Volume4 No.2 ISSUE No. 13
July 2009► 2 Special Events► 4 ICHARM Master’s Course Update► 6 Research Introduction► 8 ICHARM R&D Seminars► 9 International Activities► 10 Business Trips► 12 Coming Events

NEWSLETTER
Message from Director
In the past three months, there were several events that I would like decided to launch four working groups on case studies, risk
assessment, vulnerability, and data collection and quality control. I
to share with the readers in this issue of ICHARM Newsletter.
was assigned to the Case-Studies Working Group, which promote
On May 29, Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy, director of the Division ofcollaboration among other relevant research programs in Japan andWater Sciences of UNESCO, and I were awarded the 2008
Asian regions. With support from a number of individuals andInternational Contribution Award by the Japan Society of Civil
organizations, I was able to immediately set up a sub committee
Engineering (JSCE) (Also see page 2). It was remarkable that we,under the Science Council of Japan and start working on the
who have long been committed to global water issues together, wereassignment towards the second Scientific Committee, which is
given the same prize at the same time. Besides our sharedscheduled in October.
professional experience, we have been good friends for so long, andthat multiplied our joy in receiving the award. I feel deeply indebted On June 16-19, the second Global Platform was convened into the directors of NILIM and PWRI for the nomination they made to Geneva, Switzerland, by the International Strategy for Disaster
JSCE for the award. Having Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy as an Advisory Reduction (ISDR). As the secretariat for the International Flood
Board member and me as the director, it was as if ICHARM were Initiative (IFI), ICHARM coordinated a follow-up symposium on the
doubly awarded with the prize. To celebrate this big event, a report compiled by the High-level Panel on Water and Disaster
commemorative lecture meeting, "Global Climate Change and (HLEP) of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on
Challenges in Water Management," was organized and gave me an Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB). Mr. Sálvano Briceño, director ofopportunity to show my deep appreciation to many individuals and ISDR, and Mr. Shinichi Kitajima, ambassador extraordinary andorganizations, such as UNESCO, MEXT, MLIT and PWRI, which help plenipotentiary to the permanent delegation of Japan attached to
ICHARM in many aspects. I also would like to thank them and the international organizations in Geneva, also participated in themeeting. It was the important first step to carry out the action plansincerely ask them for continued support for ICHARM.
proposed by HLEP.
On May 10-12, I visited Bergen, Norway, to participate in the first
Scientific Committee for the Program “Integrated Research on This past July marked an important transition for ICHARM. Mr. Akira
Disaster Risk (IRDR)” of the International Council for Science (ICSU). Terakawa left ICHARM to become the executive director for research
The committee was held in parallel with the World Social Science affairs of the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure
Forum by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and got off Management (NILIM). He also has been assigned to be the director
to a hopeful start under the leadership of Committee Chair Gordon of the Research Center for Land and Construction Management. He
McBean for the research program that requires close collaboration had made considerable contribution to the development of ICHARM
between natural and social sciences. The committee discussed and since its preparation stage during 2004-2006 and as the deputy
director from 2006 to this past July. Former Team Leader Shigenobu
Tanaka of the ICHARM International Technical Exchange Team has
been promoted to the deputy director position. ICHARM staff,
including myself, would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr.
Terakawa’s contribution and have refreshed our commitment toglobal water issues under the new leadership.

Kuniyoshi Takeuchi
Director, ICHARM
Dr. Takeuchi (right) and Dr. SzöllösiSzöllösi-Nagy (left)

ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Special Events
Lectures by the award-winning hydrologists on the occasion of the 2008 JSCE
International Contribution Award
Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy, deputy assistant director general of UNESCO, and Dr. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi,
director of ICHARM, were awarded the 2008 International Contribution Award by the Japan Societyof Civil Engineers (JSCE) for their outstanding contributions to global water issues. To celebrate thedistinguished world-class hydrologists, the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management(NILIM) and the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) jointly held a special lecture meeting on "Global
Climate Change and Challenges in Water Management" on May 29 in Tokyo. The lecture meeting was
also supported by the Japanese National Commission (JNC) for UNESCO, JSCE, and the Japan Societyof Hydrology and Water Resources.
Mr. Akihiko Nunomura, former director of NILIM, started the event with an opening speech on behalf ofthe organizers, followed by a speech by Ms. Sonoko Watanabe, who is currently vice secretary
general of JNC for UNESCO and chief of the Planning Coordination Office of the International Affairs
Division, Minister's Secretariat of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The two hydrologists then gave a lecture in front of a large audience gathering to celebrate the special
occasion. Dr. Takeuchi spoke first on "Disaster Management for Sustainable Well-being." In the lecture,
he addressed "human empowerment" as a key concept in disaster management.
He pointed out that, to reduce water-related disaster damage worldwide, theelimination of vulnerability factors within communities are imperative in addition
to the protection of communities from external forces of natural hazards. For
that reason, he emphasized the enhancement of the ability to cope with waterrelated disasters at the local and individual levels. In this context, Dr. Takeuchi
explained that ICHARM prioritizes "Localism" in its efforts, introducing thecentre's contribution to development and dissemination of satellite-based early
warning systems as well as trainings in water hazards and risk management.
Mr. Akihiko Nunomura, former
director of NILIM

