1. Outline of the International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering
1-1 Outline of the Training Program
The International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (IISEE) of the
Building Research Institute (BRI), one of the Incorporated Administrative Agencies inJapan in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), hasprovided training courses in seismology, earthquake engineering and tsunami disastermitigation to researchers and engineers from developing countries with an aim to
mitigate earthquake disasters. Currently, there are four training programs, namely:
Annual Training Course in Seismology, Earthquake Engineering and Tsunami Disaster
Mitigation, China Seismic Building Course (one of the Seminar Courses), Global
Seismological Observation Course, and Individual Course.
The number of participants who completed the training has reached 1,653 from 99
countries as of September 2014 and the IISEE training programs have been highly
regarded both within Japan and around the world.
The Second World Conference on Earthquake Engineering was held in Tokyo in
1960 and a need for training in earthquake engineering for young researchers andengineers from developing countries who studied seismology and earthquake
engineering was discussed and then recognized. In response to this, the first
International Training in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, which consisted of a
Seismology Course and an Earthquake Engineering Course, was carried out at the
University of Tokyo later that year. The results of the training were widely praised by
the international community, and the Government of Japan established the IISEE at the
BRI of the Ministry of Construction (the present Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism) after the discussion in ministries concerned in order to maintainthese training courses. The former half of the second training course was held at
Waseda University in 1961, with the IISEE taking over for the latter half.
From 1963 to 1972, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) has joined the programs and offered the funds. Since then, the IISEE hascontinued to revise its curriculum according to requests from developing countries andin response to the advancement of academics and technology.
1-1-1 Annual Training Course in Seismology, Earthquake Engineering andTsunami Disaster Mitigation (from 1960 onwards)
1) Seismology Course
This one-year training course aims to provide advanced knowledge andtechnology concerning earthquakes and seismic hazards to training participants
who are invited from the organizations responsible for seismic observation andearthquake disaster mitigation in their respective countries. It is also designed tohelp participants utilize this knowledge and technology for seismic hazard/risk
evaluation and earthquake disaster mitigation policy-making in their native
countries. The IISEE incorporates fast-evolving seismological knowledge andseismic observation technology into programs without delay, and is willing toprovide not only classroom lectures but also practical exercises and field study
tours, as well as participation in international conferences.
2) Earthquake Engineering Course
As the Seismology Course, this one-year training course provides training toparticipants who mainly consist of researchers, engineers and administrative
officials, centered on young personnel working in governmental organizations,
universities and other institutions in their respective countries. The training isprovided with a view to mitigate structural damage caused by earthquakes, thus
reducing human damage in developing countries. The curriculum comprises basic
earthquake engineering studies such as structural analysis and structural dynamics,
various earthquake resistant structures such as reinforced concrete and steel
structures, as well as the latest technology such as seismic isolation and responsecontrol technique and seismic limit state design. All of these are systematicallyprovided through lectures, practical exercises and field study tours, enabling
participants to solve problems in their respective countries.
3) Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course
This one-year training course was launched in 2006-2007 training period. The
gigantic tsunami that was generated by the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Islands
Earthquake wreaked havoc on the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean.
To mitigate such tsunami disasters, it is necessary to take disaster mitigation
measures based on the latest information regarding earthquakes and tsunamis. This
course provides advanced knowledge and technology related to earthquakes andtsunamis, with the aim to train participants with a high level of ability to apply anddisseminate their acquired knowledge and techniques for tsunami disaster mitigationsuch as tsunami hazard evaluation and early-warning systems in their respective
countries.
1-1-2 China Seismic Building Course (from 2009 onwards)
On 12 May 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province in thePeople's Republic of China caused extensive damage, leaving 69,185 dead, 374,171
injured, 18,404 missing and 23.143 million households damaged, including the collapseof 6.525 million houses. The BRI launched its China Seismic Building Course in
October 2009 as part of the "Human Resource Development Project on
Earthquake-resistant Structure", carried out by JICA as a supportive measure for the
post-earthquake reconstruction in China. This course is set to be offered for four years,
with approximately 20 participants each year. After completing the training, engineers
are expected to introduce and disseminate the acquired technologies in China.
Short-term training courses focusing on specific themes such as this have been
carried out since 1980. These are generically referred to as "Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering Seminar Course".
1-1-3 Global Seismological Observation Course (from 1995 onwards)
Efforts are made to put the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) into
effect in and out of Japan. In parallel with this, the International Monitoring System(IMS) for CTBT-compliance verification is being developed. Monitoring techniqueusing seismological observation technology is a pillar of the IMS’ essential activities.
At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the IISEE launched a the
Global Seismological Observation Course in 1995 in cooperation with the Japan
Meteorological Agency and JICA as a part of Japan’s contribution to nuclear
disarmament. The training is provided to develop human resources who can play animportant role in the CTBT system and IMS by acquiring the skills necessary for
detecting nuclear tests through seismological observation technology as well as the data
analysis techniques required for identifying nuclear tests.
1-1-4 Latin American Earthquake Engineering Course (from 2014 onwards)
Latin America, one of the earthquake prone regions, has been severely devastated bystrong jolting many times during its history, lagging behind in dissemination ofearthquake resistant structural technology.
BRI has been collaborating on the JICA technical cooperation projects and carryingout the field of earthquake engineering in Mexico, Peru, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua,
etc. Furthermore, many training participants from other Latin American countries
have studied in IISEE, too.
However, due to the Japanese ODA (Official
Development Assistance) budget policy after the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster,
the emphasis lies on capacity building rather than conventional technical cooperation
projects in Latin American countries. Considering these circumstances and theircommon language in Latin America, IISEE/BRI has decided to propose to JICA for a
new short period training course on earthquake engineering. The training is conductedin Spanish. JICA approved the proposal and it was held in June and July, 2014.
14 participants from 4 countries participated in the course.

