Proceedings of the International Symposium on Engineering Lessons Learned fromthe 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, March 1-4, 2012, Tokyo, Japan

ACTIVITIES AND PRODUCTS AFTER 3.11:
EFFORTS OF JAPAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
Hitoshi IEDA
Vice President, Official in charge of 3.11 Disaster,Japan Society of Civil Engineers,
Professor, the University of Tokyo,
Dr.Eng., P.E.(Co, Ci), Exec.Pro.C.E.(JSCE),
Tokyo, Japan, ieda@civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/s_iad/

ABSTRACT: This paper introduces the activities and the products of Japan Society of CivilEngineers (JSCE) during one year after 3.11, especially focusing on the efforts of themembers of JSCE on extensive and intensive field surveys, as well as their professional
proposals to the public and their contributions to the actual infrastructure policy by thegovernment and regeneration planning in the damaged areas.
Key words: civil engineering, public interest incorporated association, infrastructure,regional regeneration, tsunami, earthquake

ABOUT USJapan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) now headed by the 99th president, Mr. Takuro YAMAMOTO
is a public interest incorporated association with around 30 thousand members (full members invarious practical and academic fields as well as student members), which is one of the largest andlongest-established engineering societies in Japan. The official establishing year of JSCE is 1914,
however, modern civil engineers actively played their professional communication even before thatyear based in “Ko-gakkai” (the origin of the Japan Federation of Engineering Societies) which wasfirstly established in 1879 covering seven major engineering fields including civil engineering.
JSCE has been covering seven major fields such as I: Structural Engineering, II: River, Coast andWater Engineering, III: Geotechnical Engineering, IV: Infrastructure and Regional Planning, V:Concrete Engineering, VI: Construction Management, and VII: Environment and Energy. Having
really wide academic coverage as well as widest geographical scope (from micro-meter to 10,000 km)
might be one of the significant characteristics of JSCE.
JSCE is now managed by around 30 standing research committees, around 40 administrativecommittees, eight domestic and nine oversea branches. JSCE became a public interest incorporated
association last year and identified its three basic principles as clearly as 1st: the contribution to the life
and the happiness of human-beings, 2nd: the contribution to the coexistence of the nature andhuman-beings, 3rd: fresh look at the synthetic approach as the origin of civil engineering.

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ACTIVITIES OF JSCE AFTER 3.11
Right after 3.11 the then president of JSCE, Mr. Kenji SAKATA convened the emergency meeting of
the executives of JSCE and discussed how to tackle this huge disaster and how to professionallycontribute to the public, and started its activities in organizational settings, conducting field surveys,
presenting and publishing outcomes immediately, and appealing practical proposals as quick as
possible under close communication and cooperation with relating public and private organizations.
Many of the JSCE’s activities were conducted with hand-by-hand collaboration together withacademic and practical partners of JSCE especially those such as Japanese Geotechnical Society, theCity Planning Institute of Japan, the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the governments of prefectures, cities, and towns, privatecompanies such as East Japan Railway Company, and East Nippon Expressway Company. It must bealso noted that young generations including students have really deeply contributed.
Organizational Setting-up
JSCE established “3.11 Special Committee” right after 3.11 for implementing survey and research, andfor providing outcomes and proposals for the governments and the public. This committee is chaired
the president of JSCE with around 30 members including the executives and the representatives ofexisting relating research committees of JSCE.
In order to efficiently complete these purposes nine “Mission-Sub-Committees (MSC)” wereinstalled as follows:- Tsunami Study MSC, chaired by Mr. Fumihiko IMAMURA- Liquefaction Study MSC, chaired by Mr. Ikuo Towhata- Civil Engineering for the Safety of Nuclear Power Plant MSC,chaired by Mr. Junichi TOMA
- Regional Regeneration Policy MSC, chaired by Mr. Takayuki KISHII- Regional Anti-Disaster Program MSC, chaired by Mr. Kimiro MEGURO- ICT-based Anti-Disaster Measures MSC, chaired by Mr. Hirohisa KAWASHIMA- Construction Technology MSC, chaired by Mr. Akira YOSHIDA- Consensus Building for Regional Regeneration MSC, chaired by Mr. Hidenori NOZAKI- Crisis Management Study mission-sub-committee, chaired by Mr. Shin-Ei TAKANO
Several Ad-Hoc Programs were also started in order to tackle important special issues in a more
flexible and integrated approach. The following three activities are standing at this moment.
- Comprehensive Technical Task Force on Tsunami Estimation and Disaster Mitigation,
chaired by Mr. Kyuichi MARUYAMA- “Safety and Society” Forum, chaired Mr. Takuro YAMAMOTO- Inter-branch Cooperation Program for Regional Anti-Disaster Safety,
chaired by Mr. Yoshitsugu HAYASHI“Compilation Special Committee” was also started in January 2012 for making a series ofcomprehensive reports of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which is chaired by Mr. Kenji SAKATA(the president on the day of 3.11) under the cooperation with six relating scientific and engineeringsocieties. Issues will be published step by step electronically almost within five years.
Field Surveys
Many field surveys were implemented under the umbrella of JSCE. According to the record ofregistration to JSCE, 65 field survey missions were sent to the damaged area attacked by the 3.11
disaster, and huge number of professionals voluntarily contributed for such surveys. Students in civil

