ICUS NEWSLETTER
International Center for Urban Safety Engineering

Institute of Industrial Science
The University of Tokyo

VOLUME 4 NUMBER 3
OCTOBER -DECEMBER 2004

International Center for
Urban Safety Engineering

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS OF PERSONSWITH DISABILITIES
By
Hiroshi KAWAMURA*The United Nations World
Conference on Disaster Reduction(WCDR) held in Kobe in January2005 gave me most impor tantf i n d i n g s r eg a r d i n g d i s a s t e r
preparedness for persons withdisabilities as follows:a. Tsunami Disasters on 26th
December 2004 could havebeen significantly reduced if ane a r ly wa r n i n g s y s t e m a n d
Tsunami preparedness were
well developed. As soon as theearthquake happened, experts
knew the magnitude of thepotential disaster caused by theT s u n a m i b u t t h e r e wa s n osystem to disseminate thecritical information in time andi n a n a c c e s s i bl e a n dunderstandable form.
b. Although detailed statistics onvictims is not yet available,
children and foreign travelersa r e b e l i ev e d t o b e a m o n g
v u l n e r a bl e k i l l e d by t h e
Tsunami incident in addition to
old people and persons withdisabilities.
c. There are best practices on
Tsunamipreparedness
developed by many coastal local
governments in Japan. However,Lecture delivered by Dr. Kawamura(ICUS Open Lecture, Sep. 29, 2004)

the Tsunami preparedness for
persons with disabilities andthose from foreign countries isstill to be developed.
d. Japan Autism Societys u c c e s s f u l ly
heldaninternational symposium on
disaster preparedness of persons
with Autism Spectrum
Disorders (ASD) in association
with the WCDR to identify the
special needs of persons withASD.
e . Wo r l d M e t e o r o l og i c a l
O rg a n i z a t i o n(WMO)
successfully held the Thematic
Session on Disaster Reductionof the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) in
the framework of WCDR to
identify the key role of theInformation
andCommunication Technologies(ICT) development.
We r e c og n i z e t h e c r i t i c a limportanceofdisaster
preparedness of all levels including
personal knowledge and training
level. The outcome of WCDR was
not just for immediate response orreconstruction but also for longterm disaster reduction andp r e p a r e d n e s s . T h e l e s s o n we

page 2learned from the Tsunami incident
must boost the development ofinternational collaboration forearly warning, response, disaster
reduction and preparedness
development.
The key lesson of the Tsunami
incident was the development ofunderstanding on disasters such as
imagination of each disasterincluding evacuation routing.
Of course each individual has
individual requirements. If wedevelop our imagination well, we
will be able to identify somespecial needs such as;a. If you are challenged by visual
impairments and/or hearing
impairments, how do you know
the early war ning andevacuation route?
b. If you are challenged by motor
disability, how do you get
assistance to evacuate?
c. If you have cognitive/intellectual
disability to understand thewarning, how do you develop
your capacity of understanding

and respond?
d. If you are on a beech in foreigncountry without knowledge ofthe local language, how do you
cope with early warning?
The key role of ICTdevelopment is obvious when we
identify special needs ofindividuals and try to meet thoserequirements. In this context,
forthcoming WSIS Tunis Summit
to be held in November 2005, inparticular its 10 Years Plan of
Action to be decided will be ofcritical importance to implement
necessary accessibility built into
the system for early warning andevacuation.
In conclusion, I believe that
persons with disabilities and others
so called vulnerable people interms of disasters are potential
active role models to identify
individual requirement that needs
to be met by disaster reduction
activities including development of
preparedness.

Presentation in Global Forum on
Disabilities in the Information
Society(Mr.YAMANE)*Director,
Department of Social
Rehabilitation
National Rehabilitation
Center for Persons with
Disabilities(NRCD)

Suggestions for Accessible Disaster Preparedness Information
Delivery:a. Internet
b. TV/Radio analog/
digital broadcastingc. Mobile phone
d. Public information displays suchas Kiosk and ad-board
e. Streaming mechanism withadaptable bit rates and formats
f. Portal service with distancelearning support
Language:
a. Multilingual capabilityb. Alternate text presentations incorresponding languages
c. in simplified languages; such as“easy to read”
d. in Braille/finger Braillee. in sign language/tactile sign language
f. Pictograms
Visual expressions:a. Visual signs and landmarks
b. Alternative visual expressions
for text contentsc. Geo-spatial awareness on way
finding support

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 3

Tactile expression/Vibration:
a. Vibration standards
b. Tactile indicator for exit,
entrance, etc.

