I C U SNewsletter
Volume 14

Number2

July. to Sept. 2014

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

Retrospective overview of advancesof liquefaction studies since the 1964 Niigata earthquake
Kenji Ishihara
Professor,
Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, Japan
In the pit excavation ofarcheological studies, traces ofsand-packed fissures are often
found running vertically throughthe near-surface soil deposits.
These are considered as evidenceof liquefaction in ancient era andgenerally cited as paleo-liquefaction.
In many old Japanese documents
describing disastrous damage due
to historical large earthquakes,
more often than not, there arestatements about the destructionof the ground such as openings oroffsets of the ground surface andmassive movements of soils or
rocks, accompanied by spurting andinundation of muddy soils. These

(a)

(c)

(b)

(a) Cracks caused by a seismic ground motion (after 10 to 20 seconds)(b) Sand boiling and liquefaction (after 20 to 60 seconds)(c) Formation of sand boiling opening after expansion of the sand and water (after
60 to 180 seconds)(by Mr. Morimura, Minehamahanawa, Yamamoto-gun, Akita,, 1983 Middle Japan Sea
earthquake.)descriptions are historical evidences
apparently indicating the occurrenceof liquefaction.
Evidence of liquefaction, as
mentioned above, have simply been
the observation and recognitionof the phenomenon. Extensive
occurrence of ground damage at thetime of the 1947 Fukui earthquake(M=7.1) in Japan was probably the
first occasion where liquefaction wasrecognized as an issue of engineering
importance. The site of devastation
was traversed by Professor T.
Mogami of the University of Tokyo.
After performing simple tests in thelaboratory, he identified acceleration
as being a primary factor associatedwith the triggering of liquefaction.
Afterwards, the sand-rich cityof Niigata was devastated vastly
in the 1964 earthquake (M=7.5)
predominantly by the widespreadoccurrence of liquefaction. Oneof the notable features of thedestruction was the damage to largescale infrastructures such as bridges,
ports, harbors, buildings, oil storage
tanks and gymnastic stadium. These
infra-facilities were all new andmodern having been constructed
over the last 10-15 years preceding
the earthquake. In fact, there had
been a big fire in the 1950’s blazing
the area of the city center. Backed by
the motivation to modernize the city,
restoration work had been carriedout for implementation of infrafacilities based upon update design
and technology, and this renovation
work had been finished by 1964.
The city of Niigata had developed
historically over the medieval era asa harbor city at the mouth of the large
Shinano River. The means of traffic
was, thus, small ships or canoes
crosswise traversing in the networkof small canals or waterways within

Page 2the city. Along with the advent ofmotorization after World War II, thewaterways were buried by dumping
sandy soils and transformed into
roads. Thus, the major parts ofthe city were potentially made upof man-made fills composed ofsandy soils, which prevails over thedownstream area of the ShinanoRiver.
The Niigata earthquake indeed
was an unprecedented event and agreat surprise for the engineeringcommunity. It was, in fact, the firstever event to make geotechnicaland seismic engineers keenly awareof the importance of liquefaction
during earthquakes. In cognizance ofthe potential threat for the safety andintegrity of structures and properties,
extensive soil investigations got
off to a start immediately in thedevastated city area primarily bymeans of the Standard Penetration
Test (SPT). Outcomes of the efforts
in this early period are reported in
the Journal of Japanese GeotechnicalSociety, Soils and Foundations.
Professionals in the United States.
showed much interest as well. Some
important works were performed by
Seed and Idriss in 1969 indicating
how liquefaction can be reproducedin laboratory tests and what main
factors influence the triggering ofliquefaction. It was also shown how
the occurrence or non-occurrenceof liquefaction can be identified
through the use of the SPT N-value.
In Japan, significant efforts weremade towards studying various
factors influencing the triggeringof liquefaction. Effects of irregularloads and initial shear stresses wereamong those investigated by meansof several kinds of tests apparatus.
The attempts in Japan were focused
mainly on the conduct of laboratory