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engineering departments of various universities and schools provided significantly great contribution
for field works and studies. There were three different types in field surveys.
One was “Specialized Surveys”. A typical example was “Tsunami Trace Survey” to grasp thegeographical distribution of the depth and the reach of tsunami waves, which was conducted byaround 300 persons along the coast from Hokkai-do prefecture of the north to Kagoshima-ken
prefecture of the south (approximately 1,900 km). “Ground Liquefaction Survey” was also a good
example of specialized extensive survey which covered around 50 km2 of seven prefectures (96municipalities) mainly locating around Tokyo bay. The upper mentioned Mission-Sub-Committees
quite deeply contributed this type of surveys.
The second type of survey was region-wise integrated surveys mainly organized by domestic
branches of JSCE such as Kanto Branch, or by the Inter-branch Cooperation Program for Anti-Disaster
Regional Safety.
The third type was “Comprehensive Surveys” under strong and interactive cooperation of
professionals of many different fields. This approach was strongly supported by one of the principle ofJSCE: “fresh look at the synthetic approach as the origin of civil engineering”. JSCE organized suchkind of surveys three times after 3.11 as follows.
The 1st Comprehensive Survey
This survey was conducted from March 27 to April 12 with multi-disciplinary specialists (coastal,structural, material, and environmental engineers, and regional and transport planners, etc.) under theleadership of the then president of JSCE, Mr. Kenji SAKATA as well as the strong cooperation withJapanese Geotechnical Society, the City Planning Institute of Japan. The major mission of this survey
was to understand the phenomena and the damages in a holistic approach.
The 2nd Comprehensive Survey
This survey chaired by Mr. Takayuki KISHII was from April 29 to May 7 with special focus on themeasures of regeneration of the damaged areas by the quake and tsunami on 3.11 by taking six typicaldamaged areas: Miyako city, Ohfunato city, Rikuzen-Takada city, Minami-Sanriku town, Ishinomakicity, and Towns in Sen-nan from the north to the south, which was conducted by inviting specialists ofvarious relating fields such as agriculture, fishery, geology and topography in addition to thespecialists of various fields of civil engineering including regional and transport planners. It wasconducted together with the City Planning Institute of Japan. The Regional Regeneration Policy MSC
was organized after this survey with the core members of this survey.
The 3rd Comprehensive Survey
This survey chaired by Mr. Hirohisa KAWASHIMA was organized from June 9 to June 11 basedon the proposals of the 1st and the 2nd Comprehensive Survey which claimed the importance of the full
application of new IC technologies for the regeneration of the damaged areas. It was conducted under
the close cooperation with the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. This survey also played theleading roll to newly construct ICT-based Anti-Disaster Measures MSC.

PRODUCTS OF JSCE AFTER 3.11
JSCE and its members have been providing many kinds of products grasped and acquired throughfield surveys, scientific analysis, and through professional discussions. Some of the typical products
are shown in this chapter. It is also introduced how these products have been realized in the real worldsuch as in policies, plans, projects, managements, etc.