1-2 Master’s Degree
Through a partnership with the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies(GRIPS), part of the lectures of the Annual Training Course in Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering started in October 2005 has been certified as the GRIPS
lectures. This enables each training participant to obtain a master’s degree (Master ofDisaster Mitigation, afterwards Master of Disaster Management) certified by GRIPS
and BRI by taking a master’s degree program run by GRIPS and if the required credits
are obtained. In September 2006, all 19 participants became the first holders of themaster’s degrees under the new system. The Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course,
launched in 2006, is also run as a master’s degree program. With degrees, participants
are now able to ensure and enrich the foundations for their activities as experts inseismology, earthquake engineering and tsunami disaster mitigation after they return totheir countries.
1-3 Organization
The training is carried out under the International Institute of Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering (IISEE), the Building Research Institute (BRI) headed by the
Chief Executive of BRI and the Director of IISEE (Figure 1). Instruction is given by
IISEE staff, however, as a wide range of academic fields is not covered by only thestaff, leading lecturers from national universities and other educational and research
institutions are also invited to assist the staff. Participants are enrolled on courses
through the JICA.
BRI, originally a national research institute, was reorganized as an incorporated
administrative agency by Japan’s administrative reform on 1st April 2001. On thisoccasion, based on the outcome of previous training activities, training contents were
further developed and improved, and the IISEE was renamed in Japanese (English nameis same as before.) from “Department” to “Center” to broaden our horizons ofinternational cooperation. Accordingly, the “Expert Committee for International
Training in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering”, “Council for International
Training in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering” and “Curriculum Council” werereformed as the “Dissemination Council for International Training in Seismology andEarthquake Engineering” that aims to give advice on the training and the disseminationof knowledge and technology in seismology and earthquake engineering. Under theumbrella of the Council, the “Curriculum Committee” (Figure 2) was constituted toobtain valuable advices for the implementation of training.

2. Development of Training Activities
2-1 Seismology Course
2-1-1 Change in Demand for the Training and its Reflection in the Curriculum
According to the international situation, economic conditions, furthermore thedevastating earthquakes and occurrence of earthquake-related disasters in the 21st
century, the trend of the demands for the IISEE has been changed. For instance,
countries in Central Asia and Caucasus, which are on the way to emerge from theirpolitical and economic confusion caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union after theend of the Cold War, are eager to switch from previous academic and technologicalsystems to those of western countries. By receiving benefit of world economic
globalization, the attention to earthquake disaster mitigation is being developed in least
developed countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, etc., which previously placed agreat importance only on the basic human needs such as food production increase, etc.,
and the demands for the IISEE training have been risen in those countries. Besides,
Chile, Mexico and other so-called medium-developed countries have already grown to
be international joint research partners owing to the efforts for the Japan’s past
technology transfer. On the other hand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka started sending
participants to the training course although they do not have damaging earthquakes intheir own countries, the turning point of which was the 2004 Gigantic Tsunami in Indian
Ocean. In addition to these countries, Turkey, China and others keep on sending
participants for the capacity development of young core researchers of theirseismology-related research institutions. (Table 2-1).
The epoch making advances of seismology in recent ten years are dissemination ofdigital seismological observation equipments, especially broadband seismographs in thedeveloping countries, and establishment of distribution of digital data between
researchers by using those devices. Besides, as the attention to earthquake hazard arises,
the number of demand for training personnel who cover or will cover seismic
micro-zonation which divides big cities, especially the capitals in finer groundclassification grids and evaluates amplification characteristics for every grid, in addition
to the seismic macro-zonation which divides a country into few blocks according to theprobability of occurrence of ground shaking in seismological observation and/or
research institutions has been increasing.
The above mentioned change of demand has been reflected to the selection of thecandidate countries through the survey of JICA and also to the improvement ofcurricula.
The Strong Motion & Earthquake Hazard (SH) Sub-course started in 1999, whichwas an approach from the viewpoint of seismology to the interdisciplinary field
between seismology and earthquake engineering, was merged with Seismology (SS)
Course in 2004 at the occasion of JICA training course review and became a new
Seismology Course. Simultaneously, the subject of disaster policy management such as
project cycle management workshop, etc. was introduced. From this year, the training
course was ruled to start in October. Also, after the JICA training course review, thecourse as a JICA group training was named “Seismology and Earthquake Engineeringand Disaster Mitigation Engineering.”
In 2005, in cooperation with GRIPS, the part of the training subjects was certified as
the subject of GRIPS. Disaster Mitigation Policy by Prof. Morichi and Disaster
Mitigation Plan and Urban Planning and Public Infrastructure Development by Prof.
Okazaki were included in the curriculum. Those lectures were carried out by GRIPS
professors. After the completion of the one year training, the participants can beawarded the Master’s degrees named Disaster Management certified by GRIPS andIISEE/BRI.
After 2006, the number of the lecture days was gradually decreased and self-study
days with supervisors’ guidance were increased, and then participants can reserve thetime in preparation for individual studies.
On November 2008, all Seismology Course participants joined the general assemblyof the Asian Seismological Society held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture, co-hosted by the
Seismological Society of Japan and BRI.
By the 2008 JICA training course review, the course was named “Seismology,
Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation Policy,” and the curricula wasreorganized to be oriented towards individual studies to lighten the participants’overload. Additionally, we opened the contents of the individual studies at the stage ofrecruiting participants. We also set up the yearly seminars and carried out theguidance towards individual studies by each adviser at the beginning of the training
explicitly.
In 2011, the study tour to the damaged area of tsunami and liquefaction by the 2011
off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake was carried out.
On February 2012, all the participants joined the international symposium onsustainable reconstruction from super earthquake disaster co-hosted by GRIPS andIISEE/BRI. By the JICA training course review, the course was renamed “Seismology,
Earthquake Engineering and Disaster-Recovery Management Policy & Tsunami
Disaster Mitigation.” We are now forwarding the study and analysis on case studies ofrecovery from the recent earthquake damage such as the aforementioned 2011 off thePacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake to include the curricula.

