local governments
started information dissemination by
the Social Network Service (SNS)in order to expand their channels todeliver disaster information. These
local governments usually givemessages on Twitter or Facebook
such as disaster warning, evacuation
advisory, announcement of disaster
drill, etc. Some wards in the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area also have theirown Twitter account. Regarding theevent on 23, July, Meguro ward also
gave messages on Twitter. However,
the messages were given only after
18:22 when the forecast had been
already called off.
Meguro ward also provides the

Page 4mail service to the people’s e-mailaddresses or cell phone mailaddresses in case of a disaster,
provided people have registered
their addresses. The messages
sent from this mail service wasalso delayed. The experience on
July 23 suggests the importance ofdisseminating disaster information
with proper timing to the people,
for future disaster reduction.

Figure 4 Twitter messages from the government

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 13, No.2

BNUS: Inspection of Ready-made Garment Factories after
the April 2013 Rana Plaza Incidence in Bangladesh
By Prof. M.A. Ansary

Bangladesh is one of the densely
populated countries in the world.
Due to shortage of land, constructionof multi-storey buildings forresidential,commercial
andindustrial purposes has become
very popular in the urban/suburban
areas. A dramatic growth of garment
industries has occurred during thelast three decades. The industry
has contributed to export earnings,
foreignexchangeearnings,
employment creation, poverty
alleviation, and the empowermentof women. During the 80’s and90’s, garment factories grew at
a very rapid pace and have been
established mostly in Dhaka cityand in greater Dhaka area. Within
the city they have grown mostly
in existing buildings throughchanging the building occupancy
from residential or commercial toan industrial building. During thepast decade, however, industries
have developed at specificlocations outside city area e.g., at
Savar, Ashulia, Tongi, Gazipurof the greater Dhaka area and inseveral export processing zones(EPZs) in Dhaka, Chittagong,
Mongla, Rajshahi and Adamjee in
Narayanganj.
There are more than 3500 active
garment factories in Bangladesh.
However, in some cases a numberof garment factories are housed ina single building. The total numberof factory buildings may vary from2000 to 2500 all over Bangladesh.
Several building disasters haveoccurred recently, such as thecollapse of Spectrum Garments
Building in 2005, fire in Tajreen

Garments Building in 2012 andvery recently (April 2013) Rana
Plaza in Savar. Following the tragic
incidence in Savar, all concerned
people including the labour
community, the owners of RMG
industries, building owners, local
authorities and different government
agencies were panic stricken and
immediately has undertaken the
program of inspecting the RMG
factory buildings in order to identify
the vulnerable ones.
Building safety assessment isbeing performed in two stages:
Preliminary Assessment through
Visual Inspection and Detailed
Engineering Assessment.

risk in continuing its current use, theteam of expert visiting the building
will suggest in the preliminary
assessment report of immediate
measures to be implemented by
the building owner and user. It
will also be recommended in the
preliminary report, for immediate
detailed engineering assessment of
the building that would involve soil
investigation, other non-destructive
tests and 3D building modeling.
Detailed Engineering
Assessment

Throughvisualinspection,
the existence of any distress inthe structure of a building willbe identified. Structural design
drawings and soil investigation
reports, if available, will be reviewed
to assess the current use and loading
pattern. Most importantly, it will
be assessed whether the buildingis having any immediate threat ofcollapse from current building use.
From the visual inspection, if it isfound that the building is carrying

The safety assessment of abuilding will not be completed
without
detailedengineering
analysis of the structure of thebuilding. To perform this detailed
analysis,severalimportant
documents and information areneeded that include approved
building plan, complete structuraldesign drawings, soil investigation
report, and construction material
test reports. The team of experts
will also perform several nondestructive tests on the building
using standard equipment toassess the strength of construction
materials used which will then be
used for the detailed analysis.

Figure 1 RMG Finishing Floor

Figure 2 RMG Sewing Floor

Preliminary Assessment

ICUS Newsletter Jui. to Sep. 2013

Page 5

GIS and RS lectures in Yangon, Myanmar
By Akiyuki Kawasaki

Four faculties of Institute ofIndustrial Science, University ofTokyo, provided a lecture course on“Remote Sensing and Geographic
Information System (GIS)” at
Yangon Technological University(YTU), Myanmar in August and
September, 2013. This is a part of
ICUS’s continuous support towards
YTU’s research and education since
December 2012. About 40 graduate
students and staff from departmentsof Civil engineering, Architecture,and Engineering geology took thiscourse, and succeeded to masterthe fundamental of GIS and remotesensing through practical handson exercises. The lecture titles andlecturers are summarized in thegiven table. Based on the requestfrom YTU, we prepared practical
exercises using Myanmar as a study
area. During the lecture by Prof.
Sawada, satellite data of Bago Riverbasin was used for image processing
exercise and he brought students tothe field for verifying processed
images on ground. Dr. Takeuchitaught how to make drought map
in central Myanmar. Through thesepractical lectures, YTU’s students
and staff were able to learn how

to use GIS and remote sensing forenvironmental problem solving.
We hope our lectures would
contribute to promoting advanced
environmental and disaster researchat YTU.
No.

Date

1

13–15 Introduction
Dr. A.
Aug.
to GIS
Kawasaki

Course title

Lecturer

2

20–22
Aug.

Introduction
to remotesensing

Prof. H.
Sawada

3

3– 5
Sep.

Advanced
geospatial
analysis

Dr. Y.
Sekimoto

4

10–12
Sep.