Interactivity:
a. Role playing game capability
b. Simulations and training

Audio expression:a. 3D audio has potential to identify
the way for evacuationb. All textual presentation need to
be associated with audio output
c. Alternative audio description
d. Ubiquitous system in association
with audio guidancee. Alarm sound andmessage construction

Easy straight forward media
capturing/editing process:a. Semi-automatic capturing support
b. Capacity to start with one shot
project
c. Capacity to combine multiple
projects
d. Templates support

User interface for manipulationof devices:a. Single key/simple switch action
supportb. Voice command/recognitionc. Refreshable Braille support
d. Touch panele. Automatic turn on when alarming
comes
f. Gesture recognition commands
g.Automatic optimization for
individuals/locations

Others:a. Olfactoryb. Puppets
c. Avatarpage 3

ICUS & IITK Organized Third International Symposium
on Urban Safety in Agra, India

October 18

Speech given by Prof. Dhande, Director of IITKanpur
Bangalore and formerly Director,
CBRI, Roorkee, delivered Keynote
CONTENTS
address in the inaugural session.
Plenary sessions
About 150 delegates from India
a n d 3 6 d e l eg a t e s f r o m o t h e r ・From Ground Shocks to Air Blasts-Multiple-Hazard
Protections
c o u n t r i e s p a r t i c i p a t e d i n t h e ・Optimal Improvement of Storm Sewer System for Inner
Bangkoks y m p o s i u m , wh e r e a b o u t 6 0 ・Recent
Advances in Assessment Technology oftechnical papers were presented in
Infrastructures in Korea
Resistance of FRP-Concrete Sandwich Panels
the oral and poster sessions. The ・Impact
・Surface Climatic Impacts of Urbanization in the Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam: An Integrated Study with Remotepapers have been printed in theSensing and Modeling
Proceedings of the symposium both ・Durability
Design for Concrete Structures for Urban
Safety in Thailand
in the form of a book and a CD・Vulnerability Assessment of Existing Engineered androm.
Non Engineered Structures of Dhaka City using RVS
and NDT Techniques
Based on the deliberations, aresolution calling for g reater
Parallel sessions
cooperation
among
the
to Masonry Buildings in Dien Bien Phu
professionals and organizations in ・Damage
Earthquake
the region was adopted in the ・New Concept for Retrofitting Concrete Structures with
Unconventional Materials
closing session. ICUS and IIT ・Hydraulics Computations to Study Flood Control for
Hanoi City
K a n p u r a l s o s i g n e d a n ・Urban
Building Inventory from VHR Remote Sensing
Memorandum of Understanding for
Imagery for Earthquake Risk Analysis in Bangkok
closer cooperation in researcha c t iv i t i e s i n a r e a s o f m u t u a l
SCHEDCULE OF SESSIONS(*)
interest.
by Dr. Sudhir MISRA Date Time Session
09:00 -10:30 Inaugural session
Associate Professor
11:00 -13:15 Plenary session I
Department of Civil Engineering
14:30 -16:15 Plenary session II
IITKanpur

