INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIONThe Master Builders
For more than half a century, Japan’s Building Research Institute hasserved as a global center of excellence in earthquake and tsunami
disaster mitigation.

O

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BUILDING RESEARCH INSTITUTEn Saturday, February 27,
2010, at 3:34 a.m. local
time (3:34 p.m. in Japan),a major earthquake measuring M 8.8 on the Richter scale ofmagnitude occurred along the Pacificcoast region of Chile in South America.
The tremor and a subsequent tsunami
devastated a large part of the country,and left 432 people dead and 98 missing.
More than 1.8 million people and810,000 residential buildings wereafflicted. Japan’s Building ResearchInstitute provided support in the assessment of damaged buildings undertakenby the Department of Housing Affairs inChile’s Ministry of Housing and Urban
Affairs, in collaboration with theUniversity Catolica, the University ofChile and others.
Among other buildings, many highand medium-rise reinforced concretebuildings and masonry structures werebadly damaged. Reinforced concretebuildings mainly have shear walls as
seismic elements and many masonry
structures make up most of the low-risebuildings. In Concepción, a high-risereinforced concrete building toppled andcollapsed (photo 1) and a collapse at themiddle level of another building wasseen. More serious damage was observed in this city than in any other area.
The Building Research Institute had
previously accepted a total of forty-two
trainees from Chile. Some former trainees provided dedicated cooperation in
the damage survey, to ensure efficientoperation. This demonstrates how
human exchange is beneficial to damage-related activities. The following
section outlines the training program.
International Training inSeismology and Earthquake
Engineering

In 1960, half a century ago, a strong
earthquake with a magnitude of M 9.5
hit Chile. It was the most powerfulearthquake ever recorded. In the sameyear, the second World Conference on
Earthquake Engineering took place inTokyo to discuss and recognize the needfor training in earthquake engineering
for young seismologists and earthquake
engineers from developing countries.
After that, the first international training
in seismology and earthquake engineering was carried out at the University ofTokyo. It comprised a seismology
course and an earthquake engineeringcourse. The resultsof this training program earned suchhigh praise fromt h e international
community that theJapanese government set up theInternational Instituteof Seismology andE a r t h q u a k e
Engineering (IISEE),
in the Building
Research Institutein January 1962, tocontinue providing
the training. In thePhoto 1: The high-rise multi-family residential building in Concepción which toppled and collapsed
following year, the2first half of the second training session
took place at Waseda University. Later,
the IISEE took over the program to organize the second half of the training.
Since then, the IISEE has been in chargeof the training.
Under this scheme, run in cooperation with the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA), four different types of training are currently
provided, namely: Annual Training
in Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering, Global SeismologicalObservation Course, China Seismic
Building Course and Individual Course.
As of August 2010, a cumulative
total of 1,459 trainees from ninety-six
countries and areas have participated in
the training courses (figure 1). These
training courses are highly regarded inJapan and beyond.
The Seismology CourseThe Seismology Course is provided
a s part of the Annual Training inSeismology and Earthquake
Engineering. It is attended by researchers, engineers and government officials
from developing countries, centered on
young personnel working in publicbodies responsible for seismologicalobservation and earthquake and tsunami
countermeasures, universities and otherinstitutions, who are expected to act as
key players in their home countries in
the future. The course covers information science and technology, including
mathematics and computer sciences,disciplines concerning the earthquake
source process, determination of earthquake parameters, seismological observation, seismic activities and the propagation of seismic waves, earthquake
risk assessment jointly provided withthe earthquake engineering course, as
well as earthquake disaster countermeasures and policies. It includes not onlyclassroom lectures and training but also
visits to key facilities, and participation
in international academic conferences
held in Japan. Some lectures may involve outdoor training and laboratory
experiments (photo 2).

Figure 1: International Training inSeismology and Earthquake Engineering

Participants in this course comemainly from earthquake-prone countries. Since the 2004 Indian Ocean
Tsunami subsequent to the SumatraAndaman Earthquake, the course has
been attended by personnel from countries where earthquakes do not occur or
are unlikely, such as Sri Lanka andBangladesh. The 2009–2010 course accepted a total of nine trainees, two coming from Malaysia and one each from
China, Columbia, Myanmar, Nepal,Pakistan, Peru and the Philippines.
The Earthquake Engineering Course