Table 2-1. Number of participants and countries by regions.
Regions

Number of Countries

Percentage of participants

East Asia7

31 (29.2%)

South Asia5

24 (22.6%)

Central Asia & Caucasus

6

9 ( 8.5%)

Middle East4

13(12.3%)

Africa6

9 ( 8.5%)

Latin America8

14 (13.2%)

Oceania3

4 ( 3.8%)

Europe22 ( 1.9%)

Total

41

106 (100%)

Fig. 2-1. Number of Countries and Regions (left) and Participants (right) in Seismology Course
for the period from the course 2001-2002 to the course 2011-2012.

2-1-2 Themes of Individual Studies by Participants
Table 2-2 and Figure 2-2 show the topics of the individual study from the
2001-2002 course and their breakdown by research field. They cover all overseismology without extremely one-sided, and include its surrounding fields. Thistendency is kept through the transition taken in 2005 to start the collaboration withMaster Program of GRIPS.

Table 2-2. Individual Study (Master Report) topics by research field (Seismology course).
Field of Study
1
2
3

4

5

6

EQ generation& Preparation
EQ Source
Parameters &Process
Seismicity &Seismotectonics
Velocity
Structure ofCrust & Upper
MantleEngineering
Seismology,
Strong Motion& GeophysicalExploration
EQ Disaster
Prevention

7 Others

01
-02

02
-03

03
-04

1

04
-05

05
-06

1

1

3

2

3

1

1

1

1

2

3

1

1

1

2

1

2

5

3

5

5

2

1

06
-07

5

07
-08

08
-09

09
-10

10
-11

11
-12

Sum.

2

1

1

7

2

2

24

4

1

2

2

1

1

2

16

2

1

1

1

2

2

16

1

2

4

4

3

1

35

1
1

2
1

1

1

1

1

6

Number ofParticipants by
10
9
12
11
9
9
10
9
9
10
8
106
year
Note: EQ denotes earthquake, 5 includes Strong Ground Motion Study, Seismic Micro-Zonation,
Geophysical Prospecting and other topics of Earthquake Engineering, 6 means Administration and
Policy for Disaster Prevention, 7 Natural phenomena accompanying earthquakes: Volcanos, Geology,
Landslide etc.

Fig. 2-2. Number of participants sorted by topics of the individual study (Master Reportfrom 2005-2006 course) for the period from the course 2001-2002 to the course
2011-2012 for Seismology Course2-2 Earthquake Engineering Course
2-2-1 Change in Demand for the Training and its Reflection in the Curriculum
Earthquake disasters, which instantly take human lives, destroy houses anddevastate social properties, are clearly distinguished from other natural disasters. Firesand collapse of man-made structures caused by earthquakes may accelerate humanlosses, to say nothing of other aspects common to all natural disasters such as heavy
economic losses, difficulty of preparedness and precautions due to unpredictability, anddifficulty of immediate response to damages due to sudden occurrence. The recent
example, the great earthquake disaster in the Eastern Japan caused by the 2011 off the
Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake (Mw 9.0) showed that more effort is necessary to
overcome the problems.
The Annual Training in Earthquake Engineering is geared towards contributing to
the reduction of structural damage caused by earthquakes that can result in humansuffering in developing countries. The curriculum comprises basic earthquake
engineering studies, covering topics such as structural analysis and structural dynamics;
various earthquake resistant structures for reinforced concrete construction, and steel
structures; the latest technology, such as seismic isolation and response control
technique and seismic limit state design. All of these are systematically provided
through lectures, practical training and study tours, enabling trainees to solve problems
in their native countries.
Table 2-3 and Figure 2-3 show the number of participants and countries by regions.
These show that the IISEE training course covers the earthquake prone countries andregions with a good balance.

Table 2-3. Number of participants and countries by regions.
Regions

Number of Countries

Percentage of participants

East Asia6

31 (30.1%)

South Asia6

12 (11.7%)

Central Asia & Caucasus

34 (3.9%)Middle East3

5 (4.9%)Africa3

8 (7.8%)Latin America

937 (35.9%)

Oceania00 (0.0%)Europe3

6 (5.8%)

Total

33

103 (100%)

Fig. 2-3. Number of Countries and Regions (left) and Participants (right) in Earthquake
Engineering Course for the period from the course 2001-2002 to the course 2011-2012.