October 19

The International Center for
Urban-Safety Engineering, Instituteof Industrial Science, University ofTokyo and the Department of Civil
Engineering, Indian Institute of
Te c h n o l og y, K a n p u r, I n d i a ,organized the Third International
Symposium on New Technologies
for Urban Safety of Mega Cities in
Asia at Agra on October 18-19,
2 0 0 4 . S ev e r a l n a t i o n a l a n dinternational professional andgovernment organizations also
supported the symposium
financially and otherwise.
The symposium sought to bring
together experts in areas of design,
construction and maintenance ofurban infrastructure and thoseengaged in development of new
tools that could be used for better
asset management. It also provided
a for um for decision makers,
practicing professionals andresearchers to share their expertisei n d iv e r s e a r e a s s u c h a s
infrastructure planning anddevelopment, application of newt e c h n o l og y, n o n d e s t r u c t iv e
eva l u a t i o n o f s t r u c t u r e s a n drehabilitation methods.
Professor SG Dhande, Director,
IIT Kanpur chaired the inauguralsession along with Professor
Yoshifumi Yasuoka, former Deputy
Director-General of the Institute ofIndustrial Science, University ofTokyo. Prof Mahesh Tandon,
President of the Indian Concrete
Institute, and leading structural
consultant of Delhi was the Chief
Guest and Professor R N Iyengar of
Indian Institute of Sciences,

Opening ceremony of the Symposium

16:30 to18:00

Plenary session III

09:00 to
10:45

Parallel session A
Rehabilitation of
Structures

11:00 to
12:45

Parallel session C Parallel session D
Planning andStructuralEngineering and Monitoring of
Infrastructure
Seismic
Performance

14:00 to16:00

Plenary session IV

16:00 to
16:30

Closing session

Parallel session B
Remote Sensing
and GIS* Papers in the poster session were on display throughout
the duration of the symposium

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 3

page 4

Central Part of Niigata Prefecture
was Striken by M 6.8 Earthquake on October 23, 2004
On October 23, 2004, at 17:56,
a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, with a
focal depth of 13 km, stroke thecentral part of Niigata Prefecture.
This earthquake was the first eventin which the derailment of a bullet
train was observed since they
entered service in 1964.
Fortunately, this service line is notvery congested and at the time ofthe earthquake only one of thelanes, the one bound for Niigata,
was being used. As a result, no fatal
victims were reported.
Due to this earthquake, strong
ground motions with Japanese
Meteorological Agency (JMA)
Intensity 7, which corresponds tothe highest intensity in this scale,were observed. This is the first timesince the JMA changed its
def inition, from a humanperception based definition to an
instrumental observation based one.
Peak ground accelerations up to 1.7
g and peak ground velocities up to
133 kines were observed. These
values are much higher than thoseof the ground motion during the
1995 Kobe Earthquake. Based onearthquake response spectrum
anaysis, in the short period range
from 0 to 1.0 sec, the response
acceleration was over 6,000 Gals.
Because of this earthquake, 40
people were killed, 9 of them due tostr uctural collapse. The othervictims died for other reasons suchas shock, exhaustion, stress, and theeconomy class syndrome. The latter
was caused by the long periods thatthe residents had to sleep in theircars, in uncomfortable positions,because of the insecurity of theirhouses and their fear due to thehuge number of aftershocks. The
number of people injured was
4,500, whereas the number ofcollapsed, moderately damaged, andslightly damage houses were 2,800,
10,600, and 88,500, respectively.
One of the most importantcharacteristics of this earthquake ist h e h u g e n u m b e r o f l a rg e
aftershocks. Another major
characteristic is that it occurred in a
mountainous area which was hit byheavy rainfalls and typhoons justprior to the earthquake occurrence.
These previous events saturated andloosen the soil, and therefore whenthe earthquake stroke the mountains l o p e s wh e r e p a r t i c u l a r ly
vulnerable. For this reason, thegeotechnical related damage waswidespread and much moreconsiderable than the structural
damage.
Due to the severe winter andhuge snow fall that is common inthis area, houses are built withsmall openings, to keep them warm
and robust foundations andTypical buildings in the affected
area, an old damaged (upper) anda new intact (bottom)

The bullet train derailed for the first time since it started operations in 1964

Distribution of JMA Intensities at the earthquake hit area
during the main shock on October 23, 2004, 5:56PM

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 3

structural elements to resist thes n ow we i g h t . T h e s e f e a t u r e s
increase the overall structural
strength and thus it is not surprise
to observe that most of the collapse
houses were either old or presented
soft stories in the 1st floor wereopen space, such as parking or shop
is allocated.
(by K. Meguro)

