ICUS NEWSLETTER
International Center for Urban Safety Engineering

Institute of Industrial Science
The University of Tokyo

VOLUME 5 NUMBER 2
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2005

International Center for
Urban Safety Engineering

WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF ONLY EARTHQUAKES?
By
Taikan OKI
WHAT ARE PEOPLE IN JAPANAFRAID OF?
More than 90% of people in Japanare afraid of big earthquakes, but percentage of the people who are afraid ofextreme weather, such as typhoons,
torrential rainfall, and droughts, is lessthan 60% − recent survey by Tokyu
Agency Inc., an advertising agency,
illuminated the people’s consciousness
on their fear. Even though these twonatural disasters by seismic andatmospheric variations respectively are
the top two issues that people in Japanare apprehensive about their safety, why
are their perceptions quite different forthese two? The number of people whoare not afraid of wind storm and floods
is 4 times that of those who are notafraid of earthquakes. The survey by
Tokyu Agency Inc. was conducted in
September 2005. Its results are
consistent with the observation of thespecial public opinion poll conducted in
February 2005 by the Cabinet Office ofJapan which indicates that 34% of
people in Japan do not think they have
any risk from torrential rainfall or
typhoons.
In 2004, two torrential rainfall
events subsequently occurred in July
associated with the seasonal rain front
at Niigata and Fukushima, and Fukui
Prefectures and there were 10 landfallsof typhoons during the season. As aresult, over 200 lives were lost. If thesesurveys either by Tokyu Agency Inc. orby the Cabinet Office of Japan weredone in 2003, before the prominent
damage of 2004, awareness of the risk
against floods would have been muchless and people must have expressed
their fear mostly against earthquakes.
Actually, there was an earthquakeof magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scalein Chuetsu region of Niigata Prefecture
on October 23, 2004, and of course,
this disaster reminded the risk ofearthquakes for the people in Japan.
This might have been reflected in to theresults of the survey, as well.

Property damage due to flood caused by failure of embankment

page 2
donation compared to the weighted
total damage by each disaster.
Apparently, people suffered by floods
were not well treated and supported,and the situation is really unfair.

Damage by Natural Disasters
in FY2004

Ratio of the donation compared to
the weighted total damage

Victims and economic loss
due to flood
Above table is a list of damages
caused by natural disasters summarized
by Fire and Disaster Management
Agency, Japan for the Japanese fiscal
year of 2004, namely from April 2004
through March 2005. The number ofearthquake related death toll wasincreased till October 4, 2005. All thenumbers include the indirect damage,for example, those who lost their lives
during the evacuation or in the hospital,
and the period of counting the damage
is not set unlike the statistics of car
accidents in Japan, which counts only
the loss within 24 hours after accidents.
As is apparent from the table above,
many lives were lost due to floods in2004. The number is exceptional inrecent Japan as shown in above figure.
It was not rare a few decades ago for thedeath toll in a year due to floods to be
more than a few hundreds. But since
1982, when severe floods in Nagasaki
Prefecture resulted in 299 deaths or
missings, human casualties have been
decreasing even though the economic
losses have not decreased significantly.

The perception of higher interest inearthquake than flood can be observedin the number of articles onnewspapers. Below figure shows
typical example for the case of the
Asahi Shimbun NewsPaper. The
number of articles on the Typhoon No.
23 (TOKAGE) was the peak on
October 21, the next day of the mostserious damages were given and follow
up articles were on the page
space.However, after the big earthquake
hit Chuetsu region, Niigata Prefecture,in the evening on October 23, most of
the space were filled with the articles on
the earthquake and articles on thefloods were suppressed. Absolute
number of articles, photos and figureson earthquake were much larger
compared to those on floods, eventhough the total number of the death toll
due to the Typhoon No.23 only wasclose to 100; it was less than 40 at thatmoment by the earthquake.
This difference of the attention bymass media made difference for the
charity donation. Approximately 30
billion yen of charity donation were sent
for the earthquake; however, it was only
3 billion yen for the Typhoon No.23.
Left figure illustrates the ratio of theTransition of newspaper articles about Typhoon No.23(Asahi Shimbun Newspaper)