Through a partnership with the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies(GRIPS) initiated in October 2005, part of the training course of the Annual Training
Course in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering has been certified as a GRIPS
lecture course. Today, each training participant can obtain a master’s degree (Master ofDisaster Management) certified by GRIPS and BRI if the required credits are obtained.
The course is scheduled in Individual Study (Master Report) oriented manner. Sufficientquantity of self-study days with individual guidance is scheduled to promote theself-study of the course participants. In addition to the lectures on Earthquake
Engineering such as Structural Analysis, Structural Dynamics, RC Structures, Structural
Testing, etc., those of the subjects related to both of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering are included in the curriculum, for example, Strong Ground Motion Study,
Micro-zonation, Soil Dynamics, Geophysical Prospecting, etc. Those of the subjects
related to the recovery from devastation due to earthquakes and to the disastermanagement policy are also included, for example, Disaster Mitigation-Recovery Policy,
Disaster Risk Management, etc.
2-2-2 Themes of Individual Studies by Participants
Table 2-4 and Figure 2-4 show the topics of the individual study from the 2001-2002
course and its breakdown by research field. From the 2005 the training course has been
Master Program of GRIPS and the individual study report has been Master Report. This
covers Earthquake Engineering comprehensively and impartially.

Table 2-4. Individual Study (Master Report) topics by research field (Earthquake Engineering course).
Field of Study

1

2

3
4

5

Design, Risk
Assessment &Response
Evaluation
StructuralEngineering(RC, PC,
Masonry)
Ground, Input& Foundation
Response
control & Base
Isolation
Retrofitting,Diagnosis &Monitoring

01
-02

02
-03

03
-04

04
-05

05
-06

06
-07

07
-08

08
-09

6

2

2

2

3

2

2

1

1

3

3

2

2

2

3

4

1

1

2

1

1

2

3

1

2

2

2

3

2

2

3

1

1

3

3

1

Number ofParticipants by
year

11

10

9

10

10

10

10

3

10
-11

2

1

1

6 Others

09
-10

3

3

1
9

8

5

11
-12

Sum.

1

21

2

27

1

8

2

21

3

21

1

3

10

101

Fig. 2-4. Number of participants sorted by topics of the individual study (Master Report from2005-2006 course) for the period from the course 2001-2002 to the course 2011-2012) for
Earthquake Engineering Course.

2-3 Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course
2-3-1 History
The gigantic tsunami that was generated by the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake (M9.1)
wreaked havoc on the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean and claimed 226,898 lives.
Two major factors of the extensive tsunami disaster were the lack of a tsunami
early-warning system in the Indian Ocean regions and that there were almost no tsunami
countermeasures developed in the area. After the catastrophe, under the initiative of
UNESCO, the Indian Ocean tsunami early-warning system was developed and it
became necessary to train specialists who understand earthquakes, tsunamis andtsunami disaster mitigation technologies in Indian Ocean countries.
In the wake of the devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Tsunami Disaster
Mitigation Course was launched in October 2006. The objectives of the course are tohelp participants acquire advanced knowledge and skills relating to earthquakes andtsunamis and to develop people capable of using and introducing these knowledge andskills in their own countries. This course has been provided as JICA’s region-focusedtraining program for coastal countries where tsunami disaster can be occurred andconducted simultaneously with the Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Courses.
After the Indian Ocean Tsunami, tsunami disasters were repeatedly occurred aroundIndonesia and the Pacific Ocean. Earthquakes which induced major tsunami disasters so
far were: the 2006 Off South-East Java Earthquake (M7.7, 802 deaths), the 2008
Solomon Earthquake (M8.1, 52 deaths), the 2009 Samoa Earthquake (M8.0, 192 deaths),
the 2010 Chile’s Maule Earthquake (M8.8, 156 deaths) and the 2010 Indonesia’s
Mentawai Islands Earthquake (M7.8, 431 deaths). Large tsunami disasters have also
been occurred in small countries in the Pacific and Oceanian regions as well as SouthAmerica, and countries in need of tsunami countermeasures are increasing.
The gigantic tsunami generated by the 2011 Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku
Earthquake (M9.0), which caused tremendous disaster in the Pacific coastal areas ineastern Japan, made a big impact since it occurred in a country that was considered tohave most advanced tsunami countermeasures. Japan has the most densely installed
earthquake and tsunami observation networks in the world through which themechanism of gigantic tsunami generation and details of tsunami damage are being
clarified. In addition, based on lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, atsunami early-warning system which can respond even to a megathrust earthquake isbeing developed and that tsunami hazard assessment and tsunami countermeasures
assuming a megathrust earthquake occurred in the Nankai Trough, etc. are being
promoted. In order to mitigate tsunami disaster, it is very important to disseminate,through the Tsunami Disaster Mitigation training, such knowledge and technology as
the mechanism of gigantic tsunami generation that was clarified after the Great East
Japan Earthquake occurred, processes of tsunami disaster and recovery, and tsunami
countermeasure technologies against a supergiant earthquake to developing countries.
2-3-2 Contents of the Training
The duration of the course is one year and about five participants are trained eachyear. One term consists of three trainings. In the first term, the target countries were
coastal nations around the Indian Ocean, but from the second term, they were expanded
to include countries around the Pacific Ocean. Table 2-5 shows the nationality and thenumber of the participants from 2006-2007 course to 2011-2012 course.
The training consists of a lecture period (8 months) and an individual study period(3 months) aiming for solving individual research problems and issues. First, during thelecture period, participants acquire basic knowledge and analysis technology ofearthquakes and tsunamis, and then they learn knowledge and technology related totsunami disaster mitigation such as tsunami hazard assessment, tsunami early-warning
system, etc. Next, during the individual study period, they acquire practical ability to
mitigate tsunami disaster. Each participant is expected to complete a master thesis
related to tsunami hazard assessment and tsunami early-warning system. As shown in
Table 2-6, the major themes of master theses are the element technology related totsunami early-warning system and tsunami hazard assessment based on the situation ofeach developing country.
Table 2-5. Nationalities and number of ex-participants.
Nationality