Bullet train viaduct pillars exhibited concrete spallingat the sections where longitudinal rebars were cut

page 5

ICUS Members Joined Regular Maintenance of The Disaster
Mitigation Facilities at Metropolitan Expressway Tunnels
Fo l l ow i n g t h e t r a g i c f i r e
accident of the Nihonzaka Tunnel
in 1979, great efforts to improveroad tunnel safety have been
made in Japan. During November
2004, Mr. Takafumi Takahashi,
the executive director of The
Metropolitan Expressway Public
Corporation (MEPC) and ICUS
former visiting Professora r r a n g e d t wo f i e l d t r i p s t oobserve the disaster mitigation
facilities of MEPC tunnels and toattend their regular examination.
The MEPC has a total length ofa p p r ox i m a t e ly 2 8 3 . 3 k m a n dcarries around 28% of the arterial
vehicular traff ic in the Tokyo
Metropolitan area.
Several ICUS members joined
the visits to Asukayama andKasumigaseki Tunnels. The fieldvisit started at the tunnel disastermanagement office, where all thefacilities inside the tunnels arer e m o t e ly m o n i t o r e d . A b r i e fexpansion of the disastermitigation and emergency
facilities was presented. Inside
the tunnels, these facilities wereobserved as well as maintenance
operation of f ire-hydrant andsprinkler systems.
(by S. Elkholy)

Examination of performance of foam fire-hydrant
by Prof. Meguro

Verification of water sprinkler system

Open Campus of IIS Chiba Experiment Station

Children looking at exhibition

The Institute of Industrial
Science (IIS) of the University ofTokyo organized an open house at its
Chiba Experiment Station on
N ov e m b e r 1 2 , 2 0 0 4 . I C U S
participated in this event andpresented its research activities tothe visiting students from the Yayoi
elementary school. At the Uomotolaboratory section of the ICUS
presentation, Mr. Hoshino and Mr.
Nishimura, the technical assistantsof the Uomoto laboratory, guided

and explained the research works tothe students. After the explanation,t h e s t u d e n t s we re g i v e n a nopportunity to make models using
their hands from cement paste castin bread dough. Students were highly
impressed by this experience andthat were reflected in their letters
written to the institute. We hope thatt h e s t u d e n t s ga i n e d go o dimpressions and knowledge about
concrete technology.

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 3

page 6

ICUS Signed MOU with IIT Kanpur
On October 22, 2004, ICUS
signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) with theIndian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur (IITK) to collaborate inresearch and other academic activities,
in the f ields of Urban Safety
Engineering. One of several categoriesof the academic exchange andcooperation is “Organizing academic
meetings, symposia and workshops”.

ICUS held the Third International
Symposium on "New Technologies
for Urban Safety of Mega Cities inAsia" jointly with IITK at Agra, India(Oct. 18-19) as a part of that.
A team from the ICUS visited IIT
Kanpur, India on Oct.22 after the
symposium at Agra, and discussed
possibilities of closer understanding
and joint research between the two
institutes.

ICUS Renewed Contract of RNUS with AITICUS recently renewed its
collaboration with the Asian Instituteof Technology (AIT), Thailand on
the operation of the Regional
Network Office for Urban Safety(RNUS). RNUS was established at
AIT in October 2002 towards
strengthening its researchcollaboration in South and South-east
Asia. With the successful progress ofcollaborative activities at RNUS in
the last two years, ICUS signed anagreement with AIT in October 2004
to foster the collaboration for anotherthree years. Signed on 22 October
2004 by Prof. Taketo Uomoto, ICUS
Director and Prof. Jean-Louis

Armand, AIT President and, through
RNUS, SCE and ICUS cooperate inpromoting urban safety engineering
utilizing advanced engineering
technologies. The signing ceremony
was witnessed by ICUS faculty
members, Prof. Reiko Amano, Dr.
Kimiro Meguro, and Dr. Junichi
Susaki.
RNUS’ activities revolve aroundurban disaster mitigation,
infrastructure maintenance andenvironmental monitoring. Since its
inception in October 2002, RNUS has
initiated several collaborative research
projects in the areas of healthmonitoring of urban infrastructure,utilization of very high resolution
remote sensing for urban inventory
and catastrophic disaster risk
management in Bangkok as well as
the socio-economic impacts of coastal
floods in South and South-east Asia
under climate change conditions.