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

FLOODS IN JAPAN IN 2004
Some characteristics are diagnosedin the floods of 2004. Although not surprising, disaster challenged people −either aged person over 65 years old or
handicapped person− accounted for
64% of the deaths or missings due tofloods and landslides in Japan in 2004.
Percentage of persons aged over 65
years is approximately 20% in Japan
now. It was a shock for experts of flood
disaster mitigation to hear the news ofaged person drowned in floods because
recent casualties were mostly by landslides, and only a few were lost due todropping into a flooded channel
accidentally or being confined in a basement. This fact initiated the discussion
on how to issue more efficient alert
information introduced below.
Many cases were observed where
people were isolated in their houses andcould not evacuate from the inundated
area. Because of the large area and thenumber of people affected, it took longtime for helicopters to safely transfer allaffected people to safe places.
Fortunately no serious damage wasreported but day nurseries and schools
were isolated and some children had tospend over night there. It is surprisingchildren were in day nurseries andschools when flood warning was issued.
We should not put too much priority for
efficiency in our daily activities but
should accept idleness underemergency; we should stay at homewith children and should not let them gooutside under severe weather conditions.
Other common feature of thedamage due to floods in the last year
was that the levees of main stream ofmajor rivers managed by the nationalriver bureau were fine even thoughwater level exceeded the dangerous
level at some locations. However, leveecrevasse occurred at the sections oftributaries of major river basins that aremanaged by prefectures.
Unfortunately, most of the hazard
maps or the inundation hazardous areas
were estimated for levee crevasse ofmain streams of major rivers, and inundated areas in the last year were notpage 3
foreseen. As bad luck would have it,flood forecasting systems were notgenerally installed and operated inthese tributaries.
It was known before, but it wasalso made clear by the flood disasters
in 2004 that higher levee can holdlarger floods, however, once leveecrevasse occur red, the damage
particularly close to the levee becomes
seriously severer. Practically it is
impossible to secure the safety of levee
for its all length, therefore, we should
consider the risk of levee failure andtheir impacts in the design of river
improvement measures.
W H AT L E S S O N S W E R E
LEARNT AND WHAT ARE THE
MITIGATION MEASURES?
It was recognized that the delays in
issuing flood alert to the local people by
the local governments were one of thecritical reasons that flood damages wereintensified. According to the recent
survey, it was suggested that disasterchallenged persons need additional one
hour, approximately, for theirevacuation. There were only two
categories of disaster related alert that
local government issued in the past:evacuation instructions and evacuation
directives. Reflecting on the disasters in
2004, evacuation preparation
information was added and thereactions local people should take when
they hear these three commands, wereclearly defined, which may have beendifferent in each local government. For
the case of flood alert, the “evacuation
preparation information” is issued whenwater table is expected to reach to thedangerous level within certain time,over which the safety of the leveecannot be guaranteed. The “certaintime” here is defined as the time within
the duration disaster challenged person
can evacuate and the accuracy of theinformation can be assured. Disasterchallenged person should evacuate
immediately and ordinary people
should start preparing for theirevacuation if they touch with the“evacuation preparation information.”
Evacuation instructions are issued when
the water table is expected to reach thedangerous level within certain time;“certain time” being the duration within
which ordinary people can evacuate.
All the people should evacuate

immediately. An evacuation directive isissued when serious disaster has alreadyhappened, such as levee crevasse,
finding of critical cracks in levees or alarge quantity of leakage of water,
failure of flood management facilities
such as water gates or pumping stations,or the reach to the dangerous waterlevel. People are suggested to evacuate
immediately if they can but they should
assure the safety of the evacuationroute. These three levels of alerts aredefined for storm surges, landslidedisasters, and tsunamis, as well. The
basic philosophy is the same as for thecase of flood alerts.
Mayors are responsible for issuingflood alerts, but practically speaking,municipal governments are not used toflood disasters and are not equipped tocarry out proper flood prediction. For
these typically small rivers a newconcept of “special warning waterlevel” is recommended. Mayors aresuggested to issue the “evacuation
preparation information” when thewater level reaches the “special
warning water level.”
WHAT KIND OF RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT ARE GOING ON AT IIS/UNIV. OF TOKYO?
Oki and Kanae Laboratory, theHydrology and Water Resources Engineering Laboratory at the IIS, the University of Tokyo, has been working on
the global water cycle within thecontext of earth system science andworld water resources assessment
including the virtual water trade.
Corresponding to the recent floods
disasters in Japan, they have started todevelop a macro scale hydrologicalmodeling system which covers wholeland area all over Japan. Prototype
model was developed in 0.1 degree
horizontal resolution, and proved thatthe prediction by the Meso Scale
Model of the Japan Meteorological
Agency, which is delivered in real timethrough the internet, can be used forpractical flood forecasting. The
modeling system is now under revisionand improvement of its accuracy. The
merit of the modeling system is unlike
the classical rainfall-runoff modeling inhydrology; soil moisture distribution
can be obtained simultaneously, and is
expected to be used for the risk
assessment of land slides considering