06－07

07－08

08－09

09－10

10－11

11－12

Total

Indonesia

1

2

3

2

2

2

12

Malaysia

2

1

1

1

2

3

10

Bangladesh

1

1

2

Thailand

1

1

2

Fiji

1

Peru

1

1

5

5

Total

5

5

Table 2-6. Themes of individual training
Theme

06－07

4

1
2
5

29

(Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course).
07－08

08－09

09－10

10－11

Total

Tsunami database for tsunami

2

3

1

1

7

early-warning system
Early determination of seismic source

2

1

3

for tsunami early-warning system
Utilization of tsunami record for

1

1

2

3

2

11

1

1

tsunami early-warning system
Tsunami hazard assessment

3

2

1

Estimation of fault slip by tsunami
inverse analysis

2-3-3 Results of the Training
Most of the participants who completed the Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course
are directly engaged in tsunami disaster prevention works such as tsunami
early-warning system and tsunami hazard assessment (Table 2-7). In particular, inIndonesia, one ex-participant plays a leading role as the head of the Tsunami
Early-warning Sub Division. Many other ex-participants from Indonesia actively workin the same sub division. In Thailand, one ex-participant also plays a leading role as the
director of the Earthquake and Tsunami Research and Development Division. In
Malaysia, the database used for the tsunami early-warning system was developed
mainly by the ex-participants.
Table 2-7. Examples of training results(Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course).

Country

Results

Indonesia-One ex-participant is in charge of tsunami early-warning issuance as the head of the
Tsunami Early-warning Sub Division.
-Nine ex-participants are directly engaged in works related to tsunami early-warning
system and hazard assessment.

Malaysia-Database to be used for the tsunami early-warning system in Malaysia was developed
mainly by the ex-participants.
-Seven ex-participants are directly engaged in works related to tsunami early-warning
system, tsunami related education, etc.

Bangladesh-Maximum tsunami height and tsunami arrival time in Bangladesh coastal areas were
estimated.
-Two ex-participants are engaged in tsunami related works.

Thailand-One ex-participant is engaged in works related to tsunami early-warning system andtsunami countermeasures as the director of the Earthquake and Tsunami Research andDevelopment DivisionFiji-Maximum tsunami height and tsunami arrival time at different places in Fiji were
estimated.

Peru-Tsunami hazard assessment was conducted for a massive earthquake to be occurred in
the subduction zone around Lima, Peru.
-Inundation calculation of tsunami simulation carried out by an ex-participant is used
for the development of tsunami hazard map.

2-4 China Seismic Building Course
2-4-1 Background
The Wenchuan Earthquake on 12 May 2008 in China caused extensive damage,leaving more than 87,999 dead and missing and 6.5 million houses collapsed. In order
to consider reconstruction assistance to China, the Japanese government dispatched its
mission to China and discussed possible cooperation between the two countries. As aresult, a great need to improve the earthquake-resistant technology for structuraldesigners was confirmed, and the Chinese government officially asked Japan’s
cooperation in the field of “human resource development for earthquake-resistant
structural engineers”. On 12 May 2009, exactly one year after the large earthquake,“Human Resource Development Project for Aseismic Buildings”, as one of a supportive
reconstruction measures, was launched as a technical cooperation project of JICA. The
objective of the project is to train structural engineers and others in China to secure
earthquake resistance of buildings through the combination of expert dispatch, training
in Japan, training in China, etc. The period of the project was initially set as three years(from May 2009 to May 2012) but it was then agreed by the two countries to beextended for another year to May 2013 at China’s request. IISEE/BRI is in charge of“Earthquake Resistant Design, Assessment, and Retrofit Course (so-called China
Seismic Building Course)” in the trainings implemented in Japan, and accepts 20
structural engineers per year from China for a period of some two months to offer
lectures on earthquake resistant design, assessment and retrofit as well as site
observations.
2-4-2 Outline of the Curriculum
Major topics of lectures are seismic design, assessment and retrofit of buildings,
however, advanced techniques such as seismic isolation, response control and superhigh-rise buildings are also introduced in lectures by showing case examples. The
curriculum also provides many opportunities to see actual cases of retrofit as well asbuilding and construction technologies through site observations and study trips.
Table 2-8. Curriculum categories and lecture subjects.
Lecture category

Lecture subject

Numberof dayIntroduction

Introduction to Earthquake Engineering, Seismic 3.5
Design Codes

Basis of Seismic

Theory of Structural Response

2.5

Design
Seismic design,assessment and retrofit
of different structures

RC Structure, Steel Structure, Seismic Isolation 14
Structure, Response Control Structure, Super
High-Rise Building, Foundation Engineering,
Post-Earthquake Assessment, Bridges

Practice

Lecture and Practice of Structural Test

Site Observation

Construction Site, Seismic Retrofit Buildings, 7
Seismic Isolated/Response Control Buildings

Study Trip

Affected Areas by Great East Japan Earthquake, 7
Facility Related to Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

Presentation

Individual Presentation, Intermediate Presentation, 3Final Presentation3

2-4-3 Training Contents and Activities of Participants after Returning Home
Participants are to make a report about what they learn during the training period
and how to apply acquired techniques after returning to their countries. They are also
expected to give lectures for the training held in China. So far, many participants haveplayed a role as a lecturer.
As a result of the training program, during the period from 2009 to 2012, 72 leading
engineers participated in IISEE training program. They returned to China and gave thelectures 10 times to 324 core engineers in 8 cities. Those core engineers also gave thelectures 33 times to 8,833 general engineers in 23 municipalities.