ICUS Activity Records
Fourth International Asia-Pacific・All ICUS members participated in
Environmental Remote Sensing
the Third International Symposium
Symposium” at Honolulu, Hawaii
on "New Technologies for Urban(Nov.8-13) and the “25th Asian
Safety of Mega Cities in Asia" atConference on Remote Sensing” atAgra, India (Oct15-20).
Chiang Mai, Thailand (Nov21-26)
・Profs. Uomoto, Amano, andwith Dr. Endo.
Meguro visited AIT, Thailand forcollaborative research at RNUS, AIT ・Prof. Meguro attended WSSI meetingat Nanyang University, Singapore(Oct.22-23).
(Dec.5-8).
・Prof. Uomoto attended the “FirstInternational Conference of Asian ・Prof. Ooka visited RNUS, AIT to givea seminar (Nov. 21) and attended theConcrete Federation” at Chiang“Celebration of the 60th Anniversary
Mai, Thailand (Oct.27-31) with Dr.
of the Department of Architecture ofKato, and the “Event of
the National Cheng Kung
International
Activities,
University”, Taiwan. (Nov. 22-25).
CICHE2004 (Selected for JointSeminar Speakers)” at Kaohsiung, ・Prof. Dutta visited AIT, Thailand forcollaborative research at RNUS
Taiwan (Dec.1-3).
(Sep.7-Dec.31). During this period,・Prof. Yasuoka attended the “SPIEhe attended the “International
Conference on Advances inIntegrated Mekong RiverManagement”, Vientiane, Lao (Oct.
24-28) and the “International
Conference on Sustainable Water
Resources Management inChanging Environment of the
Monsoon”, Colombo, Sri Lanka(Nov. 17-19).
・Dr. Susaki participated in the“Meeting on Operation of MODIS
Receiving Station and Researchusing MODIS data” at Bangkok,
Thailand (Aug15-17), and the “25thAsian Conference on Remote
Sensing” at Chiang Mai, Thailand(Nov.22-27).

Visitors to ICUS
Some of the international visitors to
ICUS during the period of
October-zDecember 2004 arelisted below.

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 3

・P ro f s . Yu a n x i a n G u , Ya n g
Haitian and Gengdong Cheng,
Dalian University of Technology,
China (Oct. 28).

・Prof. Chongrak Ploprasert, Asian
Institute of Technology, Thailand(Nov. 5).

page 7

- RNUS Activities Workshop on urban safety lessons
from Japan
Over half of the world’s populationis concentrated in urban areas covering
just 4% of the world’s surface. Mega
cities in particular are characterized bya high population density andtremendous pressure on supporting
infrastructure. It is estimated that by2015, Asia will be host to more than
50% of the mega cities in the world. A
phenomenal growth in the number ofhigh-rise buildings and otherinfrastructure in these cities is clearly
foreseen, though a balance is often notensured with measures for theirmaintenance. Safety of infrastructure
is foremost important for sustainableurbanization and economic
development in Asia. RNUS
organized a workshop on “Urban
Safety for Sustainable Urbanization:
From Experiences of Japan” at AIT on
22 October 2004 by inviting threeprominent academicians; Prof. Taketo
Uomoto, Prof. Reiko Amano and Prof.
Kimiro Meguro of ICUS, theUniversity of Tokyo, Japan to talk on
how urban safety issues are addressedin highly urbanized Japanese cities.
Various issues related to durability ofurban infrastructure with proper safetymeasures including measures against
disasters like earthquake and fires withthe conventional and new technologies
were addressed by the speakers. Prof.
Taketo Uomoto talked on
Maintenance and management ofurban infrastructure in Japan todecrease risk of injury to public. Prof.
Reiko Amano talked on “Water Screen
Fire Disaster Prevention System in
Underground Space”. Prof. Prof.
Kimiro Meguro presented about the
Universal Disaster Simulator towards