Dr. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi, directorof ICHARM

Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy,
deputy assistant director generalof UNESCO

Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy followed Dr. Takeuchi to speak on "Global Changes and Their
Impacts on Water Resource: New Challenges and Opportunities for Civil Engineers." He shared his
insightful views on how global climate as well as socio-economic changes may affect prospective workand roles of civil engineers. He suggested that those engineers should pay special attention to securing
adequate reservoirs in basin water management. Pointing out the significance and difficulty in solving
global water issues, he concluded the lecture by quoting the words of John. F. Kennedy: "Anybody who
can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel Prizes, one for peace and one for science."
The lecture room with a capacity of about 100 people was filled with an ardent audience listening to
the two speakers until the end of the event.

Ms. Sonoko Watanabe

Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy and Dr Takeuchi have been good friends for 35 years since they shared a laboratory
at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria. It was quite a pleasant surprise forthe two to find out that they were given the same award at the same time. Meanwhile, the Hungarianscientist celebrated his 60th birthday just a week before the event and was doubly happy calling thehonorable award "the best birthday present I have ever had."

At lecture

At the award ceremony in the JSCE 95th General Meeting2

ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Special Events

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Visits ICHARM
ADB visits ICHARM and joined the 20th ICHARM R&D Seminar
and a debris-flow seminar in TokyoOn June 10-11, Mr. Wouter Lincklaen Arriens, Mr. Neil Britton of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Mr. Terry Day,disaster prevention specialist of New Zealand, visited ICHARM to exchange views and ideas with ICHARM researchers. ADB
and ICHARM are in the process of finalizing a technical cooperation contract with two-year sponsorship of ADB, and this visit
was part of the preparation process to understand viewpoints on both sides.
Day 1 (June 10 )The morning meeting started with the introduction of ICHARM, including key activities,
researchers and their experiences. Administrative issues were also discussed. The
afternoon was spent on a series of presentations and discussions about region-specifictechnical cooperation projects in Indonesia, India, the lower Mekong River basin, andBangladesh. ICHARM has assigned a group of researchers to each project, and eachgroup is expected to carry out the project in close collaboration with local project
leaders. In the afternoon meeting, each group detailed possible technical cooperation in
their project and were given feedback from the ADB side.
Lead Water resource specialist : Mr. Wouter (left) and Senior disaster risk management specialist : Mr. Terry (right) at discussion

Day 2 (June 11 )At discussion

The main discussion topics for the morning meeting were the framework of project
management and communication measures between ICHARM and local project leaders.
In the afternoon, the 20th ICHARM R&D Seminar was held in the ICHARM auditorium. In
the seminar, Mr. Britton gave a presentation on risk
management, Mr. Day on flood countermeasures in New
Zealand, and Dr. Nishikawa on progress in flood
management in Japan. Afterwards, Mr. Wouter and
ICHARM Director Kuniyoshi Takeuchi facilitateddiscussions and helped seminar participants share usefulAt Seminar
information and knowledge among themselves.

Day 3 (June 12 )ICHARM, the PWRI Erosion and Sediment Control Research Group and ADB jointly held a project report seminar in Tokyo on atype of debris-flow control structure. As introduced earlier in ICHARM Newsletters, ICHARM provided technical assistance with
ADB’s financial aid for a trial implementation of this type of structure in Baguio, the Philippines. This type of structure is called"debris-flow dewatering brake" or "debris-flow brake." Debris-flow brakes are designed to reduce the energy of debris flows
filtering water and increasing internal friction. This facility is competitively low-cost yet effective countermeasures for debrisflow prone areas in developing countries.
Diplomats of developing countries and international aid agencies were invited for the seminar. Mr. Masayuki Watanabe, who
was in charge of the Baguio project and is a coordinator for disaster mitigation research at ICHARM, reported on the project.
After his presentation, participants had a discussion on the project and expressed high interest in the structure.