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.2

tests on undisturbed samples.
Extensive studies were also madeto exploit an in-situ technique torecover undisturbed intact samplesof sandy soils from loose deposits
below the ground water table.
Various ground freezing techniques
were explored and multiple series oftests were performed on undisturbed
samples primarily using the cyclic
triaxial test apparatus. The outcomeof these efforts in the formative
period was integrated for the firsttime in the Japanese Code of Bridge
Design 1972. It should be noted thatthe urgency to put it into the public
code came from the experience ofdevastating damage to large public
bridges in Niigata. Afterwards,
several public organizations in Japancame up with the incorporationof items of liquefaction in theirrespective codes of design.
In addition to the triggering ofliquefaction, no less important are
the factors influencing the levelof damage to the ground which
is a consequence of liquefaction.
The simplest among these would
be the settlement of flat grounds
due to dissipation of excess porewater pressures. This is, however,influenced by the degree of
disturbance incurred to soils by theshaking during earthquakes. Moredifficult would be the assessment oflateral spreading, which could occur
in sloping ground or at sites where
there is an offset in elevation suchas retaining structures at waterfront.
Simple methods to this end are stilla matter yet to be explored.
When assessing liquefaction
resistance of in-situ sandy soils it has
been a routine practice to make useof the penetration resistance such as
SPT N-value and qc-value in cone
penetration. Efforts for establishingempirical relations have been made in
the United States mainly by drawing
upon what is called performancebased methodology. It would be arealistic method but its application
may be limited to identification ofliquefaction at shallow depths as
it is based on evidence manifestedon the ground surface. In contrast,
advances in Japan have been basedon the results of laboratory tests on
undisturbed soil samples. Much
improvement has been made sincethe 1970’s towards recovering highquality undisturbed samples from
deposits of sandy soils and also
for improving test equipment inlaboratories.
In the United States, another effort
has been made to collect in-situ valuesof shear wave propagation Velocity,and to establish its correlation withthe cyclic strength determined by
the performance-based method.
There are, however, some concerns
about the appropriateness of thiskind of correlation, because while
the cyclic strength is associatedwith the dilatancy manifested withmedium to large strains, the shear
wave propagation Velocity is relatedwith very small strains.
There have been great efforts
expended for developing constitutive
models for formulating deformation
characteristics of cohesionless soils.
It is noteworthy that the endeavor
in this direction was instigated by
the recognition of the importanceof liquefaction. Several schools ofthought have emerged. Althoughvariable in details, the basic tenets
upon which the constitutive laws are
established are the same in principle,
that is, stress-dilatancy relation (flowrule) and hardening rule.
In the course of overarchingadvances as outlined above, there

have been several large-scale
earthquakes in the world which
enhanced motivation of studies
continuously. These events gradually
instigated interest and widen
concerns amongst geotechnicalengineers. New problems were
unearthed. which are considered
locally inherent.
The earthquake on January 14,
1978 (M=7.0), which occurred off
Izu Peninsula about 150km southeastof Tokyo, caused breach of a tailingdam at the top of the mountain andreleased a large amount of liquefied
tailings, which ran down the valley
and contaminated a river channel.
The tailing deposits from a silver
and gold mine consisted of rockflour containing more than 70 %fines and had been thought to be freefrom liquefaction. This event was
the first time that non-plastic fines
such as rock flour was found to besusceptible to liquefaction.
At the time of the NipponkaiChubu Earthquake (M=7.7) that
occurred in 1983 off the coast of thenorthern part of Japan Mainland,
the lateral spread over the wide areaand breach of low-height dams in
the agricultural area were among
new features of the ground damage
caused by liquefaction. Silty sands
containing fines were found as
well to induce liquefaction. Fromaround the mid-1980’s, sands withlow plastic fines have, thus, become
important issues of concern forevaluating liquefaction resistance.
While there were several large
earthquakes in Japan since then, themost drastic was the Kobe Earthquake(M=7.3) in 1995. The shaking was
remarkably strong with recorded
accelerations as intense as 800
gals. Man-made islands reclaimed
in 1960-1970 with disintegrated

granite were vastly devastatedby liquefaction and consequent
lateral spread. The liquefaction of
the soils composed of a potpourriof silt, sand and gravel developed
violently and consequently lateral
spread caused seaward movementsof large caissons at the waterfront,
paralyzing the operation of harborworks. It was again recognizedthat the materials derived fromweathered rocks containing 30-50% of non-plastic fines could causeliquefaction if they undergo violent
shaking with a peak acceleration as
high as 700-800 gals. Interactionof laterally spreading soils andunderground structures such as
caissons and piles was addressed asa new challenge in the geotechnicalengineering.
The Alaska earthquake in
1964 (M=9.2) and San Fernando
earthquake in California in 1971
(M=6.6) were among the big eventsin the United States, which brought
about large-scale landslides in the
coastal area and movements ofearth dams to the verge of complete
failure, which were identified as
being caused by liquefaction ofsands in man-made or Pleistocene
deposits. These events instigatedgrave concern among geotechnicalengineers and comprehensive
efforts have been made to study
factors under which liquefaction istriggered and conditions in which its
effect could influence on the level ofdamage.
In Europe, a series of events
such as the Vrancea earthquake(M=7.2) in 1977 in Romania, theMonta Negro earthquake (M=7.2)
in 1974 in ex-Yugoslavia and the
Irpinia earthquake (M=6.5) insouth Italy in 1980 seem to be themajor quakes making geotechnical