the historical record of soil moisture
estimated by offline simulation.
Such a modeling system will also
be developed in Thailand under theJapan EOS (Earth Observation
System) Promotion Project (JEPP),
which was initiated by the approval of
the 10-year implementation plan of the
GEOSS ( Global Earth Observation
System of Systems). Even though thedemonstration project of thehydrological modeling system will be
developed in Mae Waang river basinnear Chiang Mai, Thailand incooperation with Thai Universities,
such as Kasetsart, Chulalongkorn, andKing Mongkut, and Thai Operational
Agencies such as Royal Irrigation
Department, Thai Meteorological
Department, and Royal Forestry
Department, hydrometeorological andclimatological studies should have ascope covering whole Indo-China
Peninsula and neighboring oceans suchas Andaman Sea and South China Sea.
This scope fits to the planning of new
project “Monsoon Asia HydroAtmospheric Science Research andPrediction Initiative” (MAHASRI) as a
successive project of the GEWEXAsian Monsoon Experiment (GAME).
Our project will have close relationshipwith GEOSS, MAHASRI,
IAHS/PUB, GWSP, GE-WEX/
GSWP, etc., and probably will have aname such as “GEOSS and
MAHASRI Experiment in Tropics”(GaME-T). GaME-T aims to investigate the “Scientific Basis for Hydrometeorological Warning System” inshort, medium, and long ranges forflood and drought management withthe basic understanding of Asian
Monsoon System and the latest
technology of monitoring andmodeling. All the interested researchersand stakeholders are welcome to join
the new project.
REMARKS
There are also many issues to be
discussed in this topic, such as theimpact of climate change, global
warming to the water resources management,the development of therobustness against flood disaster incommunity, integrated water resourcesmanagement incorporated with theland use management, but they will be
introduced in another occasion.

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

page 4After ten years of my affiliation with INCEDE/ICUS- Greetings from the Monash University, Australia After ten years of my association
with this quarterly newsletter as a staffof INCEDE and then ICUS, for the
first time I am writing as a network
member of ICUS. It makes me
nostalgic with flash back of so many
interesting events and activities of
INCEDE and ICUS that I participatedin during the last 10 years of my stay at
the University of Tokyo. Walking
down the memory lane, I joined
INCEDE in August 1995 as a
Research Associate after obtaining my
M. Eng. degree in civil and water
resources engineering from the Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT). Soon
after joining INCEDE, I got many
wonderful opportunities to participate
in several international projects of
INCEDE in areas of urban disastermitigation. I was also assigned theeditorial task of the INCEDE
newsletters. Through these activities, I
got to know and work with many
enthusiastic INCEDE and ICUS
Network members and in the course oftime, I developed long lasting
friendship with many of them. I shallcherish our friendship in the days andyears to come and look forward to
having opportunities again to workwith from the Monash University.
I am grateful to the then INCEDE
Directors Prof. T. Katayama, Prof. K.
Sudo and colleagues Prof. S. Herathand Prof. K. Meguro for giving me theopportunity and support to complete
my Ph.D. from the University ofTokyo in 1999 as a working staff of
INCEDE. As INCEDE became ICUS
in 2001, I became a research staff of
ICUS. With the expansion of researchareas at ICUS to urban safety, our teamand activities were expanded. That
expanded the horizon for me to workwith some of the great researchers. In
2003, I was promoted to the positionof Associate Professor. Promotion
comes with additional loads; it was not
exceptional for me. I was immediately
assigned with the responsibility of
coordinating the activities of theRegional Network Office of Urban
Safety (RNUS) at AIT, which was
newly established for regional
collaboration of ICUS in areas ofurban safety. For this task, I joined the
School of Civil Engineering of AIT asa visiting Associate Professor.
Coordinating a new off ice waschallenging, but with the wonderfulsupport of my colleagues from ICUS
and AIT, I was successful inestablishing and expanding theactivities of RNUS and initiating
several collaborative research projects.
I thank Prof. Taketo Uomoto, theICUS Director for rendering his
unconditional support to me in myinitiatives at RNUS.
The ten years of my career at the
University of Tokyo is the mostsatisfactory and enriching experienceof my professional life so far. I takethis opportunity to thank all my pastand present colleagues at the
University of Tokyo for their kind
support to me during my stay.
I moved to Australia in July 2005
to join the School of Applied Sciencesand Engineering (SASE) of theMonash University as a faculty
member. At SASE, I am involved withteaching and research in areas of water