Participant from embassy

Mr. Masayuki Watanabe

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

ICHARM Master’s Course Update
ICHARM jointly offers a one-year Master’s course, “Water-related Disaster Management, Disaster Management Policy Program,”with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). Eightstudents started the course last October and are currently working very hard on their graduation theses to meet the deadline in
mid August!
From 3 to 5 June 2009, those students went on a field trip to the Touhoku region accompanied by ICHARM staff to learn
structural and non-structural disaster countermeasures in Japan. There were four main destinations for their trip:
1) Isawa dam construction site 2) Hada District of Ohshu City (Residents are very active in voluntary disaster prevention
activities.) 3) Kesennuma City (The city promotes efforts to raise residents’ disaster awareness in addition to disaster education
for quick and safe evacuation.) 4) Ichinoseki retarding basin (Residents are active in handing down their disaster experience
regarding Typhoon Kathleen to the younger generation.)

1. Isawa Dam construction site
The Isawa Dam, located in the upper Isawa River, is now underconstruction as part of the redevelopment project of the Ishibuchi Dam,located in the upper reach of the Isawa Dam. When completed by 2013,
it will be the second largest rock fill
dam in Japan and 2.5 times as highand 9 times as large in volume as the
Ishibuchi Dam. The students first visitedthe Isawa Dam Study Center. They
were greeted by Mr. Ito, director of
the MLIT Dam Construction Office and given an outline of thedam by Mr. Odajima, a dam construction expert. Then, they
moved to a panoramic view point at the dam site. They were
How big!
surprised to see how large 90 ton damp trucks are.

Mr. Odajima explains theoutline of Isawa dam.

View point of Isawa dam

2. Hada District
Hada District of Ohshu City, located between the Touhoku Sinkansen Line and the Kitakami River, was severely damaged by
Typhoon Kathleen in 1947 and Typhoon Ione in 1948. The students had a chance to interview local residents, including Mr. Sato, acommunity leader, at the Hada Community Center to learn voluntary disaster prevention activities in the district. According to them, it
was since 2002 when the area was widely inundated by Typhoon No.6 that Hada residents have started various disaster prevention
activities. In 2003, a local flood hazard map was made; in 2004, a voluntary disaster prevention organization was established; in2005, a book edited by the survivors of Typhoons Kathleen and/or Ione was published; in 2006, water levels at the time of flooding
due to Typhoon Kathleen were marked in different places around the district; in 2007, a voluntary evacuation drill and workshops
were held, and “Safety Maps” were made based on the findings from the drill; and in 2008, memorial statues were built at thebreach points. It is particularly worth noting that they always exercise disaster prevention activities “practically.” The district’s motto
for disaster prevention is “Never lose anybody at emergency.” In 2007, the residents practiced an evacuation drill to see if it was
really possible to evacuate with nobody left behind in a chaotic situation.

Students interview to the resident at Hada District

Flood mark on the wall of Hada
community center“Safety Map” in Hada District

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

ICHARM Master’s Course Update

3. Kesennuma City
Kesennuma City of Miyagi Prefecture suffered severe damage from the Chilean Tsunami in 1960. Aware that an earthquake
can happen anytime and will cause considerable damage once it happens, the city has been promoting activities to raise
residents’ tsunami disaster preparedness, such as evacuation drills and disaster education.
The students first visited the city hall and received a greeting remark by Mr. Sugawara, deputy mayor, and then moved to the
Karakuwa Visitor Center to attend a lecture by Mr. Sato, chief of the Disaster Prevention Section.
One of the most interesting points in the lecture was a complex relationship between disaster awareness and evacuation
behavior. According to the results of a questionnaire survey conducted after the 2003 earthquake, 90% of the residents were
aware of the possibility of tsunamis right after the earthquake. However, merely 1.7% of them actually evacuated while theoverwhelming majority (86%) of them did nothing. The survey also found that people were more likely to evacuate when power
failure interrupted their access to information through TV or other means than otherwise. Those results made the students, as wellas the ICHARM staff, realize that disaster awareness and information do not necessarily promote evacuation and also think
about how much disaster information should be provided in what way.
After the lecture, the students experienced tsunamis in a simulation video room. It was a valuable experience for them, whousually spend most of the time just thinking about floods but not other extreme natural events.

Mr. Sugawara gives a greeting remark

Mr. Sato explains disaster prevention activities in Kesennuma City

4. Ichinoseki retarding basin and community efforts to keep memories of Typhoon Kathleen
Ichinoseki City of Iwate Prefecture has been frequently flooded because it is located at a confluence of the Kitakami and Iwai Rivers
and also because the channel suddenly narrows downstream. To solve the problem, retarding basins are being constructed. The total
area of the basins will be 1450 ha with the surrounding levees extending 28.2 km in total. Mr. Wako, section chief of the MLIT Iwate
Branch Office, outlined the retarding basins and showed the students around the site. After that, at Ai-port, a Kitakami River
information center, he lectured on a project for the 60th anniversary after Typhoon Kathleen and Ione to prevent the memories of thepast disasters from fading away from people’s minds. The project included activities as from putting up flood mark indication boards
at Ichinoseki Station to manufacturing playing cards to raise disaster awareness to playing musicals. Small meetings were alsoplanned to listen to survivors from Typhoon Kathleen. The meetings were held eight times during the anniversary event and attracted
about 280 people. Some survivors are active as voluntary guides at Ai-port. The students learned the importance of community
efforts to hand down disaster experience to the next generation.