2-5 Global Seismological Observation Course
Actions for putting into effect the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
are underway inside and outside Japan. At the same time, the International Monitoring
System (IMS), a global observation network for CTBT-compliance verification, isbeing developed. Monitoring technique using seismological observation and analysis is
one of the important pillars in the IMS.
At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, IISEE has been offering a
Global Seismological Observation Course every year since 1995 with an aim to develop
human resources who have acquired the skills necessary for detecting nuclear tests
using global seismic observation technologies and seismic waves. So far, as of
September 2014, a total of 186 participants from 70 countries attended the course.
2-5-1 Improvement of the Course Program
Since 2003, a one-day lecture on new topics such as CTBT, IMS and International
Data Center was added to the curriculum which is given by a lecturer either fromInternational Data Center Division or International Monitoring System Division ofProvisional Technical Secretariat, Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) (From 2011, two days are spent for
the lecture). In 2004, the curriculum started to include another one-day lecture on the“Geotool”, a seismic wave analysis software developed and distributed by theInternational Data Center Division. In addition, in 2005, presentation of an action planabout the utilization of training results was introduced in the latter part of the training
period.
2-5-2 Activities of Ex-participants
After completing the training, many ex-participants work in seismologicalobservation organizations in their countries, observation stations of IMS, domestic data
centers, etc. There are some other ex-participants who work at the International Data
Center Division. Many graduates of the Global Seismological Observation Course andthe Annual Training Course in Seismology, Earthquake Engineering and Tsunami
Disaster Mitigation participated in the “International Scientific Studies Conference(ISS09 Conference)” held in Wien in 2009 and “Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty: Science and Technology 2011”, and they presented current situation ofseismological observations and analysis results of seismological data including
observation stations of IMS in their countries.

3. History of the Training Program
3-1 Background of the Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Training Programin JapanIn the late 1950’s, there was a significant increase of young researchers and engineers
coming

to

Japan

to

study

seismology

andearthquake

engineering

fromearthquake-prone developing countries. The Second World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, held in Tokyo in 1960, served as a trigger to start discussion amongleading researchers in seismology and earthquake engineering, both in and outside ofJapan, about the need for, and importance of a collective approach to training for young
researchers and engineers who had hitherto come to Japan on an individual basis.
Consequently, the Special Committee for International Training in Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering (Chaired by Dr. KAYA, the President of the University ofTokyo) was established in the University of Tokyo initiated by Dr. NASU Nobuharu,
the Director of the Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, and a
training program of 9-month course started in July of the same year. The Overseas
Technical Cooperation Agency (OTCA) supported the project by offering scholarships.
A part of classrooms in the then Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyoin Roppongi was used. A total of 15 participants from 10 countries attended the training
program, 7 for the Seismology Course and 8 for the Earthquake Engineering Course.
The training courses independently launched by Japan received a great response from
related countries, and there were a number of requests from other countries to send
training participants in the program. As such, the necessity to provide this training
program on a more permanent basis was started to be discussed among people related toseismology and earthquake engineering in and out of Japan.

To make the program

permanent, a number of meetings were held among the Agency of Science andTechnology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry ofTransport, the Ministry of Construction and other related ministries and agencies. As aresult of discussions about specific measures in achieving this target, it was decided thatthe Building Research Institute (BRI) (Director-general: TAKEYAMA Kenzaburo (ofthe day)), the Ministry of Construction (MOC) took charge of the project and set up a
new organization (IISEE: International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering) for this training in BRI (at Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo). In
response to this, BRI conducted the second training session as a host. A part of the
Naito Memorial Hall of Waseda University had been used as a classroom before a newbuilding was completed in BRI. A total of 12 participants from 6 counties, 5 for theSeismology Course and 7 for the Earthquake Engineering Course, attended this training
program.
In January 1962, IISEE was established and the latter half of the second training was
conducted there. The duration of the courses became one year which commenced eachyear in September from the third one using the facilities in IISEE. This is how thetraining at IISEE started.
Thus, the early 1960’s was a period when training program in seismology andearthquake engineering for developing countries was steadily developing its basis inJapan. At the same time, the United Nations (UN) was increasingly aware of the needfor international cooperation in seismology and earthquake engineering to prevent huge
losses of human and material resources caused by earthquakes and resulting tsunamis
from the time its Economic and Social Council was founded. During this period,
triggered by the damage caused by huge earthquakes in Iran, Morocco, Chile and othercountries, the UN Economic and Social Council adopted a resolution that urged its
member nations to cooperate internationally in the prevention of earthquake disasters. In
response to this, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) made a recommendation to the Director-General of the Japan UNESCO
Council that the training program should be made more international with the help of
the UN Special Fund (UNSF). In October 1962, the following agreement on the training
program was exchanged between the Japanese government and UNSF.
According to the implementation plan based on the agreement, a total of 131
participants shall be invited, of which 78 will be by the Japanese government using the
OTCA scholarships, and 53 by UNESCO using UNSF; the Japanese government shallprovide the land and building used as the training site, equipment for training andpractice, the salary of the staff, visiting lecturers’ fees and other operational costs;
UNESCO shall bear the costs necessary to invite 14 visiting lecturers, foreign-madeseismometers, other equipment, foreign books, etc. The total cost during five years was
about 380 million yen for Japan and 290 million yen for UNESCO.
This is how the joint project between the Government of Japan and UNESCO started
as a 5-year plan in September 1963, and the International Institute of Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering of Building Research Institute, Ministry of Construction came
to conduct the training program.