The other course in the Annual
Training in Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering focuses on earthquake engineering. Like the Seismology Course,
it is designed for researchers, engineersand government officials, centered on
young personnel working in governmentorganizations, universities and other institutions. The training is provided with aview toward mitigating damage caused byearthquakes to structures and resulting
damage to humans indeveloping countries.
The course covers structural analysis
and structural dynamics fundamental toearthquake engineering, different earthquake-resistant
structures such as rePhoto 2: Trainees visit the Nojima Fault Preservation
Museum in Awaji-shima island, Hyogo Prefecture.
inforced concrete andsteel structures, the latest inseismic isolation and responsecontrol techniques and theseismic limit state design approach. After studying thesesubjects through lectures, practical training and tours, trainees
continue pursuing specific subjects, based on their own interests or challenges, under thesupervision of their advisors.
The course will thus help themsolve the problems facing theirhome nations. The 2009–2010
course accepted a total of eight
earthquake engineers and researchers, three of whom are from El
Salvador with one each from Algeria,
China, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Peru.
Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake

On December 26, 2004, at 00:58:53
UTC, a massive earthquake with a magnitude of M 9.1 struck, its epicenter off
the northwestern coast of Sumatra near
the Andaman Islands. It triggered a series of tsunamis that traveled over theIndian Ocean to claim more than
220,000 lives in coastal countries. It was
the worst tsunami disaster in history.
Experts commented that the lack ofdevelopment of the tsunami warning
systems in the Indian Ocean coast region
and a lack of public knowledge abouttsunamis were among the reasons for theextensive damage. Data demonstrate theestimated times required from occurrence of the earthquake to the arrival of
the waves at different locations. The
data are based on a numerical simulation. This reveals that there were a couple of hours until the tsunami hit somecountries remote from the epicenter
zone, especially in Thailand, India and3

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Sri Lanka, where the damage was tremendous. An appropriate measure for
evacuation and disaster control with atsunami alert immediately after theearthquake could have massively reduced the damage.
Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course

The damage from tsunamis cannot be
mitigated without disaster control countermeasures based on the latest findings
on earthquakes and tsunamis. The
Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course
was launched in the 2006–2007 season,
as a third annual training course on seismology and earthquake engineering.
The objectives of the course are tohelp the trainees acquire advanced
knowledge and skills relating to earthquakes and tsunamis through training in
the field of tsunami disaster mitigation
policies and to develop people capable

Photo 3: Trainees visit facilities fortsunami disaster prevention in MiyakoCity, Iwate Prefecture

Photo 4: Dr. Murakami Shuzo, chief
executive of Japan's Building ResearchInstitute, awards master's degrees in disaster mitigation to trainees at the National
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
4of using their knowledge andskills for tsunami disastermitigation such as tsunami
hazard assessment and tsunami early-warning systems,
and introducing them in theirown countries. The 2009–2010 course trained a total of
five participants, two fromIndonesia and one each from
Fiji, Malaysia and Peru
(photo 3).
Master’s Degree inDisaster Management

Photo 5: The Sichuan Earthquake of May 2008
left millions homeless.

From October 2005, some ofthe lectures delivered at theannual training in an alliancewith the National Graduate
Institute for Policy Studies(GRIPS) are recognized as
GRIPS lectures. This allows
trainees to obtain a master’s
degree in disaster management accredited by GRIPS
and the Building ResearchInstitute, by taking a master’s
Photo 6: Trainees on the China Seismic Building
degree program run by
Course following the first lecture of the 2009
GRIPS and by obtaining theterm at the Building Research Instituterequired credits. All nineteen
trainees who completed thetraining in September 2006 became the for the Seismology Course and thefirst to receive the master’s degree under Earthquake Engineering Course under
the program. This academic qualifica- the annual international training in seistion helps ensure and enrich the founda- mology and earthquake as part of its astions for the trainees’ activities as spe- sistance in post-earthquake reconstruccialists in seismology and earthquake tion (photo 6).
In addition, the China Seismicengineering after they return to theircountries. Set up in 2006, the Tsunami Building Course was launched in
Disaster Mitigation Course is also run October 2009 as part of JICA’s Humanas a course under the master’s degree Resource Development Project for
Seismic Buildings. This course is set toprogram (photo 4).
be offered for three years, with approxiSichuan, China Earthquake
mately twenty trainees each year. Aftercompleting the training, engineers are
On May 12, 2008, at 2:28 p.m. local expected to return home and introduce
time, a strong earthquake with a magni- the technologies in their own countries.
tude of M 7.9 occurred, its epicenter in The aim of the course is to train aroundWenchuan county in the Chinese prov- 5,000 structural engineers.
ince of Sichuan. The quake killed
69,185 people, with 374,171 injured and Global Seismological Observation
18,404 missing. Among the 23,143,000 Course
residential houses hit by the quake,
6,525,000 collapsed (photo 5). Masonry Actions for putting into effect thebuildings were particularly hard hit. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Building Research Institute took swift Treaty (CTBT) are underway inside andaction, accepting seven Chinese trainees outside Japan. In connection with theseinitiatives, the IISEE has been offering a
two-month Global SeismologicalObservation Course in cooperation with
the Japan Meteorological Agency and
JICA since 1995. As requested by theMinistry of Foreign Affairs, the IISEE
engages in this course to make an international contribution for pushing ahead
with nuclear arms reductions (photo 7).
Ex-Trainees’ Activities