A snapshot from the workshop venue
earthquake disaster mitigation in
Japanese cities. The workshop,
coordinated by Dr. Pennung
Warnitchai of RNUS, was wellattended by over 65 participants from
AIT and various gover nment
institutions and private organizations
from Bangkok.
RNUS receives research grantfrom UNU
In July 2004, RNUS received a
research grant from the United Nations
University, Tokyo, Japan to conduct
research on “Risk Analysis due toCatastrophic Urban Floods using GIS,
Remote Sensing and Surface-River
Model”. The research project isfunded by UNU from its Multi-hazard
Risk Assessment Core Research
Budget. The main scope of the project
includes a case study in Bangkok city
for risk analysis due to catastrophic
urban flooding. The work will coversimulation of catastrophic floods due
to extreme rainfall events andassessment of its socio-economic
impacts using an existing urban floodrisk assessment model in a part of the
Bangkok city, which is mostvulnerable to floods. The one-year
long project is scheduled to complete
in July 2005.

Dr. Dairaku and Dr. Ooka during their seminars at AIT

Seminar Series on urban safety
The Regional Network Office for
Urban Safety (RNUS) of ICUS/AIT
initiated a seminar series on urban
safety in 2003 by inviting experts fromdifferent countries to talk on various
related issues. As a part of this series,
two seminars were organized in
November 2004. On 15 November
2004, RNUS invited Dr. Koji Dairaku,
Researcher at the Disaster Prevention
Research Group under the National
Research Institute for Earth Science andDisaster Prevention in Tsukuba, Japanto give a seminar the “Role ofOrography and Soil Moisture in
Hydrological Transitions Associatedwith Monsoon Onset in Southeast
Asia”. In the seminar, Dr. Koji Dairaku
presented his research on Asia
monsoon region, particularly Thailand,
to study the mechanism of atmosphericlandsurface interaction using regional
climate models. Understanding of thismechanism is essential for accurate
prediction of rainfall, which can beutilized for urban flood forecasting. On
22 November 2004, RNUS invited Dr.
Ryozo Ooka, Associate Professor at theInternational Center for Urban Safety
from the University of Tokyo, Japan togive a seminar on “Numerical
Simulation of Atmospheric
Environmental Problems”, Dr. Ooka
discussed turbulence modeling andexplained its applications inunderstanding environmental problems
such as wind environment around abuilding, pollutant dispersion in an
urban street canyon, urban f ire
spreading and heat island phenomena.

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 3

page 8
Editor’s Note
We theoretically understandthat the earth is active andmoving, however, we have neverimagined that it would reallymove as much as on December
26, 2004. The images and movies
on the earthquake and thetsunami were far more than we
imagined.
The disaster this timedemonstrated the difficulties inobserving and predicting it.
Before the event we need tod e p l o y w i d e a n d g e n e ra lobservation system linked withprediction system, and when it
would unfortunately happen it
should be switched to the sitefocused, pinpointed and veryfrequent observation systemlinked with the counter measures
including evacuation.
A t t h e T h i rd E a r t hObservation Summit held in
February, 2005 at Belgium theten-year’s Implementation Plan

for building a comprehensive,
coordinated, and sustained earth
observation systems was adopted.
“Reducing loss of life andp ro p e r t y f ro m n a t u ra l a n dtechnological disasters” wasra i s e d a s t h e t o p i t e m o f 1 0
specific areas of socio-economic
benefit in observing the earthsystem. In a series of Erath
Observation Summit Japanese
Government declared that Japan
would contribute to the eartho b s e r v a t i o n i n t h re e f i e l d s
including global warming/carbon
cycling, climate change/water
cycle and disaster mitigation over
Asian and Oceanic regions.
The mission of the ICUS covers
from observation, modeling tocountermeasures for the disasterprevention. “It surely happens
wh e n we fo rge t i t ” , t h e v e r yfamous remark by Dr. Torahiko
Terada. We, the ICUS, will do ourbest for the next event which ofcourse we would not like to have.
(by Y. Yasuoka)

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

Banda Aceh(before Tsunami)

Banda Aceh
(After Tsunami)© 2005Digitalglobe
http://www.digitalglobe.com/

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