Mr. Wako explains the outline of the retarding basin

Playing cards on water-related disaster
Flood mark in Ichinoseki Station

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Research Introduction
Development of a correction method for satellite-based rainfall data
The Hydrologic Engineering Research Team of ICHARM is currently working on the development of the Integrated Flood Analysis System(IFAS), a flood forecasting system using satellite-based rainfall information. The first report on the system appeared in ICHARM Newsletter
Vol.3 No.3. In this second brief report, we will explain further progress in the IFAS project with specific focus on the development of a uniquemethod for correcting satellite-based rainfall data.

IFAS is developed to be a powerful tool to operate flood forecasting andwarning systems for developing countries. The tool is designed to use global
rainfall data provided through satellites in near-real time by organizations
such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

GSMaP_MVK+(mm/3h)

120.0

As shown in Figure 1, however, most satellite-based rainfall data
underestimates ground observation, which makes it difficult to use them forflood forecasting. After repeatedly conducting accuracy verification on thedata, we found that the error margin was proportionate to the windvelocity. This finding led us to the idea that satellite-based rainfall data
should be corrected proportionately to the movement rate of a rainfall
area; when the movement rate is large, major correction is likely to benecessary, but when it is small, minor or no correction should be enough.
Based on this idea, we have developed a correction method for near-realtime satellite-based rainfall data1). This correction method has improved
satellite-based rainfall data accuracy remarkably (Figure 2) and has
already set in IFAS.

100.0
80.0

No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5

No.6
No.7
No.8
No.9

60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0
0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0
Ground-Gauged Precipitation (GGP)( mm/3h)Figure-1 comparison between GGP and GSMaP_MVK+

Our next step is to examine the applicability of this correction method by applying it to overseas river basins for further
verification and eventually establish its global applicability. IFAS, empowered by this satellite rainfall correction method, will
ensure flood forecasting technology with good accuracy and assist developing countries in flood risk management.

(b) Sendai River basin

120.0

ε = 47.1%
correlation = 0.735
BIAS= -26.3

80.0
60.0

ε = -4.8%
correlation = 0.480
BIAS= 1.2

80.0
60.0
40.0

40.0
typhoon
front

20.0
0.0

(b) Sendai River basin

100.0
Rcor (mm/3h)

100.0
Rsat (mm/3h)

120.0

0.0
0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

typhoon
front

20.0

80.0 100.0 120.0

0.0

20.0

Robs (mm/3h)

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0 120.0

Robs (mm/3h)

Figure-2 validation result (left:before corrected , right:After corrected)1）THE PROPORSAL OF CORRECTION METHOD USING THE MOVEMENT OF RAINFALL AREA ON SATELLITE-BASED RAINFALL INFORMATION BY
ANALYSIS IN THE YOSHINO RIVER BASIN: Yoshiki Shiraishi・Kazuhiko Fukami・Hironori Inomata, Annual Journal of Hydraulic Engineering,Vol.53,
pp385-390, 2009

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Research Introduction

Sustainable tsunami countermeasures for developing countries
It is known that huge disaster losses accompanying the gigantic Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004 is basically due to lack offundamental yet crucial elements for tsunami disaster prevention such as knowledge about tsunamis, awareness on the potential
hazard of tsunamis, protection facilities against tsunamis including early warning systems. Aware of this fact, ICHARM has been
conducting research on the development of sustainable tsunami countermeasures for developing countries.
Immediatemitigation effort