Gippsland campus, Monash University, Churchill, Victria, Austraria

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

engineering and science. SASE is
located in the modern and picturesqueGippsland campus of the Monash
University in the township of Churchill,
Victoria. The faculty of SASE consistsof a team of scientists and engineers ofvarious disciplines focusing on teaching
and research in multi-disciplinary areasof science and engineering. SASE
offers degrees and double-degrees inseveral fields of science by on-campus
and off-campus modes. The school alsooffers a range of honours, postgraduate
and research programs in science andengineering. One of the new programs
at SASE is the Bachelor of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering established
to meet the increasing demand of an
integrated program of civil andenvironmental engineering forsustainable development in the 21stCentury. The program provides broadbased capabilities for the design,
implementation and management ofcivil engineering solutions in anenvironmental context. If you are moreinterested to know about SASE or theMonash University, please feel free tocontact me any time by e-mail.
Finally, I extend my best wishes toall the colleagues at ICUS and RNUS
for their continued research endeavor
to enhance the safety and security of
Asian cities. I am looking forward tocollaborating with ICUS, RNUS and
its network members from my new
office in areas of water related urban
disaster risk management.
(by Dushmanta Dutta, Lecturer,
School of Applied Sciences
Engineering, Monash University
dushmanta.dutta@sci.monash.edu.au)

Dr. Dushmanta Dutta

page 5International Collaboration Between
Asia-Pacific Space Agencies for Disaster Reduction
A technical workshop of AsiaPacific Regional Space Agency Forum(APRSAF) titled “Disaster Reduction
through Effective Space Technology
Utilization in the Asia Pacific Region”
was held at Malaysian Centre for
Remote Sensing (MACRES), Kuala
Lumpur from May 24 to May 26, 2005.
APRSAF was established jointly by
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) and local space agencies of theregion. APRSAF12 will be held in
Kitakyushu-city, Japan in October, 2005.
The main themes of APRSAF canbe divided into two categories: (1)activities of local space agencies, and (2)international cooperation for disaster
reduction. As an example of local
activities, the National Institute of
Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN),
Indonesia reported about the remotesensing applications in disastermanagement in Indonesia. It has been
trying to improve the capability for early
detection, warning and response tonatural disasters, especially“Weather/climate anomalies”,“Droughts”, “Floods” and “Land/Forest
fires”. LAPAN has developed several
systems such as “Potential flooded area
monitoring system”, “Fire danger rating

system” and “Smoke dispersion
modeling”. Most of the systems
combine satellite data such as MODIS(spatial resolution 250m, 500m and1km) and NOAA (spatial resolution
1.1km) images, and meteorological data.
LAPAN also pointed out current
problems, e.g. lack of expertise forinterpretation of the results, shortage of
supporting field data for validation, andlack of models and algorithms for thedisaster specific. LAPAN informed thatit needs technical trainings on modelingand database creation for remotesensing/Geographic Information System(GIS), and regular update of databaseand national/international collaboration.
From the viewpoint of aninternational cooperation, capacity
building and development of data
sharing network were mainly discussed.
JAXA has been supporting activities forcapacity building of remote sensing and
GIS through Geoinformatics Center,
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).
From the current fiscal year, these
activities are being implemented
through “Mini-project” as per local
needs. Trainees are expected to acquire
the knowledge and skills through miniprojects conducted by themselves under

