2016. 12. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.50
Announcing IAC News 50th Issue－ From ‘Information’ to ‘Intelligence’ －The IAC News has reached its 50th issue this month since its launch July 2012.
Along with the development of IAC activities, we have increased the number ofsubscribers to the IAC News at home and ovreseas, and updated them about IAC’s
internaiotnal activities and others every month for these four years. When you lookthrough the back numbers of the IAC News, you will notice that we have developed
and diversified its contents over the years.
We set our goal high for the IAC News. Both “Informaiton” and “intelligence” aretranslated into the word “joho” in Japanese, but we hope to offer not simply“informaiton”, but “intelligence” to the subscribers with the IAC News. While theword “information” may mean any piece of information floating around, theEimitsu Tsurumaki
Director, IAC,Inf. Networking Gr.

“intelligence” may indicate the ability of human beings to understand and make adecision.
It is a challenge for us the “Joho” Group to grow to be the IAC’s brain and contribute to IAC’s furtherdevelopment. We will make every effort to achieve the goal. Please watch our progress.

Quick Report on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake ※On April 14, 2016, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred, centered in Kumamoto Prefecture and registering themaximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale in Mashiki Town. On April 16, there was another earthquake,with a magnitude of 7.3, which registered an intensity of 7 in Mashiki Town and Nishihara Village, and caused
enormous damage throughout Kumamoto Prefecture. The Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) sent anemergency investigation team from the West Branch and investigation teams from the Earthquake Engineering
Committee and the Geotechnical Engineering Committee to assessthe damage. This report provides a quick summary of theinvestigation results.
Damage to bridges
Damaged bridges were found not only in Kumamoto Prefecture
but also in Oita Prefecture, which shows that the strong motion
earthquakes caused widespread damage. In the mountainous
regions; however, bridge damage was caused by ground1

Photo 1: Collapse of Furyo Overbridge onto
the Kyushu Expresswaydeformation as well as by strong seismic motion. On the Kyushu Expressway, which runs ththroughrough plains, theelevated bridges that had not been reinforced against earthquakes were severely damaged, and overbridges
collapsed onto the expressway following the main shock (Photo 1). In the mountainous regions, major damage
such as breakage of laminated rubber bearings and displacement of beams from the bearings occurred on
several bridges with displacement constraints based on the specifications revised after the Hyogoken
Hyogoken-Nanbu
Earthquake, and an arch bridge was completely destroyed by a large
large-scale
scale slope failure.
Damage status of stone bridges in Kumamoto Prefecture andthe ruins of Kumamoto Castle
The earthquake devastated many of the stone bridges inKumamoto Prefecture and the ruins of Kumamoto Castle, which
are designated as cultural property. On the Tsujunkyo Bridge(Photo 2 aboveabove),), cracking of the covering soil between the waterpipes, displacement of the joint parts of the water pipes andoutward swelling of the upper part of the stone wall occurred.
Other examples
amples of the damage to stone bridges include that ofShimotsuru Bridge (Photo 2 below),), in which half the stone walland bridge railings collapsed. As shown in this case, stone bridges
typically suffered collapse, swelling of stone walls and falling ofbridge
idge railings. In the ruins of Kumamoto Castle, 23 turrets andgates including Kitajuhachiken
Kitajuhachiken-Yagura,
Yagura, Higashijuhachiken
Higashijuhachiken-Yagura,
Yagura,and Nagabei, which are designated as nationally important culturalproperty, and stone walls were damaged; the number of damaged
Photo
hoto 2: Deformation
mation of the upper part ofthe stone wall of Tsujunkyo Bridge (above)and collapsed masonry wall of Shimotsuru
Bridge (Uki City) (below)

locations reached as many as 50.
Landslide disasters
Many of the landslide disasters in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake
were characterized by ground collapse at areas where the surface
layer consisted of volcanic ash soil. The following are typicalexamples. (1) Large
Large-scale
scale slope failure (deep-seated(deep seated landslide)(Photo 3): Since the upper part of the area where the collapse
occurred was steeply inclined, the massive vibration hitting thatpart caused cracking, leading to the collapse of the surface layer. It
is considered that this collapse caused the collapse of theweathered lava layer that is believed to have supported the surface
layer, thus resulting in the large
large-scale
scale collapse. (2) Collapse of a