ICUS Newsletter July. to Sept. 2014

Page 3

engineers aware of the importanceof liquefaction.
The largest event ever encounteredin recent times was the East-Japan
earthquake on March 11, 2011 witha magnitude of M=9.0. The novel
issues in the technical aspect were: (1)effects of long-duration motions onliquefaction, (2) easier susceptibilityof man-made or man-reformed
lands and (3) vulnerability of sandy
silts containing fines as much as
70~80 %. On the social aspect,deleterious effects were manifested
pronouncedly on privately ownedhouses or small facilities. There
was practically no damage to
public infrastructures, which had
been designed in accordance to thedesign code. It had been practicallydifficult, however, to implement
requirements of liquefaction code forvast areas of reclaimed lands. Thus,
private houses built in these manmade lands had been left out of thecode requirements of liquefaction
mainly because of the cost forsoil stabilization. Thus, it may bementioned that the liquefaction code
started to be implemented first in
the design of public infrastructures
such as bridges, storage tanks in thewater-front areas. It has graduallypenetrated into large undergroundstructures such as utility tunnels andcar-parking. The last facilities, which
had been left untouched, were theprivate houses. Because of the tensof thousands of owners, this issue
has created law suits. This trend
created an urgent need for firming
up of the forensic aspect in the realmof geotechnical engineering.
Earthquake-related geotechnics has
evolved through bitter experiencesfrom one event after another, thereby
identifying new problems inherent
to local circumstances. In this sense,
earthquake engineering is typicallycited as “experience engineering”.
Thus, it is very important in field
investigations after earthquakes tomake efforts to find out new problems
not yet identified and address themproperly as new subjects for further
studies.
In the course of bitter experiences
and many efforts for studies overthe last 50 years, a large group
was formed in the community ofgeotechnical engineers. One of the
major moves in this context was
the proposal from the Japanese
GeotechnicalSociety(JGS)

Radial cracks at a flat depression

to form a technical committee
in the International Society of
Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering(ISSMFE).
This
proposal was officially approvedin 1989 at the time of the 10th
ISSMFE held in Rio de Janeiro, as aTechnical Committee 4. This activity
grew into the periodical holdingof the International ConferenceonEarthquake
GeotechnicalEngineering every 4 years. The
first inaugural conference was heldin Tokyo in 1995. It was followedby the 2nd one (1999) in Lisbon,
the third (2003) in San Francisco,
the fourth (2007) in Thessaloniki,
Greece, and the fifth (2011) in
Santiago, Chile. The success of theconferences established the placeof geotechnical engineering in thepractice throughout the world.
There is no doubt that theexpertise of the geotechnicalearthquake engineering will survive
for ever and continue being active.
It is hoped that these activities will
be incorporated in the design andconduce to mitigating the grounddamage and consequent social
distress during large earthquakes infuture.

Springs at circular depressions in Rosarno

Source: “ Earthquakes at Calabria Sicilia in 18th century” by Domenico Carbone Grio, Barbaro Inc., 1884 (first edition),
1999 (reprint)

Page 4

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.2

SATREPS keeps moving forward to be officially launched
As we announced in ICUS
Newsletter Vol. 14-1, ICUS has
been forwarding a process for
Science and Technology ResearchPartnershipforSustainable
Development (SATREPS) to belaunched officially from April
2015. In July 2014 at Nay Pyi Taw,
Myanmar, project members madea courtesy visit to H.E. Dr. Ko Ko
Oo, Union Minister of Ministry of
Science and Technology (MOST)
to ask for future cooperation on the
project as a supervisory organizationfrom Myanmar. U Kyaw Zwa
Soe, Director General (DG) of the
Department of Advanced Scienceand Technology (DAST), project
director from Myanmar, also
accompanied the visit.
Subsequently,aDetailed
Planning Survey Team (the Team)consisting of ICUS members,
Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA), The Japan Scienceand Technology Agency (JST), anda consultancy company, visited
Myanmar from September 14 to
27, 2014. During this visit, theTeam had a series of discussions
with Myanmar counterparts on
the mutual views of the project.
In addition, the team also visited
Embassy of Japan in Myanmar and
JICA Myanmar Office to discuss
the detailed project implementation
plan and to ask their cooperationand coordination with governmentalorganizations and other institutions
in Myanmar. As a result of thevisit, the Team successfully signed
a Minutes of Meeting (M/M)