Mitigation
plan

Risk reduction

Preciseknowledge

ShortcutreminderAppropriate
response

Immediateevacuation

Smoothevacuation

Reduce humanfatalities

Assetsprotection

Land useplanning

Avoid develop’t
setbackSociety
participation

Communi-c
ation tool

Strong society
against disaster

THM

TARGETKEY ISSUESThe term “sustainable countermeasures” has become very important since tsunamis
can be classified as a low-frequency, high-impact hazard. In general, they recur
once in 100 years or more, but their disaster potential is very high due to their huge
generated hazard and unpredictable time of event. About 90% of the past tsunamis
were generated by tectonic earthquakes, whereas present knowledge has no ability
to make advance prediction on an earthquake event. Consequently, a possible
tsunami threat will be communicated to the public only after the earthquake.
Unfortunately, in most cases only about 15 to 30 minutes will be left for evacuation
including warning. Therefore, only well-prepared communities can successfully avoid
this kind of great disaster. Sustainable countermeasures, including awareness,preparedness and protection are thus prerequisite conditions for communities to bewell prepared.
ICHARM has analyzed and evaluated disaster risks related to tsunamis and storm
surges in specific cities. Based on the risk analysis, ICHARM is further planning topropose coping strategies, develop teaching materials for tsunami disasterprevention, and propose guidelines for tsunami hazard mapping for developing
countries.
Intervention of Tsunami Hazard Map (THM) in tsunami disaster reduction

There are five key issues in tsunami disaster risk reduction, i.e. mitigation efforts
before society forgets about past disasters or becomes less serious about
preparation for future tsunamis; precise knowledge on the danger of tsunami hazard; immediate evacuation as priority response;
assets protection as well as life protection; and public participation in countermeasure development and public awareness towards
tsunamis. THM-based intervention is considered very effective to enhance the development of those key issues. Figure 1 illustrates
the possible roles of THM in achieving the target of the key issues. ICHARM is now preparing a guideline for THM development indeveloping countries.
Figure-1 the possible roles of THM in achieving the targetof key issues in tsunami disaster risk reduction

Application of coastal forests for tsunami disaster mitigation
Application of coastal forests for tsunami disaster mitigation is investigated and proposed as one of coping strategies because indeveloping countries full implementation of structural countermeasures are difficult.
Figure 2 illustrates factors involved in interactions between a tsunami and coastal forest and the expected effects of a coastal
forest on tsunami flow. Tsunami inundation depth is the main external force working onto a coastal forest. Forest resistance capacity
depends on each tree capacity as well as the capacity of a forest as a whole. The tsunami flow reduction rate by a coastal forest is
influenced by forest density and width in the tsunami direction. Tree
Propagation time - T
counts, trunk diameter, vertical structure composition (portion of roots,
wave
force water velocity
trunk and canopy) and horizontal arrangement are the maindepthvariables that influence forest density.
Despite the possible functions of a coastal forest in tsunami mitigation,
it should be kept in mind that all post-tsunami disaster investigation
results have found that coastal forests showed no mitigation effects on
tsunami inundation higher than five meters. It should be emphasized
too that even for a tsunami inundation less than 5 m, coastal forests
may not provide a hundred percent protection. Therefore, dependingon local conditions, a combination of coastal forests and other typesof mitigation measures is strongly suggested to ensure a high level ofprotection.
ICHARM is preparing a technical guideline of planning and designingcoastal forest for tsunami protection to facilitate local governments,
local communities, or the private sector to implement coastal forestsas part of tsunami disaster mitigation measures. ICHARM also
continues research on specific behaviours of a wider variety ofcoastal vegetations in their interaction with tsunamis.

7

Run-up

SWL

i

BEACH

CROSS-SECTION

Incoming

Forest widthg

FOREST PLAN
VIEW

WAVE CHARACTERISTICS

FOREST CHARACTERISTICS• Inundation depth• Wave length/period• Forest density¯ Trunk diameter¯ Tree numbers• Tree height• Vertical structure• Forest width/length

EXPECTED EFFECTS• Velocity reduction
Î Time reduction• Depth reduction• Runup reduction• Force reduction

Figure-2 Factors involved in the tsunami and coastal forest interaction and the
expected effects of coastal forest on tsunami flow

ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

ICHARM R&D Seminars
19th

TPU Global COE Program: New Frontier of Education and Research in Wind Engineering and IAWE
Activities on Wind-related Disaster Reduction - Prof. Yukio Tamura （7 April 2009）

The 19th ICHARM R & D seminar was held on April 7, 2009, at the ICHARM auditorium. The
speaker was Professor Yukio Tamura of Tokyo Polytechnic University (TPU), who is also thedirector of the TPU Global Centre of Excellence (GCOE) on “New Frontier of Education andResearch in Wind Engineering" and the current president of the International Association forWind Engineering (IAWE). His presentation was entitled "TPU Global COE Program: New
Frontier of Education and Research in Wind Engineering and IAWE Activities on Wind-related
Disaster Reduction." In addition to giving a historical background to “Wind Engineering” andthe establishment of IAWE in general, he highlighted the specific efforts made by his researchteam towards mitigating wind related disasters in collaboration with international researchteams from around the world. It was interesting to note a link between fluid mechanics related
Prof. Tamura
to wind engineering and the structural design of buildings. In the education and capacity
building front, activities that Professor Tamura’s GCOE is pursuing are inspiring to ICHARM, which also aims to become a
GCOE in water related disaster management.