Opening session of APRSAF
the supervision of AIT. Data sharing is
also one of the most important issues interms of disaster reduction. “AIT/JAXA
Digital Asia” project plans to develop adata network. It will require “nodes” indifferent countries to distribute thenecessary data efficiently. The projectplans to set up a data server at eachnode, and the server will be managed
by local space agencies. Many countries
expressed their willingness toparticipate, and installation of servers
and training of personnel are in
progress. Such international
collaboration is regarded as an
indispensable activity for the utilizationof remote sensing data for disaster
reduction.
(by J. Susaki)

Current Status and Countermeasures for Asbestos Problem
Professor Motoyasu Kamata of The
University of Tokyo, one of the bestexperts in asbestos removal techniquesin Japan, was interviewed about thestate of asbestos related problems inJapan and the measures being taken to
deal with them.
Recently, the damage caused byasbestos has been in the news in Japan.
Asbestos is the general term used forfibrous inorganic silicate minerals
belonging to the serpentine andamphibole groups with a length over
5µm and a thickness less than 3µm.
People tend to mistakenly believe thatasbestos itself is a toxin, but thesubstance itself exists in nature and is
not toxic. However, it is extremely fineand can get lodged in the lung alveoli
and other organs, and it is said to be thecause of mesothelioma. Fibers over acertain size are naturally expelled fromthe body, but those as fine as asbestos
accumulate within the body and lead toproblems. Also, the latency period ofasbestos is extremely long (sometimes

over 30 years) so it is often difficult toprove a causal relationship with theillness. Asbestos is highly fire-resistantand has excellent heat insulating
properties. Moreover, it is inexpensive.
These have led to its extensive use; it has
been used in construction materials
such as fireproofing boards and roofing
materials, ceiling spray, water pipes,
and so on. In line with increasingawareness of the damage caused byasbestos, use of spraying asbestos wasbanned by amendments to the Industrial
Safety and Health Law’s Ordinance on
the Prevention of the Hazards due toSpecified Chemical Substances in 1975.
It is said that if asbestos is solidified andis not dispersed, it is not harmful, but it
is inevitable that a certain amount isreleased during repair works anddemolition. Therefore, construction
works must be conducted with full
attention so that the asbestos is notdispersed into the air. At present, theBuilding Center of Japan is conducting
inspection and certification (previously

Spray asbestos(Asbestos center, Japan)
these inspections and certifications wereconducted with approval from the
Minister of Construction, but now they
are done voluntarily by the Building
Center) of methods that care about
prevention of asbestos contamination
and asbestos removal. However, there
are presently no punitive provisions andapplication of these methods is stilllargely up to the goodwill of thedeveloper and construction companies.
A legal solution is required for thismatter as soon as possible.
(by R. Ooka)

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

page 6The 9th ICUS Open Lecture
The 9th ICUS Open Lecture washeld at Convention Hall of IIS in theafternoon of September 29, 2005.
The title of the lecture was “Safety
Problems of Structures in Japan.”
About 100 people attended thelecture. There were three speakers,
Dr. Tadayoshi Ishibashi, Dr. Makoto
K a n e u j i a n d P r o f . Te r u n o b u
Fujimori.
The topics were as follows:
1. Dr. Tadayoshi Ishibashi, Associate
Director, East Japan Railway
Company (JR East): “Seismic
Damage and Retrof itting ofRailway Structures”.
2. Dr. Makoto Kaneuji, Renewal
Group Leader, Technology
D eve l o p m e n t D e p a r t m e n t ,Kajima Corporation: “AssetManagement and Safety ofMotorway Bridges”.
3 . P r o f . Te r u n o b u F u j i m o r i ,Professor, Institute of Industrial
Science, The University ofTokyo: “Construction Safety inJapan from a HistoricalViewpoint ”.