with DG, DAST and Prof. Dr.
Aye Myint, Rector of Yangon
Technological University (YTU).
M/M is an agreement in principal
to sign a Record of Discussion(R/D), final agreement between
Myanmar and Japan to implement
the project. M/M includes a
draft of the R/D, administrative
framework, necessary machineryand equipment, and the maincontents of the project as attacheddocuments being understood by theboth countries. Moreover, a Joint
Coordination Committee (JCC) will
be held in order to facilitate interorganizational coordination of the
project. Tentative JCC’s members
are shown in the following chart.
In the next stage, a final version

Join Coordination Committee (JCC)
Myanmar side

Japan side

Project Director
Chief Representative of
Co-Chair
DG, DASTJICA Myanmar Office
Project Manager
JICA Experts
Rector, YTU
 The University of Tokyo
Asst. Project Manager
 Hokkaido University
Pro-Rector, YTU
 Tohoku University
Members
 Keio University
 Relief & Resettlement
 Hiroshima University
Dept. (RRD)
 Dept. of Metrology and
Fields of expertise
Hydrology (DMH) Public Works (PW)
1) Water-related disaster Irrigation Dept. (ID)2) Earthquake-related disaster Directorate of Water
3) Geospatial technology
Resources & Improvement
4) Infrastructure managementof River Systems (DWIR)
5) Transport and mobility Department of Human
6) Disaster management
Settlement and Housing
Development (DHSHD)
7) Project coordinator Mandalay Technological
Other personnel proposed by
University (MTU)JICA
 Yangon City Development
Committee (YCDC) Myanmar Engineering
Society (MES) Myanmar Geo-Science
Secretariat
Society (MGS)YTU. ICUS Myanmar Earthquake
Committee (MEC)
Project organization chart

ICUS Newsletter July. to Sept. 2014

Page 5

Discussion with DG of DAST, U Kyaw Zwa Soe,
project director of Myanmar side (second from right)of the R/D will be prepared by JICA
based on the discussion made with
relevant organizations during theteam visit and agreements underM/M and submitted to DAST to besigned by the DG, and Rector of
YTU.
On the other hand, ICUS andYTU have also been discussing
the establishment of a contract
called Collaborative Research

Arrangement (CRA) between the two
universities under the JST schemeother than R/D since SATREPS isa research collaboration project.
Draft of CRA is temporary agreed
by SYG U Nyi Hla Nge, Chairmanof Steering Committee of Center of
Excellence and YTU. Now CRA isunder processing to be approved by
Myanmar government.
Thanks to the efforts of all

Courtesy visit to Union Minister of MOST,
H.E. Dr. Ko Ko Oo (right)

members and relevant organizations
involved in this project, we are
steadily making strides forward to
the official kick off of SATREPS
in 2015. We are very much looking
forward to announcing the official
acceptance of the project in the near
future. We will keep you updated
about this aspect.

SYG U Nyi Hla Nge (Center), and project members

Page 6

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.2

What should we do for a bicycle-friendly city?
Y. Honma

As methods of transportationin sustainable society, lots of new
systems such as electric vehicle,
fuel cell vehicle, and personal
mobility vehicle are proposed.
Nevertheless, the most reasonable
and earth-friendly system is still a"bicycle".
Amsterdam is one of the world's
most famous "bicycle-friendly
city". There are enough equipments
available such as bike lanes andsignals. Today, according tostatistical data, nearly 30% of all
trips are made by bicycle. A bicycle
system is absolutely necessary for
Amsterdam citizens.
Meanwhile, during a two-day
study trip, plenty of problems
related to the bicycle system werestill observed in Amsterdam. Photos
1 and 2 show many abandoned
bicycles at central station and canalside. It indicates that Amsterdam

also has a serious bicycle-parking
space problem. Photos 3 and 4 show
citizens nearly run over by a tram
and a car, and similar scenes were
often observed during the trip.
Even in a "bicycle-developed
country", it is quite important to
prepare both hard-infrastructuresuch as bicycle-parking spaces
and soft-infrastructure such astransportation rules.