21th “ICHARM BEST PAPER AWARD” Special Lecture - Dr. Rabindra Osti （22 June 2009）
Dr. Rabindra Osti, senior researcher of ICHARM, was awarded the first “ICHARM BEST PAPER AWARD” for his research paper
entitled “Method to Improve the Mitigative Effectiveness of a Series of Check Dams against Debris Flow,” co-authored by Dr.
Shinji Egashira, former professor of Ritsumeikan University. The paper has been published in Hydrological Process (vol. 22). In
commemoration of the award, Dr. Osti gave a special lecture on the paper at the ICHARM Auditorium on 22 June 2009.
The ICHARM Best Paper Award is established to award an ICHARM researcher who published a distinguished refereed paperin the previous year. The selection committee led by ICHARM Director Kuniyoshi Takeushi is in charge of the award.
In the paper, the authors proposed techniques for evaluating and improving the mitigative effectiveness of check dams against
debris flows in steep mountain torrents. Additionally, to generalize their proposed evaluation process, they introduced andverified some non-dimensional parameters, namely non-dimensional potential storage, normalized inflow sediment volume andrelative run-out sediment volume. The developed nomogram is expected to be used by any engineers and practitioners who areresponsible for planning and designing check dam systems. The authors have successfully applied the method to actual debrisflow events, such as the 1999 debris-flow event in the San Julian River in Venezuela and several cases in Japan.
An ardent audience of about 40 people, including Dr. Egashira, listened to Dr. Osti’s special lecture and had a fruitful discussion
afterwards.

At seminar

Dr. Rabindra Osti (left) and Dr. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi, director of ICHARM (right)◎There is information about 20th seminar on page 3.

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

International Activities
ICHARM participates in drafting 2nd Water Security Outlook of Asia
ICHARM has been taking part in various international activities. One such activity is the participation in drafting the second
Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO 2010) to write one of its five key dimensions, “Key Dimension 5 (KD 5): Building
resilient communities that can adapt to changes,” focusing on disaster risk management, disaster preparedness and adaptation.
The second edition has been commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the run up to the Asia-Pacific Water
Summit in 2010. A team of experts from regional water knowledge hubs and lead organizations of the Asia-Pacific Water
Forum (APWF), including ICHARM Chief Researcher Junichi Yoshitani and Research Specialist Yoganath Adikari, are assigned tothe preparation of AWDO 2010.
The team’s guiding vision states that "societies can enjoy water security when they successfully manage their water resources
and services to 1) satisfy household water and sanitation needs in all communities; 2) support productive economies inagriculture and industry; 3) develop vibrant, liveable cities and towns; 4)
restore healthy rivers and ecosystems; and, 5) build resilient communities
that can adapt to change.” These correspond to the five key dimensions of
AWDO 2010.

AWDO 2010 Team Meeting in Singapore

AWDO 2010 will focus on how countries in the Asia-Pacific region arecoping with a wide range of water security issues that pose criticalchallenges to ADB's mission to boost inclusive economic growth, reducepoverty, bring about environmental change in the region, and prevent water-related disasters which shatter socio-economic development gains and bringcountries in the region down to a total halt.

Lecture in Singapore
A. W. Jayawardena, Research and Training Advisor of ICHARM, was invited to be a lecturer at the Spring School on Fluid
Mechanics and Geophysics of Environmental Hazards held at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the National Universityof Singapore during the period from April 19 to May 2, 2009. This event was initiated and organized by the International
Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) with the support of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), theInternational Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Region (ROAP), theRoyal Society, and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the National University of Singapore (NUS). It covered two of
ICSU’s priority areas: Capacity Building and Natural and Human-Induced Environmental Hazards and Disasters.
The school was attended by 40 sponsored graduate students (MSc or PhD) or young postdocs from 14 countries of the AsiaPacific region: Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri
Lanka, Georgia and Iran. Several additional (unfunded) students from Singapore were also registered for the course. A
number of additional senior members of the NUS faculty also attended lectures of interest to them. The course consisted of aseries of lectures given by nine selected lecturers from around the world, tutorials, field visits and group projects. The lecturematerials will be published in a book by World Scientific by the end of this year. More details of the course and theprogramme are available at: http://www.ims.nus.edu.sg/Programs/09fluidss/index.htm.