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Presentations and Publications
JSCE announced on April 23 the first message regarding the disaster mentioned by the then president,
Mr. Kenji SAKATA together with the presidents of Japanese Geotechnical Society ad the City
Planning Institute of Japan. The presidents’ timely comment which mentioned that we, engineers, haveto be free from the world of excuse to say “the case was beyond the assumed situation” attracted thepublic support. Based on surveys and researches JSCE has been appealing many times till now after
3.11 its outcomes for the public as well as proposing professional ideas for the better technical andinstitutional systems for ensuring safety against earthquake and tsunamis and for the better
regeneration of the damaged areas.
Scientific outcomes have been presented not just in the standing conferences of JSCE but also in
the ad-hoc conferences and press conferences for the public. The number of specially designatedconferences and press conferences regarding 3.11 reached 26 times including joint events with partner
societies during the last one year after 3.11.
The monthly magazine of JSCE, “Civil Engineering” published three comprehensive special
issues and nine field specific special issues in the last one year. The total articles regarding 3.11 topics
reached more than 500 pages. JSCE is going to publish enlarged special issues in March and April
2012 in commemoration of the 3.11 disaster.
Proposals
By the 1st Comprehensive Survey on April 25thregarding Comprehensive Anti-Disaster Design
16 proposals and 7 items for further studies were shown regarding the damages of infrastructure
facilities, urban areas and villages, functions of lifeline systems, and vulnerability of industrial andresidential infrastructure in large conurbations. Some of the especially important proposals are shownas follows:- Coastal protection against tsunami has to be improved especially focusing on saving people’s
life through hardware improvement in anti-disaster facilities and in software improvement inland-use control and suitable evacuation management. (Comprehensive Anti-Disaster Protection)- Concept of double stage anti-disaster design which was already introduced in anti-quake designof concrete bridges should be widely applied: 1st stage of “prevention” for lower but frequent
external actions, and 2nd stage of “mitigation” of saving life and to reduce damage and to shorten
the required time of recovery for rare but huge external actions. (Double Stage Anti-DisasterDesign)- Anti-tsunami (or flood-tide) coastal and river facilities such as breakwaters and seawalls have to
be more resiliently designed to be prepared against erosion by stream of huge tide. (Enhancing
Resilience in Design of Anti-Disaster Facilities)- Interregional transport facilities especially road network and ports has to be efficiently improved
to ensure the reliability and to prevent regional isolation under huge natural disasters by focusing
on “missing links”. (Improving Reliability of Transport Network)
By the 2nd Comprehensive Survey on May 27th regarding Regional Regeneration
18 items for general and 67 items for the specific sample areas were proposed for the better
regeneration of the damaged areas of 3.11. Some of the especially important proposals are shown as
follows:- Safety reconstruction, residential reconstruction and industrial (occupational) reconstruction
should be well balanced in regional regeneration planning. (Balance in 3 Dimensions ofReconstructions in Regional Regeneration)- Regeneration plan has to be designed based on large geographic scope beyond an individual city1968