Photo 1 Abandoned bicycles at central station

Photo 2 Abandoned bicycles at canal-side

Photo 3 Citizens nearly run over by a tram

Photo 4 Citizens nearly run over by a car

BNUS: Fire risk assesiment in Old Dhaka
Fire Risk Assessment
in Old Dhaka
Fire incidence is increasing allover Bangladesh particularly in

Old Dhaka and is occurring mainlyin the factories or godowns. The
main causes of such frequent fireincidences are rapid unplanned
urbanization and the absence ofadequate safety measures. There

are other underlying reasons
responsible for such frequent fireincidents in Old Dhaka.
Firefighting is a very importantjob, but fire prevention is morecrucial. In general, we always think

ICUS Newsletter July. to Sept. 2014

Page 7

Measurements
Ar1
Ar2

Parameters

Emissivity
Refl.temp
Distance
Atmospheric temp.
Ext. Optics temp.
Ext. Optics trans.
Relative humidity

Geolocation
Compass

Measurements

℃

Max
Min
AverageMax
Min
Average

72.7
39.3
43.8
53.3
40.2
44.4

Ar1

Parameters

Emissivity
Refl.temp
Distance
Atmospheric temp.
Ext. Optics temp.
Ext. Optics trans.
Relative humidity

0.95
20℃
3.3ft
20℃
20℃
1
50%

Geolocation
Compass

150.2
42.1
85.0
0.95
20℃
3.3ft
20℃
20℃
1
50%

E

S

A defective fuse

about fire protection equipment
and the use of firefighting tools
and neglect the importance ofpracticing fire preventive measures
to prevent an actual fire accident
from happening. The purpose of theFire Prevention Plan is to eliminate
the causes of fire and to prevent
loss of life and property by fire. The
Fire Prevention Plan is required
to be prepared for Old Dhaka.
However, for the preparation ofa successful fire prevention plan,understanding of the causes of fireis very important. This study aims
at finding out the causes of fireincidents in Old Dhaka, mainly
in buildings with small-scaleindustrial occupancy i.e. factories,
godowns, welding shops etc., wheremachineries are used and different
material are stored.
Methodology of the Study
The reasons behind fire hazards inthe small-scale industrial buildingsof Old Dhaka can be assessedby identification and observationof the sources of fire hazard i.e.
ignition sources, fuel and oxygen,

Page 8℃

Max
Min
Average

A Heat generation from a machineassessment of structural condition,and identification and observationof availability of safety measures.
Considering these factors, themethodology for fire hazard
assessment is developed involving
both a questionnaire survey andvisual assessment. The assessment
process is divided into five segments
as follows.
Ignition
Sources:
Electricalconditions, condition of mechanicalequipments, hot works and smoking
condition will be assessed. To detectunsafe electrical and mechanicalconditions thermal images will be
used, which detect faults throughthermal radiation i.e. temperature
difference. Left figure aboveshows a thermal image detecting
defective fuse in a plastic factory in
Old Dhaka and Right figure aboveshows a thermal image detecting
heat generation from machine in aplastic factory in Old Dhaka.
Fuel Sources: Condition and storageof combustible materials, flammablematerials and accelerants will beassessed.
Oxygen Sources: Condition of

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.2

ventilation and air circular system
will be assessed for the oxygen
source.
Structural Condition: Structural
conditions i.e. building material,conditions of wall, roof, exit door,
stair will be assessed.
Safety Measures: Safety measuresi.e. width of access road for the accessof firefighting vehicle, availabilityof firefighting system and water
source, etc. will be assessed.
Based on the findings of thestudy, the Fire Prevention Plan canbe developed for the small-scaleindustrial buildings of Old Dhaka
to avoid any fire or explosion risks
by eliminating either the potential
ignition sources or potential fuelsources, or both. However, it is notpossible to eliminate all the sources,
so strategies can be developed toreduce fuel loads, eliminate ignition
sources or prevent the fuel/ignitioninteraction by keeping potential
ignition sources apart from potential
fuel, then fire loss and human deathand injury can be reduced.