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Business Trips
Meeting for the intercomparison of flood forecasting and warning systems in tropical Asia in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia (20- 21 April 2009)
Kazuhiko Fukami, team leader of the ICHARM Hydrologic Engineering Research Team, visited the Humid Tropics Hydrology
and Water Resources Centre for Southeast Asia and the Pacific under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-HTC) in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, during April 20-21 to attend the first meeting for an international cooperative research for theassessment of flood forecasting and warning systems for tropical regions sponsored by UNESCO-IHP. The meeting discussed
the framework and milestones of the research and investigated a flood forecasting and warning system for the Klang Riverin Malaysia. The other target rivers of the joint research are as follows: the Ciliwung River (Indonesia), the Klang River(Malaysia), the Pasig-Marikina River (Philippines), and the Thu Bon River (Vietnam).

Second Experts’ Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning System in Toulouse, France(5-7 May 2009)
The 2nd Experts’ Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning System with focus on the Role of National Meteorological andHydrological Services was held on 5-7 May 2009 in Toulouse, France. It was organized by WMO and hosted by the Meteo
France. Akira Terakawa, deputy director of ICHARM, was invited to participate in the symposium.
The three-day meeting started with the opening address by Mr. Francois Jacq, permanent representative of France to WMO,
followed by the briefings of the background and objectives of the project to implement multi-hazard early warning systems by
Dr. Maryan Golnaraghi, chief of the Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, WMO. During the second day session, Terakawa
made a presentation on the present status of Japanese flood forecasting and warning systems focusing on the importance of
information sharing with local citizens. During the symposium, the participants also discussed possible international cooperationin this field, including the preparation of guidelines for sharing relevant experiences among members of the international
community. More information is available at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/drr/events/MHEWS-II/index_en.html.

Drafting ICHARM’s Strategy for Integrated Flood Risk Management in the Lower Mekong River Basinin Bangkok, Thailand (13-14 May 2009)
The 7th Annual Mekong Flood Forum (AMFF7) was held in Bangkok,
Thailand, on 13-14 May 2009, and ICHARM sent Katsuhito Miyake,team leader, Tomonobu Sugiura, senior researcher, and Ali Chavoshian,research specialist, to attend the meeting. The main theme of the forum
was the "Integrated Flood Risk Management in the Mekong River Basin"
ICHARM presented a paper on "CHARTING ICHARM’S STRATEGY FORINTEGRATED FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE LOWER MEKONG
RIVER BASIN". The main objective of this paper was to chart ICHARM’sIntegrated Flood Risk Management (IFRM) strategy emphasizing on
local conditions in the Lower Mekong River Basin.
Defining risk (R) as a factor of hazard (H), vulnerability (V) and
exposure (E) (i.e. R = H x V x E), the paper lists flood risk assessment and mapping as one of the principal pillars of the
proposed strategy. It covers the identification and assessment of risks from floods and their consequences on future

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Business Trips
development scenarios in the target area. Another key strategy is promotion of flood hazard maps, which are useful in flood
responses, such as evacuation. The paper also discusses a need of in-depth study on hydrological events in the Lower
Mekong River Basin. Study on climate change impact is also listed in the strategy. In the study, mitigation and adaptation will
mainly focus on flood preparedness indicators/standards and an approach to establish flood resilience communities withrespect to socio-economic processes and human activities. More effective and accurate flood inundation modeling constitutes
ICHARM’s IFRM strategy and is planned to be achieved by introducing ICHARM’s flood inundation modeling in the MekongRiver Basin. In combination with the intended results from ICHARM’s ongoing research for tool development for generatingnear real-time satellite rainfall information and heavy rainfall area indication, the proposed strategy is expected to delivera more pragmatic IFRM system for the Lower Mekong Basin.
As the side event of the AMFF7, there were two meetings with the MRC Secretariat and ADB representatives in order todiscuss an ongoing project, so called the ADB-RETA project, for flood/drought risk reduction in the lower Mekong River Basin.

Workshop on Developing Water and Climate Change Adaptation Guidelines in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia(26-28 May 2009)
Kazuhiko Fukami, team leader of the ICHARM Hydrologic Engineering Research Team, attended the Workshop on
Developing Water and Climate Change Adaptation Guidelines organized by the National Hydraulic Research Institute of
Malaysia and the Asian Development Bank on May 26-28. About 40 experts and administrators in charge of water
resources management got together from Asian countries for the meeting. Other Japanese representatives were also sent to
the meeting by Tokyo University, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), and the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Participants discussed the scope of the guideline for hydroclimate modeling topredict the impacts of climate change on water resources and for adaptation strategy as well as a framework to support thedrafting process of the guideline. To further discuss the guideline, they agreed on the establishment of a steering group.
Professor Toshio Koike of Tokyo University was designated as the chairman of the group. ICHARM is expected to play aleading role in developing the guideline with the steering group as a knowledge hub of the Asian Pacific Water Forum on
disaster risk reduction and flood management.