Synthesis
exercise

Dr. W.
Takeuchi

GIS and remote sensing hands-on training (left) and group photo with YTU students and staff (right)

6th Joint Student Seminar on Civil Infrastructure :Bangkok, Thailand
By Niwat Apichartbutra, Tsubasa Sasaki and Fei Jiang

The 6th Joint Student Seminar on
Civil Infrastructure was a combined
programme of a seminar and afield trip. This year, the seminar
was held on August 6th, 2013 at
Chulalongkorn University. Two
invited speakers and twenty students
from universities in Thailand, Japan,
and Korea gave presentations on
their research in different fields.
Two of the three students who wereawarded “Excellent Presenters”
were from the University of Tokyo.
On the following day, August 7th,
2013, the participants went on a field
trip of visiting places of cultural andengineering significance. The trip’s
highlight was Hua Lamphong’s
construction site where a tunnel ofPage 6

Participants of the 6th Joint Student Seminar on Civil Infrastructure

the new MRT Blue Line was being
excavated.
After attending the seminar, we,as the seminar participants, agreed
that not only did the seminar give
us an opportunity to share research

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 13, No.2

perspectives with other students but
also, most importantly, a platform todevelop a network of friendship thatis invaluable as an informal platform
to exchange ideas and informationin the future.

Congratulation to Prof. Reiko Kuwano
By Prof.Kimiro Meguro

Dr. Reiko Kuwano, an active
member in the social infrastructure
management division of ICUS,
has become a Professor at Instituteof Industrial Science (IIS), theUniversity of Tokyo in July 2013.
On this auspicious occasion, we arevery pleased and would like to giveher our heartfelt congratulation
on her promotion. She joined the
IIS as an Associate Professor in
April 2006 then established her
own laboratory, Geotechnical andGeo-Environmental Laboratory,
and has been heading it. Prior tojoining the IIS, she had worked

as a lecturer at the Department ofCivil Engineering, the Universityof Tokyo, as well as a seniorresearcher at the Public Works
Research Institute. She has been
participating in the ICUS activities
as a member from her initial tenure,that has aided to achieve ICUS’s
goal.
We again congratulate her and weare looking forward to the uppermost
contributions to create safer andsustainable urban systems.

ICUS Activities July - September
Award
Date

Name

Title

Organaizer

Study on efffect of street blockades to transportation ofseriously-injured victims to hopitals –Case study of expectedTokyo inland earthquakeThe impact of flow rate on the microbial cementation of sandy
specimens
Cooperative development strategy of water resources ininternational river basins

6th Joint Student Seminar on
Civil Infrastructure: Banjkok

Aug. 06

Ms. Fei Jiang

Best Presentation

Aug. 06

Mr. Tsubasa Sasaki

Best Presentation

Aug. 30

Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki

2013
Prize

Date

Name

CountryCity

Category

PurposeJul.14-Aug.01
Aug. 12- 15

Prof. Sawada
Dr. Kawasaki

BrasilMyanmarSao Paulo &Manaus
YangonResearch
Meeting
Conference

Project of carbon dynamics of amazonian forest
Visit to Yangon Technology University
Attend the 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics andGeotechnical Engineering
Operation of RNUS & lecture

Excellent

Research

6th Joint Student Seminar on
Civil Infrastructure: Banjkok
The Kurita Water
and Environment Foundation

TravelAug. 31-Sep. 7

Prof. Kuwano

FranceParis

Sep. 02 - 24

Dr. Kawasaki

Thailand

Bangkok

Sep. 27- Oct. 01

Prof. Sawada

China

ShenzhenConference

Attend DEHRS2013

USMCA2014: Nov 3-5, Yangon, Myanmar
The 13th International Symposium on New Technologies for Urban Safely of Mega Cities in Asia
(USMCA2014) will be held in Yangon, Myanmar on November 3- 5, 2014, collaborating with
Yangon Technological University (YTU) and Myanmar Engineering Society (MES).

University of Tokyo Alumni party and seminar in Thailand
and Myanmar in January 2014
Alumni party and half-day seminar will be held: at Aetas Lumpini Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand on
January 4th, 2014, and at Yangon University Boat Club in Yangon, Myanmar on January 5th, 2014.
For further information about alumni party and seminar,
please contact Dr. Kawasaki <akiyuki@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
ICUS Newsletter Jui. to Sep. 2013

Page 7

Editor’s note…
Recently, the disasters areapparently getting bigger, and we
can say that the world has entered theperiod of mega hazard. All countries
over the world are facing some natural
hazard risk regardless of their level ofdevelopment.
Three kinds of disasters wereintroduced in this new volume:
earthquake, flood and structure
collapse. All disasters had close
relation to urbanization. The major
cause of post-earthquake urban fire
spreading in the 1923 Great Kanto
Earthquake Disaster was overcrowded urban environment withpoor wooden houses. Regarding theflood in Tokyo this year, obviously

the main reason was heavy rain, andmoreover densely populated wide
urban area with insufficient storm
sewer was the indirect reason ofmagnifying the damages of houses
and casualties.
I can say that the incident
in Bangladesh was a result ofurbanization in which only rapid
economic progress had been kept
in priority. The fact compels us toreconsider how urbanization should
be. Japan, which already passed theperiod of development, got manykinds of lessons based on abundant
experiences. Therefore, we havean obligation to disseminate ourexperiences to the world.
There is diversity in the world, andeach country has its own specificcharacteristics such as culture andtradition, which can urbanize in its
own way. However, human, family
and community are universal, so,
the precious lessons learnt throughexperiences should be applicableto tackle with several disasters
in the world. Therefore, a deeper
understanding of diversity andcapacity building of penetrating
insight focused on human andcommunities are necessary. Not only
technology, mutual understanding
and support in social aspects arerather more important. ICUS has
been required to expand its field tocontribute risk reduction of natural
hazard from various aspects.
By Dr. Takaaki KATO

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.