Field survey of debris flow in Hiroshima city
M. Numada and Jo Inaba

On August 20, 2014, a devastating
debris flow occurred in Hiroshima,
Japan. 74 people were killed bythis destructive debris. Several
stakeholders such as governments,from national to local levels, andNPO, etc. responded. On September
19, 2014, around 800 policemem
were searching for the last missing
person, who was found on thefollowing day.
Effective initial response isimportant to save human life, prevent
secondary disasters and recovery
and reconstruction of the damaged
area. However, it is difficult for thedisaster headquarters to conduct
effective initial operations at amunicipal level. For this debris flow,
effective early warning was notprovided by Hiroshima city , thus,
quick responses were not done.
We surveyed initial responses
to this disaster to clarify the total

initial responses for establishing thestandard initial responses to achieve
the effective initial responses.
The structure of initial responses
can be categorized as management,
operation, information, money (law)and logistics as shown in the figure
below.
Two main headquarters were
established in the damaged areaby the national government andHiroshima city. The actions of
the first response, on a municipal
level, were based according to theDisaster Basic Act. The government
decided the necessary support bygovernmental resources immediately
after the disaster. The headquarters of
the government managed the rescueof missing persons, the cleaning ofdebris, quick inspection of damaged
houses, setting up of wire sensor
to detect warnings of secondary
debris flows, etc. On the other hand,

the headquarters of Hiroshima citymanaged evacuation facilities,
recovery of house, temporary
housing, food supply, mass media
report, donation, etc.
Details of initial responses
were is analyzed by Hiroshimacity. However, so far we have notdescribed the total initial responses
and, therefore, we will continue tosurvey the total disaster responses
and how the decision makings formany kinds of disaster responses
were conducted by each stakeholder
and how information were shared
between two headquarters.
To make a standard disaster
responses system, it is necessary
to compare the disaster response at
Hiroshima to that at Oshima Islandin Tokyo to the debris flow on
October 16, 2013.

Structure of initial responses
Management/
Headquarter

City goverment

National government

Operation
RescueInspection of house

Evacuation

Cleaning of debris

Recovery of
housing

Temporary house

Application of
public service

Food supply

Information
Mass media

Warning system

Money
Donation

Warning of gas
explosion

Security

Logistics
Good supply

Categorized initial responses

ICUS Newsletter July. to Sept. 2014

Page 9Site visit of bridge inspection of Tokyo Metropolitan
Expressway
ICUS
members
visitedabridge inspection site of Tokyo
Metropolitan Expressway on 29th
July 2014. Deterioration of theinfrastructure and its maintenancebecame a serious problem in Japan
since many infrastructures wereconstructed during the high economic
growth period, 1950s-1970s. Tokyo
Metropolitan Expressway is also
facing this challenge and conducting
various countermeasures. ICUS
members visited the inspection site
at Maihama Bridge, which is a steel
girder bridge. Several inspection
techniques were performed including
steel painting fracture check test,
concrete hammering test, magneticparticle testing to find steel fatigue
cracks, and camera scope method
for narrow space, etc. Although thelatest technologies are applied for
efficient maintenance of damaged
infrastructures,
automationofinspection is still difficult and detailed

inspection by skilled inspectors isthe most important method because
the structural system of bridges arecomplex.

Partially corroded steel girder

Camera scopeGroup photo

The 29th ICUS Open Lecture on "Research on Nuclear
Emergency Preparedness System"
The 29th ICUS Open Lecture washeld on September 3, 2014 at IIS
Convention hall. Firstly, Mr. Ohba,
project researcher at IIS, gave alecture about the findings of theresearch project titled “Initiatives for
Atomic Energy Basic and Generic

Dr. Ryoji Ohba

Page 10Strategic Research” supported by
the Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology.
And, Mr. Saito, Technical Advisor,
Radiation Protection Department,
the Secretariat of the Nuclear
Regulation Authority, presented

Mr. Minoru Saito

Prof. Kimiro Meguro

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.2

the nuclear disaster prevention plan
including future research trends of theemergency response system. Lastly,
Professor Meguro, Director of ICUS,
presented the research outcomeson effective disaster management
planning and implementation against
natural disasters.
About 60 participants, from various
fields who are mostly relevant tonuclear emergency preparedness
including electric power companies
and research institutes, attended theOpen Lecture. A social gathering
was also held after the lecture.
Further ideas and opinions about the
topic were discussed in a friendly
atmosphere.