Historically, the period of the training program independently initiated by Japan, thatstarted at the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo and then succeededto BRI/MOC, can be called as the first phase (July 1960-August 1963), and thefollowing period in which the project was jointly conducted with UNESCO as thesecond phase (September 1963 to August 1968) (Figure 6-3).
3-2 First Joint Project (September 1963-August 1968)
During this period, a total of 14 experts, 2 to 3 every year, were dispatched from
UNESCO to work in the training project. They achieved a significant result by making
use of their considerable expertise and teaching experience in seismology andearthquake engineering in their respective countries, and cooperating with the small
team of Japanese in all ways possible. This was possible because, rather unexpectedly,
all involved recognized the significance of the training program right from the start, andtheir enthusiasm was overwhelming. Their participation influenced not only the training
program itself but also the IISEE by making it unique in the world as a platform forinternational academic exchange in seismology and earthquake engineering throughinteraction with IISEE staff and the many Japanese researchers invited as lecturers fromother institutions.

In the implementation plan of the training project jointly conducted by the UN and
the Japanese government, there is a section about the Panel of Senior Consultants.
According to the section, “the comprehensive plan both in scientific and technicalmatters for the IISEE shall undergo a periodical review by the Panel of Senior
Consultants that consists of three senior consultants appointed by the organization
implementing the training program and the other three appointed by the government.”
The consultants appointed in the first 5-year plan were Dr.WADATI Kiyoo, Dr.MUTO
Kiyoshi and Dr.NASU Nobuharu from the Japanese government and Dr.Stoneley (UK),
Dr.G.W.Housner (USA) and Dr.V.Y.Riznichenko (USSR) from UNESCO. The first
Consultant Meeting was held in December 1963, the second in March 1965 and thethird in April 1967. In these meetings, the content and achievements of the training
programs that had been completed were carefully reviewed and strategies for
improvement were seriously discussed for the development of the project that resulted
in strict recommendations. It owed much to the considerable efforts of the first Directorof the IISEE, Dr.OMOTE Shunichiro that achievements and development of thetraining project in the first 5-year were more than expected.

He realized the sharp

advice which was given by the consultants every meeting one by one with the dedicatedefforts. His efforts enabled the second plan for the project. In fact, in therecommendations proposed after the third meeting, there was a section requiring that thetraining project should be continued with expanded and improved contents from
September 1968, again under the auspices of the Government of Japan and the UN.
At the end of 1965, before this recommendation was made, UNESCO had alreadyexpressed its intention to continue supporting the training program. In the same year,
the Director-general of UNESCO, Mr. René Maheu, visited the BRI and recognized thatthe project was one of the most successful collaborations of UNESCO with various
countries and expressed his view that if the Japanese government wished, he would
make the UNESCO’s administration consider its proposal to the UN for thecontinuation of the project. In response to this, the Japanese side immediately held
meetings among related organizations, ministries and agencies, in which it was
confirmed that the joint project with UNESCO would continue, with the BRI/MOC as
the main body. After an unofficial discussion with UN headquarters, a proposal was
submitted to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which was adopted
by the Governing Council in January 1968. This is how the second joint project was set
up for the following four years.
3-3 Second Joint Project (September 1968-August 1972)
In the four-year plan for the second period of the joint project, it was decided to
newly set up an Advanced Course in addition to the Annual Course (formerly the“Regular Course”). The new course aimed at participants with higher academic ability
and capabilities and its objectives were to let them work on various research topics
corresponding to the particular needs of their own countries, and to cultivate researchand leadership capabilities with the proper supervision of BRI staff members and
UNESCO experts. In addition, their duties to actively give advice and technicalinstructions for a post-quake reconstruction program of each country were strengthened
than before. In the second joint project, the total cost for four years reached about 540
million yen, of which Japan bore about 300 million yen. As for the building, a fourth
floor, that provided a room for participants in the Advanced Course, was added.
Regarding the Senior Consultants, on the Japanese side, Dr.MUTO Kiyoshi remained,
but two others were replaced by Dr.HAGIWARA Takahiro and Dr.OKAMOTO
Shunzo, and on the UNESCO side, Dr.K.E.Bullen (Australia), Dr.J.Penzien (USA) andDr.E.Savaresky (USSR) were newly appointed in place of their predecessors. During
this second joint project, one or two experts were dispatched from UNESCO every year
as before and the international status of IISEE and high reputation, both within andoutside of Japan, were consolidated (Figure 6-2B). In this way, the training projectcontinued to advance steadily and the total number of participants who completed thetraining reached 255 by the end of the second joint project.
As the second joint project came to an end, the question of how to deal with thetraining project, developed under the auspices of UN and UNESCO, after its end
became an issue. Usually, this kind of joint project conducted by the UN for eachcountry is a five-year term and the nine years of assistance to the seismology andearthquake engineering training of IISEE was a special case, due to the exceptional
success of the project. Also, Japan, as it had developed into an economic superpower by
the time, was not in a position to ask the UN for an extension of assistance for a further
third phase. However, the significance and importance of the training project had
already been fully recognized both nationally and internationally. In Japan, the Science
Council of Japan and other academic societies, such as the Seismological Society ofJapan, Japan Society of Civil Engineering and Architectural Institute of Japan,
submitted petitions calling for the continuation of the training project. At the same time,
the last and fifth Panel of Senior Consultants (March 1971) recommended that, mostimportantly, the Japanese government should take every necessary measure to maintainthe function of the international training site, at least on its present scale, withoutchanging its English name of “International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering”.
3-4 Independent Project by the Government of Japan (September 1972-July 1990)
The training program became independent from the UNESCO and succeeded to theJapanese government as a project belonged to the IISEE/BRI under the MOC as thecompetent government agency, and its objectives and contents remained unchanged.
The Advanced Course that was conducted individually and intensively for senior
participants in their specific fields was replaced by an Individual Course.
The IISEE’s training program had been continued for 17 years at Shinjuku-ward inTokyo, but in March 1979, the training site was moved to the Tsukuba Science City
(Oho town, Tsukuba-gun, Ibaraki-prefecture: present Tsukuba City) when the BRI was
relocated there in which a good environment and fully-equipped research facilities wereavailable.
From 1980, in addition to the existing group training course, the Seminar on
Seismology and Earthquake Engineering was held every other year. The aim of theseminar was to provide advanced special knowledge, discuss prevention and reduction
measures against earthquake disaster responding to a situation of each country, identify
problems of each country, and then contribute to technical and research cooperation in
future. The theme of the seminar was to be chosen from the most useful and updated
issues in both fields (Figure 6-3, 1980-).
Also from 1985, the dispatch of UNESCO experts, which had not been conductedwith the end of the joint project with UNESCO, resumed as a dispatch of invited foreign
lecturers through the Science and Technology Sector in South-East Asia, UNESCO.
3-5 Independent Project by the Japanese Government II (September 1990-July
1999)
As mentioned above, the international technical training in seismology and earthquake
engineering of IISEE, started in 1960, conducted as a joint project with the UNESCO
from 1963 to 1972 and then continued as an independent project of the Japanese
government, had been carried out for more than 30 years. During this period, thenumber of request from developing countries to send candidates to participate intraining program of Japan had been increasing year by year. In response to theserequests, the government launched a review of its economic cooperation in 1988, inparticular, projects of overseas technical training participants acceptance conducted by
JICA. Also, IISEE reviewed a necessity to continue the training including the future
concept of the training course since all the training participants joined the training
program on a JICA’s scholarship. As a result of the review, the Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering Course as a JICA’s program was no exception to the review
and was once came to an end in 1989. Then it restarted as the “Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering II” from 1990. As the program of IISEE, this was the start ofthe second phase of the project independently conducted by the Japanese government.
In 1992, the International Training in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering at BRI
marked its 30th anniversary and as commemorating events, the 9th Seminar on
Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (Earthquake Disaster Reduction Technology)
and the IDNDR International Symposium on Earthquake Disaster Reduction