Launch of the HelpDesk for Integrated Flood Management in Geneva (17 June 2009)
On June 17, Kuniyoshi Takeuchi, director of ICHARM, Kazuhiko Fukami, team leader of the Hydrologic Engineering Research
Team, and Ali Chavoshian, research specialist of the Disaster Prevention Research Team, visited Geneva, Switzerland, toattend a side event of the Second Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR). The session was held
to launch the HelpDesk for Integrated Flood Management (IFM). The HelpDesk is a platform of WMO based on the
Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM) and supported by a network of partners within IFM, including
ICHARM. Its role is to provide technically competent, multi-disciplinary impartial and balanced guidance on IFM. Fukami
highlighted, as a panelist of the Launch session, the significance of experiences that Japan has accumulated while making
continuous efforts to overcome natural extreme hazards in its long history.

Participation in the APWF Knowledge Hub review meeting in Singapore (19 April –2 May 2009)
Team Leader Katsuhito Miyake of the ICHARM Disaster Prevention Research
Team attended the APWF Knowledge Hub review meeting held on 24 June2009 at the PUB building in Singapore. This was the first annual progress
review meeting of the APWF Knowledge Hubs (KHs), which discussed (1)progress update of existing hubs and review of business plans of candidate
hubs, (2) review of the business plans of three candidate KHs, (3)establishment of a steering group and secretariat for the KHs, (4) othercommon issues. Miyake also attended two other meetings held during theSingapore International Water Week as follows:
1. 25 June: Advisory Committee of the Network of Asian River Basin
Organizations (NARBO) to discuss NARBO work plans including
a new IWRM training organization.

Knowledge Hub review meeting

2. 26 June: 5th Governing Council of the APWF to share and discuss knowledge update of lead organizations,collaborations with other organizations, etc.

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ICHARM Newsletter Volume 4 No.2 y July2009

Coming Events◆ International Workshop on Application and Validation of GFAS 3-7 August 2009, ICHARM
The workshop is co-organized by IFNet (International Flood Network) and International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk
Management (ICHARM). The objectives of this workshop are to build capacities in the countries to be able to undertakehydrological prediction/forecasting in poorly-gauged basins through initiating GFAS/IFAS validation, and also discuss issues
regarding accuracy and applicability of the system in the areas.
◆ Training Workshop on Risk Management and Flash Flood Mitigation Strategies

10-13 August 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The Training Workshop, co-organized by Asian three UNESCO Centres such as the Regional Humid Tropics Hydrology and Water
Resources Centre (HTC, Malaysia), Regional Centre on Urban Water Management (Iran) and ICHARM, will be held to provide theparticipants with knowledge and infor
mation on natural water disasters management as well as risk assessment and flash flood mitigation strategies.
◆ Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Water Science and Technology for Sustainable Well Being

25-27 August 2009, Nepal
ICHARM and NDRI have jointly done researches on West Rapti River Basin in Nepal. In the workshop, the research results will bepresented. In addition to that, in the workshop, IFAS training will be done mainly for the people who are in charge of flood
management.
◆ Master's Course "Water-Related Risk Management Course of Disaster Management Policy Program"

From 5 October 2009
The 3rd Master's Degree Program "Water-related Risk Management Course of Disaster Management Policy Program", which
ICHARM offers jointly with GRIPS supported by JICA, starts in October.
◆ "Local Disaster Management Program with Flood Hazard Map" Training Course 8-28 November 2009
Improved "Flood Hazard Mapping" Training Course starts in November.

Personnel Changes
Mr. Akira Terakawa left ICHARM on July 14 to become theexecutive director for research affairs of the National
Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM).
Mr. Terakawa worked at ICHARM for five years and threemonths. Former Team Leader Shigenobu Tanaka of theInternational Technical Team has become the new deputy
director of ICHARM.
Mr. Terakawa was assigned as the director to theSecretariat for Preparatory Activities of ICHARM for theestablishment of a UNESCO Centre. The secretariat was set
up in 2004 as part of the Public Works Research Institute.
He led eight founding members and demonstrated excellent
leadership in difficult negotiation and coordination withdomestic and overseas organizations. In 2006, his efforts
finally resulted in the official establishment of ICHARM. He
became the deputy director and dedicated more of himself
to the further development of the research institute.
We at ICHARM hope that Mr. Terakawa will continue to lead a successful career in his new position.
Other personnel changes are as follows:
Mr. Akira Terakawa: Executive Director for Research Affairs of the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management<Former position: Deputy Director of ICHARM>
Mr. Shigenobu Tanaka: Deputy Director of ICHARM <Former position: Team Leader of International Technical Exchange team>
Mr. Kei Kudoh: Team Leader of International Technical Exchange team <Former position: Chief Researcher for Special Assignment>
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