Dr. T. Ishibashi

Dr. M. Kaneuji

Participants of the Open Lecture

All the three presentations werevery new and impressive to all thepar ticipants. Dr. T. Ishibashi
explained the details of the damage
to railway concrete structures causedby Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake
happened on October 23, 2004 (seeNewsletter Special Issue, Jan. 2005).
Dr. M. Kaneuji explained how theasset management of motorways are
now being done in Japan. Prof. T.
Fujimori explained the changes ofdesign concept for buildings since
14th century till now. Finally,
Professor K. Meguro of ICUS madeconcluding remarks on this Open
Lecture and expressed gratitude to
the participants.
(by T. Uomoto)Prof. T. Fujimori

CHAIN OF SURVIVAL AND AED
Coordinating with Tokyo
Emergency Association, Tokyo Fire
Department, ICUS conducted a
training seminar on Emergency
procedures and the use of AED(Automated External Defibrillator).
The tutors explained that during
emergency response, the mostimportant things to keep in mind are‘speed’ and ‘appropriateness’ of the
response. In these cases, Sudden
cardiac arrest (SCA) has been foundto be one of the leading causes ofdeath, can kill up to 50% of thepatients within the first 3 minutes(M. Cara, 1981). The cardiac ‘Chainof Survival ’ is an important
methodology for increasing thevictim's chance of survival. It
consists of 4 main steps as follows.
( i ) Early access to care (Call 119 orother Emergency No.)(ii) First Aid and Heart Massage(cardiopulmonary resuscitation,
CPR)(iii) Early Defibrillation – use of AED(iv) Move quickly to Hospital. The
tutors explained, demonstrated
and got the participants topractice these procedures.
An AED is a device about thesize of a laptop computer thatanalyzes the heart's rhythm for any
abnormalities and, if necessary,
directs the rescuer to deliver anelectrical shock to the victim. This
shock, called defibrillation, may help
the heart to re-establish an effective
rhythm of its own. AED is easy tooperate as it uses voice prompts toinstruct the rescuer on when to apply
the shocks. It was really a goodexperience to have this training in
CPR and AED skills. There wereabout 20 participants and we thank
ICUS for organising it.
(by K. S. Rajan, Researcher,
Shibasaki Lab. IIS)

ICUS PARTICIPATION – IIS OPEN

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

Training of cardiac massage

Certification of Emergency
procedure training

page 7

Receiving a Doctor’s Degree from the University of Tokyo
The recent incidences ofdamaging earthquakes have clearly
revealed that retrofitting of low
earthquake-resistant houses is the
key issue for earthquake disaster
reduction. However, the homeowners
possess various reasons not toretrofit their houses and retrofitting
are not carried out widely especiallyfor private houses. Ms. Miho
YOSHIMURA was awarded Ph.D
d egree for her study on new
strategies for providing incentives for

retrofitting vulnerable houses. Basedon the analysis on current problems
through questionnaire survey forhomeowners, a new system forproviding incentives for retrofitting
was proposed. Its main concept isthat the government guarantees a
portion of the housing repair andreconstruction expenses if retrofitting
is implemented by the owner
following the guidelines before theearthquake and in spite of this, thestructure is damaged. Its effectivenesswas verified by simulation. In several
earthquake prone countries.
(by K. Meguro)

ICUS New Staff
We are glad to introduce our newcolleague Dr. Hisashi Kanada, whojoined ICUS as Project Research
Associate from August 1, 2005. Hereceived D. Eng. Degree from the
University of Tokyo in September
2004.
His research interests include
non-destructive inspection using
spectros-copy, and he received an
incentive award of 2nd invention
contest at Institute of Industrial
Science, the University of Tokyo in
2004.
A remote non-destructive methodthat can detect deterioration factors
such as carbonation, chloride content
or sulfuric acid attack would be anout-standing innovation in inspection

methodologies. In his research,
remote non-destructive material
detection of concrete was attemptedusing near-infrared spectroscopy. This
enables us to obtain chemical
information of concrete by justsensing reflected nearinfrared raysfrom the measuring plane.