Photo 3: Large-scale
Large scale slope failure thatcaused the collapse of Aso
Aso-Ohashi
Ohashi Bridge

slope with a gradient of less than 10° (Photo 4): When the massive
vibration hit the very weak stratum formed throughthrough the argillationof pyroclastic fall material beneath a thick volcanic ash soil layer,
the weak stratum became fluidized, which resulted in a large
large-scale
scale
landslide. This was the collapse of volcanic ash soil layers andpyroclastic fall material. (3) Sur
Surfaceface failure: As shown in thesurface failure on Mt. Eboshidake, in the area around the central
cone, volcanic ash soil layers of the steeply inclined slope
collapsed in a continuous manner. Part of the collapsed sediment
was deposited in mountain streams, causing mud avalanches. (4)2Photo 4: Landslide that occurred on agently inclined slope

Damage and collapse of roads (Photo 5): On the road leading to theAso Choyo Ohashi Bridge, road damage and collapse occurred.
This road collapse appears to have been caused by the collapse ofvolcanic ash soil on lava, since the inclination of the collapsed partis gentle. Also, collapse and damage of the road constructed in thesteeply inclined area near Aso Choyo Ohashi Bridge wereremarkably severe. Since deformation such as cracking has
developed in some places of the slopes in the areas hit by theintense quakes, it is necessary to stay on the alert against theoccurrence of slope collapse.

Photo 5: Damage and collapse of theaccess road connected to the Aso Choyo
Ohashi Bridge

Lifelines
The earthquakes on April 14 and 16 also caused severe
damage to lifelines such as electricity, gas and watersupply. About 200,000 households temporarily lost
power, and as of the night of April 16, about 80,000
households were still without power, which wasrecovered by April 20. Regarding water supply, up to
370,000 households were without water until one week
later when water could be supplied to 90% of thehouseholds; however, about 4,000 households were still
without water as of May 10. City gas supply wasFig. 1: Changes in the number of evacuees and shelters

suspended to about 100,000 households, but was
gradually restored from April 20 and then completely restored by the end of April. In the 2016 Kumamoto
Earthquake, the number of evacuees reached 180,000, which decreased slowly due to the recurring aftershocks.
However, as shown in Fig. 1, with the recovery of lifelines including water, gas and electricity supply, thenumber of evacuees gradually decreased, highlighting the importance of seismic retrofitting of lifelines.
※This report is an English translation of a summary of the article written by Prof. Taiji Matsuda, Leader of the Investigation
Team of the West Branch, et al. appeared in the July 2016 issue of JSCE Magazine. The summary is also made by theauthors themselves. We would like to thank them for their cooperation.

Report on JSCE-MACE Joint Seminar in Mongolia
1. Background and Purpose
JSCE International Activities Center organizes several international exchangegroups which are developing a partnership with each assigned foreign country.
Professor E. Yamaguchi of Kyushu Institute of Technology, the leader of theMongolia group, cooperates with Mongolia Association of Civil Engineers (MACE),and held seminars to introduce Japanese construction technologies in the past twoyears.
Responding to the request for a seminar on earthquake-proof building design,
seismic evaluation and strengthening, analyses and shaking table tests in Japan,
JSCE-MACE Joint Seminar was held in Mongolia as follows.
3Dr. Yutaka Nakamura
Institute of Technology,
Shimizu Corporation

2. Date, Place and Participants(1) Date: October 14, 2016, 9:10 – 12:40(2) Place: Seminar room of Construction Development Center, Ministry of Construction and Urban
Development of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia(3) Speakers and Presentation Titles: Dr. Yutaka Nakamura, Chief Research Engineer, Institute of Technology,
Shimizu Corporation , ‘Earthquake-proof Building Design in Japan from the present to the future’(4) Number of Participants: 104 in total, made up of:
57 construction companies, 20 governmental institutions, 13 universities, 11 civil engineering consultants,
and 3 architectural design firms
The workshop was a fruitful meeting for the author in regard to not only listening to valuable speeches, but also
getting to know so many young researchers and doctoral students from Taiwan. The author believes that new
relationships affirmed between Japanese and Taiwanese researchers will support the organizers to develop theworkshop each time.
3. Contents of the Seminar
Following the opening remarks by Mr. D. Zanabazar, DirectoratIndustry