or town to enhance the function-sharing in neighboring municipalities under the expected rapid
demographic reduction. Interregional road network has to be improved in damaged areas topromote the function-sharing by ensuring the interregional mobility. (Regeneration Planning inthe Large Geographic Scope)- Reorganization and relocation of urban areas have to be promoted in such a way to avoid
unsuitable dispersion and to orient for compact cities under the expected demographic reduction.
(Urban Reorganization for Compact Cities)- Social bond in communities (keiyaku-kai or kou system) which is still well working in fisheryvillages in the ria-coast area will be the best basis of regeneration in the area. (Regeneration
based on Social Bond)- Damaged facilities have to be selectively restored in a way of “improving restoration” (beyondoriginal form restoration) to strengthen the anti-disaster performance or to enrich the usability.
(Selective Improving Restoration)- Contemporary technologies (ICT, cars, simulation technology, spatial information technology,etc.) have to be fully considered and applied for regional regeneration tightly incorporated withtraditional measures. (Use of Contemporary Technologies in Regeneration)
From the 3rd Comprehensive Survey on July 13th regarding ICT-based Anti-Disaster Measures
18 items were proposed, 5 items and 4 items among which were for the immediate tackle and for thetechnological development as early as possible respectively. The proposals cover various dimensions
from microscopic technical improvements to comprehensive orientation of social systems forexample:- Comprehensive measures to improve reliability of mobile information devices under hugedisasters,- Measures to improve the precision and reliability of tsunami detection system,- Redesigning SA/PA in expressway and road-side rest stations (“michi-no-eki”) to be terminals
for evacuation and logistics, or- Round-about intersections to ensure the reliable operation even under the deficiency inelectricity.
Proposals from Mission-Sub-Committees
Many technical proposals were shown off by Mission-Sub-Committees (MSCs). Followings are someof the especially important proposed items excluding the overlapped items already introduced in thelast section.
- Identification of the two different class tsunami L1 (frequent class tsunami) and L2 (maximumclass tsunami), and the required performance of anti-disaster facilities and systems (TsunamiStudy MSC)
- Measure to set up the height of L2 tsunami by using both numerical calculation and historic
tsunami trace (Tsunami Study MSC)
- Evacuation facilities and plan under the worst situation (Tsunami Study MSC)
- Regional Anti-Disaster Program which ensures minimum regional function even under
super-large disasters with the least frequency (Regional Anti-Disaster Program MSC)
- Regional Anti-Disaster Program to be equipped with clear achievement target and effective
management procedures (Regional Anti-Disaster Program MSC)
- Introduction of “Earthquake Disaster Assessment” (Regional Anti-Disaster Program MSC)
- Technical measures to utilize debris in the damaged area for embankment material (ConstructionTechnology MSC)
- “Consensus Building Guideline for Urban Regeneration of the Damaged Area” to be used bymunicipalities and consulting firms (Consensus Building for Regional Regeneration MSC)
Realization of Proposals in the Real World
Products of JSCE from the new facts discovered by the surveys and researches to the conceptual1969policy proposals have been widely reflected or realized in the real world through various activities. For
example, in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan (MLIT), elevencommittees under the deliberative councils on “National Land”, “Infrastructure Development”, and“Transport Policy” has been discussing the anti-disaster policy after 3.11 and realizing actual policies.
Members of JSCE are taking the role of leadership in many of them such as in the Road Committee,
the River Committee, the Port Committee, the Railway Committee, the City Planning Committee, theEnvironment Committee, as well as in the General Planning Committee. Many proposals from JSCE
and relating organizations have been realized in the real policies on these rings.
One typical example of the realization of our proposals was on the newly built law of“Anti-Tsunami Regional Construction Law” (October 2011). Many ideas such as the concept of“Multiplex Protection”, “Secondary Protection Line” utilizing road / railway embankments, or“Land-use Restriction Area” were widely and deeply reflecting our proposals.
Expressway Policy Committee issued a report claiming the importance of the construction of
missing links of nation-wide expressway network from the viewpoint of reliability of the national land
as well as constructing the missing links in the damaged area for promoting efficient and therole-sharing regeneration of wide areas under the reduction of population. This orientation wasendorsed by the Road Committee of the Infrastructure Development Council. This was also reflecting
the proposals of JSCE.
The 2nd Comprehensive survey team proposed the orientation of the regeneration of the damaged
areas. Many of the members of the team and the MSC were involved in the official planningcommittees for constructing regeneration plan of each municipality which were heavily damaged bytsunami or quakes of 3.11 after completing the survey. JSCE members are contributing in theseplanning committees in the two thirds of 32 municipalities. The principal mind and concrete measuresof our proposals are expected to be more or less realized through these human-based contributions.

CONCLUDING REMARKSThis paper reported what JSCE has been providing up to now (February 2012). JSCE is now preparing
for the new release of the outcomes and proposals of the MSCs on Liquefaction Study and Civil
Engineering for the Safety of Nuclear Power Plant, as well as of the Comprehensive Technical Task
Force on Tsunami Estimation and Disaster Mitigation in the near future.
One year was already past after 3.11. The author of this paper is proud to inform the readers that
JSCE and its members have been making the considerable efforts for various anti-disaster measuresand for the better regeneration of the damaged areas, and have been contributing to provide academic
and practical outcomes to the public as shown before. However, we are still in the starting stage of thebetterment path which was requested to be completely revised by the event of 3.11. JSCE promises
never ending efforts for the future.

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