Dr. Hisashi Kanada

In the case of civil infrastructures,the inspection area is large, andenvironmental condition or location
may be tough; therefore, it often
requires high labor and cost in order
to inspect concrete structures. Nearinfrared spectral imaging system wasalso introduced to scan distribution orconcentration of deleterious
substances two-dimensionally. Thismethod would prove to be a very
effective technique for inspectors.
Recently, he is involved indeveloping a new remote and nondestructive testing method for
concrete structures. Results ofresearch are expected to be applied
for field inspection.
(by T. Uomoto)

ICUS Activities
Cheju (Sep 3-5) and 2nd ICI• First student seminar was held andAsian Conference on Ecstasy in
25 students in ICUS reported
Concrete in Mumbai.
current research results (Jul 20).
• Prof. Uomoto attended ConMat'05 • Prof. Meguro visited Columbo, Sri
Lanka for a workshop on ‘2004
Third International Conference on
Tsunami Impact’ (Sep 15-19).
Construction
Materials:
Performance, Innovations and • Dr. Ooka attended The Sixth AsiaPacif ic Conference on WindS t r u c t u ra l I m p l i c a t i o n s , i n
Engineering (APCWE-VI) in Seoul
Vancouver (Aug 21-26), Korea(Sep 11-14) and 8th International
Japan Joint Workshop on the
Symposium on Fire Safety Science
Assessment of Infrastructures at(IAFSS) at Peking (Sep 18-23).
• Dr. Oki visited Visiting TMD,
RID, Phitsanulok site in Thailand
for meeting (Jul 24-27) andattended the Hydrology 2020
Meeting in Stockholm (Aug 2025).
• Dr. Kato stayed at Asian Instituteof Technology for his research
work at RNUS and education(May 24 - Jul 21, Aug 1 - Sep 8).

Awardso f B l o o d F l ow ’ a t t h e 3 rd • Dr. Elkholy Said Abd-elffatah• Prof. Uomoto received the Merit
International Conference on
Said, a researcher of Prof.
Award from Japan Concrete
Human-Environment System.
Meguro’s Laboratory, won theInstitute.
Excellence Presentation Award• Dr. Ooka won the Excellent • Mr. Masanori Ito, researcher ofProf. Uomoto’s Laboratory, won
at the 7th International Sum-mer
Presentation Award (Poster) for
the Incentive Award for the paper
Symposium of Japan Society of‘ D ev e l o p m e n t o f a T h re eof Annual Conference of the Japan
Civil Engineering.
Dimensional Human Thermal
Concrete
Institute.
Model AccountingforDirectionrdSome of the participants of the symposium on 23 June before the Keynote speech

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

page 8
Editor’s Note
A giant earthquake hit Pakistan
on October 8, 2005. An article ofnewspaper Bangkok Post on November 14, 2005 tells that morethan 86,000 people are known tohave died in the earthquake.
World Food Programme (WFP)
requested rich nations for funds todeliver vital aid to the damaged
areas. But delivery is facing severe
logistic problems. Because roads tomountain villages are crumpled,
covered with landslides or havealready been swept away,
helicopters cannot reach the destinations to deliver food and shelter.
People are still carrying on theirbacks. A series of news remind us ofseverity caused by disasters.
After about a year of the Indian
Ocean Tsunami of December 26,
2004, a five-day international work-

shop hosted by Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) was held in
Bangkok from October 2. Most of theparticipants, about 30 participantsfrom 10 Asian countries, were seniorhealth professionals and people
involved in policy formulation. The
agenda focused on the lessons fromtsunami, e.g. disaster preparedness
and management procedures for
dealing with the dead and missing.
As I have been in Bangkok andworking at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), located at a suburb of
Bangkok, for these nine months, I had
many chances to discuss tsunami
with Thais including AIT staff as wellas the public. The discussions showedthat nowadays many Thais knowwhat tsunami is and regard it as aterrible disaster.
A TV news program reported that
there was a drill of an evacuation fortsunami in Phuket island, Thailand.

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

International Center for
Urban Safety Engineering

Many people were running after an
emergency notice was announced,
and some of them were smiling while
walking.
We Japanese have experienced
such drills many times sincechildhood. The drill conducted in
Thailand, however, may berecognized as a milestone from aviewpoint of disaster education. As
Prof. Meguro has repeatedly insisted,disaster education is quite important
to improve people's ability to imagine
disasters’ effects and make proper
decisions after a disaster happens. As
a result of tsunami aftermath, it
seems that the public is ready to beproactive for disaster preparedness
and mitigation. I strongly hope thatthe concept of "preparedness" fordisasters will be recognized widely
not only in Thailand but also in other
Asian countries.
(by J. Susaki)

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