Welcome to ICUS
By Prof. Kimiro Meguro

ICUS welcomes Mr. Akira Kodaka from
1st July 2014 as a project researcher. He
received his master degree of Engineeringfrom Asian Institute of Technology in2010. He had been working in local NPO
at rural mountainous area in Thailand for

3 years, and has been active in research on
public warning using a mobile phones for
local communities in the area using mobile
phones. We expect him to contribute toour international activities especially the
SATREPS project in Myanmar.

ICUS Activities July-September
Travel to abroad
Date
Jul. 13-20

Name
Dr. Honma

Country
Spain

City
Barcelona

PurposeConference

IFORS 2014

Jul. 15-20

Dr. Nagai

Australia

Melbourne

Conference

International Conference on Infrastructure Failures andConsequences (ICIFC2014)

Jul. 23- 28
Jul.24-25

Prof. Meguro
MyanmarDr. Nagai

Yangon/NayPyi Tai

Meeting

JICA-JST SATREPS project

Jul. 30-Aug. 1

Dr. Nagai

Thailand

Bangkok

Meeting

YRGS

Meeting

JICA-JST SATREPS projectAug. 20-23

Dr. Nagai

Myanmar

Yangon/Nay Pyi Tai

Aug. 20-23

Dr. Numada

Chinese Taipei

Taipei

Conference

2014 Society for Risk Analysis – Asian Conference

Aug. 21-24

Dr. T. Kato

China

ChengduLectureThe Disaster Recovery Infrastructure Rebuilding Workshop Project

Sep. 2-9

Dr. Honma

Germany

Aachen/Conference

OR 2014

Netherlands

Amsterdam

ResearchResearch for sustainable society

Meeting

JICA-JST SATREPS projectMeeting

JICA-JST SATREPS project

Sep. 14-21

Prof. Meguro Myanmar

Yangon/Nay Pyi Tai

Sep. 16-21

Dr. Nagai

Yangon/Nay Pyi Tai

Myanmar

Title of graduated students
Lab.

Grade

Title

Dar Adnan Mahmood

MasterExperimental study on reduction of PP-band Mesh connectivity for effective seismic
retrofitting of brick masonry house

KuwanoAbilash Pokhrel

MasterDevelopment of large size disk transducer to evaluate elastic properties of coarse granular

KuwanoNguyen Ngoc Duyen

Master

The effect of partly loosened backfill to the behavior of buried flexible pipe

T. KatoShusuke Matsubara

MasterConstructing a framework for pre-planning for disaster recovery through cross-sectional
engagement within the municipal organizations-validating the potential of the cross-sectional framework-

MeguroName

USMCA 2015: Oct. 29-31, Kathmandu, Nepal
The 14th International Symposium on New Technologies for Urban Safety of Mega Cities in Asia
(USMCA 2015) will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal on October 29-31, 2015.
Tentative Schedule Day 1

Tentative Schedule Day 2

Opening Ceremony
Plenary: Keynotes
Sessions
Poster Sessions: continuous
Conference Dinner& Cultural
Program

Sessions
Posters
Plenary Session
Closing Ceremony

Tentative Schedule Day 3
Field Visit
1, Earthquake Walk
2. Kathmandu Durbar Aquare
3. City Core asrea and so on

ICUS Newsletter July. to Sept. 2014

Page 11

Editor’s note…
It is 50 years since the 1964
Niigata earthquake. Since then,as described in the main article,
liquefaction
studies
progresssignificantly. However, in spite ofyears’ efforts, a newly happened
earthquake would still makeus recognise a new problem.
Interaction between human beingsand natural disasters seems to beendless.
We had a lot of rain in thesummer of 2014, due to persistentrain front and visits of typhoons.
The precipitation of western partof Japan in August recorded amaximum in the observation
history. Heavy concentrated raincaused inundation and landslidein various areas of Japan andespecially devastated debris flow in
Hiroshima. Although the location
had been recognized as one prone
to debris flow, many houses had
been built due to recent rapid
urbanization. Mt. Ontake, one ofactive volcanos in Japan, suddenly
erupted in the end of September

and killed more than 50 people. It
was unfortunate that many people
were around the summit at thetime of eruption, because it wasa clear sunny day of the best timefor enjoying beauty of autumn
mountain. Natural disasters always
occur in the interaction between
human and natural activities. We
usually enjoy blessing of nature.
We need trying to let whatever
the natural fierce forces go past
without damaging human life andproperties.
by R. Kuwano

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.