PolicyImplementationandCoordination

Department and Prof. E. Yamaguchi, a technical lecture on
Japanese earthquake-proof building design was delivered by Y.
Nakamura in English for 75 minutes in the first part and 60
minutes in the second part, including interpretation fromEnglish into Mongolian.
The technical lecture covered earthquake hazard evaluation,business continuity plan, seismic static lateral force, seismicevaluation and strengthening methods, seismic isolation andThe author explains resonance by using shaking
building models

response control methods, and a shaking table facility. The speaker explained those topics by using motion
videos and shaking building models. In a Q&A session, he responded to the questions about thecost-effectiveness of seismic isolation and response control methods, maintenance costs, earthquakecountermeasures for precast concrete structures, and designing earthquakes for high-rise buildings. Finally, Mr.
B. Gunbold, President of MACE, gave a closing address.

The Participants of JSCE-MACE Joint Seminar4

Introduction of Tunnel Engineering Committee
Tunnel Engineering Committee literally is specialized in tunnel engineering. It is
not usual that a committee has a name of a specific structure. In other words, it
may be said that there are various issues and challenges associated with tunnel
construction.
Tunnel Engineering Committee was established in February 1962, and committee
members assigned themselves to publish standard specifications for tunneling as
the first task. In those days, the Japanese society entered in the period of rapid
economic growth; several infrastructure projects were implemented around thecountry, and demands for developing design codes, standards, and guidelines fortunneling increased accordingly. After the peak, tunnel constructions have been
decreasing, and demands have changed for the proper operation and maintenanceof existing tunnels, which are considered infrastructure stock, besides the revisionof standard specifications for tunneling.

Dr. Koh Kimura
Chair of Tunnel
Engineering Committee

In order to respond to those demands, the Tunnel Engineering Committee conducts various activities such as
field surveys, researches, planning, designs, constructions, operation and maintenance in order to examine andsolve issues on tunnels and tunneling.
Following are some of the activities:
Technical Subcommittees
Technical subcommittee sets up groups to effectively deal issues coming up with the times in the tunnel
engineering field. The groups’ reports are published in the form of “Tunnel Library.” The Tunnel Library widelyis referred to among tunnel engineers and researchers, which has been published up to No. 29 so far. The
subcommittee has conducted studies and researches focusing on tunnel maintenance, design and construction
technology, risk management and environmental impact currently.
Standard Specifications for TunnelingStandard Specifications for Tunneling, which is the first assignment of the Tunnel Engineering Committee, wasestablished in 1964. Since then, that committee has updated the standard specifications almost every ten years tokeep up to date with the progress of tunneling technology. The latest standard specifications is published in2016, and has been used as a reference among tunnel engineers and researchers. The summary of standard
specifications is published in English. The committee now is translating summary of the latest one. In themeantime, the committee receives queries about the availability of the latest one, and requests for translation
permission overseas, Last year, for example, the committee was contacted by a Chinese publishers to request
permission to translate it into Chinese.
Tunnel Engineering Research Seminar
Tunnel Engineering Seminar, the first of which was held in 1991, is an opportunity for tunnel engineers todiscuss their researches and projects and to exchange ideas and current information of tunnel technology witheach other. In that seminar, over 200 tunnel experts participate in, and around 80 papers are presented. Also thecommittee has published “Journals of Tunnel Engineering” since 2004, which is another opportunity tointroduce new ideas, projects and technologies, and by doing so, made contribution to the progress of tunnelingengineering.

5Updates◆The summary of feature articles in the December 2016 issue of the JSCE Magazine is available on the JSCE
website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Five projects introduced in the booklet “TRANSFER OF CIVIL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY INSERVICE” issued at the time of the 100th year anniversary of JSCE can be viewed on the JSCE Website.
http://www.jsce.or.jp/e/archive◆Journal of JSCE
The Journal of JSCE is the collection of research papers which can be viewed on the JSCE website.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce◆Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 47
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/newsletter47/index.html◆Disaster Fact Sheet
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/disaster/◆IAC Students and Alumni Network
http://www.jsce-int.org/IAC_network§ IAC News Subscription §The IAC News is one of the communication tools to share information and ideas with the members. We would like to invite
you, your friends and colleagues to join the communication and to subscribe the IAC News. Please register online:(http://www.jsce-int.org/node/150). We look forward to meeting you.
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Comments and Questions
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