Trainees are dispatched from government organizations, state-run research
institutions and universities. After
returning home, some work as leadersin the fields of seismology andearthquake engineering as ministers,
heads of research institutions and university professors. The following gives
some examples.
Dr. Harsh Gupta from India took
the 1966–67 course and later served
as secretary to the Government of India
for the Department of Oceanic
Development, the director of the Indian
National Geophysical Research Instituteand the first chairman of the Asian
Seismological Society. At the end of2008, he was awarded a Waldo E. Smith
Medal from the American GeophysicalUnion for his scientific contribution inseismology and for the outstanding rolehe has played in geosciences.
The training has been received bymany personnel from the National
Research Institute of Astronomy andGeophysics (NRIAG) in Egypt. Dr.
Rashad Kebeasy was a trainee in the1965–66 course. He is a former president of the NRIAG and a former director of the International Data Center in
the Preparatory Commission for theComprehensive Nuclear-test-ban Treaty
Organization (CTBTO). Dr. Salah
Mohamed took part in the 1982–83
course and is the current president ofthe NRIAG.
As of 2008, Peru had sent the largest number of trainees, specifically 105.
Taking the 1961–62 course, Dr. Julio
Kuroiwa is an influential figure in theworld of earthquake engineering in Peru.
After the Pisco Earthquake in 2007, heprovided daily explanations on Peruvian
television. Dr. Roberto Morales took
part in the 1970–71 course and later
served as principal of the National

University of Engineering in
Peru. Sadly, he passed away inoffice. The knowledge andtechnologies he learned fromthe international training onseismology and earthquake
engineering were passed down
by him to Peruvian researchersand engineers and now help
mitigate natural disasters inthat country.
Photo 7: Participants on the Global
Working in the Institute
Seismological Observation Course receiveof Engineering Mechanics
practical training in the use of seismometers.
under the China Earthquake
Administration, Yu Shizhou
was a trainee in the 2006–07
c o u r s e . J u s t a f t e r t h e S i c h u a n in the form of electronic data, providing
Earthquake in 2008, he started a long- special lectures with the use of the video
term field survey on the damage. His ac- conferencing system and introducing
tivities were reported in the Japanese an e-learning system.
press. Many former trainees, including
Shizhou, took part in the damage survey The UNESCO Project
after the major earthquake and cooperated with the emergency rescue mission The training program has been run continuously for half a century. More thanfrom Japan.
1,400 engineers and researchers fromIISEE Net
around 100 countries have completed
the international training in seismology
T h e I n t e r n e t - b a s e d I n f o r m a t i o n and earthquake engineering. They must
N e t w o r k o f E a r t h q u a k e D i s a s t e r work to minimize the damage caused
Prevention Technologies (hereinafter by earthquakes not merely in theirreferred to as “the IISEE Net” [http:// home countries but in neighboringiisee.kenken.go.jp/ ]) has been estabcountries as well. The Ministry of Land,lished. It offers Web access to a wide Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ofrange of technical information on earth- Japan, the United Nations Educational,
quake disaster mitigation for buildings Scientific and Cultural Organization
to the public. At present, it has technical (UNESCO) and the IISEE have formed
information for ninety-one countries, a cooperative relationship with themost of which are developing nations. aim of building an international network
The information covers the earthquake for research and training on the subject
observation network, the strong motion of earthquake disaster mitigation in
observation network, the seismic dam- the building and housing sector, andage history, the quake-resistant building to create the International Platform forstandards and examples of micro- Reducing Earthquake Disasters, as azoning. The information available on mechanism for providing international
IISEE Net is updated each year on the support in the event of a huge earthbasis of data received from trainees. quake or tsunami. This project enjoys
The IISEE Net has been equipped with the cooperation of research and other inthe Earthquake Damage Estimation stitutions in eight countries where JICA
System for Buildings (EDES-B), which projects relating to earthquake disaster
proposes the methodologies and steps mitigation took place, namely Chile,required for estimating earthquake Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico,
damage in the form of a list on the web- Peru, Romania and Turkey. Viewing
site, from which developing countries this as a first step, the IISEE will contincan select a method. It also seeks to ue its commitment to reducing earthoffer information to developing coun- quake damage across the globe while intries in multifarious ways, for instance, creasing the countries and organizations
by preparing lecture notes for training it supports in the future.
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