Technology were held, and an anniversary booklet in English and Japanese were
published. The symposium was held at the International Conference Hall of the
Tsukuba Center for Institutes for three days from 15th to 17th December 1992. It became
an exceptional international symposium with more than 220 participants from 27
countries and more than 30 leading experts in the field of earthquake disaster reduction
technology in and out of Japan invited as lecturers and panelists in cooperation with the
UNCRD (United Nations Centre for Regional Development) and others. The focus of
the symposium was on dissemination of earthquake disaster reduction technology,
problems in technology transfer and so forth, in view of objectives of IDNDR(International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction) proposed by UN.
Then, in 1998, the 12th Seminar on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering was held
for a specially prolonged period (about 40 days) as a seminar for technical experts in the
RADIUS (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas against Seismic
Disasters) project planned and implemented by the UN/IDNDR. It contributed to
network-building in the field of seismology and earthquake engineering withparticipation of leading researchers from 17 countries.
In addition to the existing three courses, the Annual, Individual and Seminar Courses,
the “Global Seismological Observation Course” was launched as the 4th course for theperiod of two months from November 1995 with an aim to acquire verification
technology of nuclear tests upon request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in
March 1995. The objective of the training is to contribute to the development of
global-scale seismological observation network as part of the measures to deter nuclear
tests by transferring advanced seismological observation technology of Japan tocountries that is not fully developed in seismology and seismological observation
technology.
3-6 Independent Project by the Government of Japan III (September 1999-July
2004)
By the end of the period of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering II, IISEE
program had been running for nearly 40 years, with more than a thousand participants
having completed the training. In a regular project review conducted every 10 years by
JICA, the necessity of continuing the one-year training course was questioned, as it wasdeemed that the initial objectives had been achieved. The IISEE/BRI/MOC also
reviewed the training project including whether it should continue or not.

As a result, the training program was decided to be continued judging by statistical
data and needs survey results which showed that there were great expectations andnecessities for the training program in developing countries since serious earthquake
disasters had been repeatedly occurred in these countries in spite of continuous technicalsupport and financial assistance over the years from developed countries such as Japanand the U.S., including this training project. As for the training content, the mostfrequent request to the annual training course was to increase lectures in the field
directly related to earthquake disaster mitigation. Previously, it had been difficult tospend sufficient time on this in the existing curriculum because it was on the boundary
between the two fields, seismology and earthquake engineering.
Therefore, the third sub-course was established focusing on strong earthquake motionand earthquake disasters in addition to the two sub-courses on Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering. Accordingly, the JICA’s name of the training course waschanged from “Seismology and Earthquake Engineering II” to “Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering”.
From January 2001, the Ministry of Construction was reorganized to the Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) by integrating the Ministry of Transport, the
Hokkaido Development Agency, the National Land Agency, and the Ministry ofConstruction, and BRI became an organization under the MLIT.
Furthermore, BRI became an incorporated administrative agency and made a newstart in April 2001. IISEE was also restarted by changing its name in BRI in Japanesefrom a “Department” to a “Center” (English name unchanged: International Institute of
Seismology and Earthquake Engineering). However, in August 2001, the Seminar
Course that had been conducted for 21 years had to be ended as a result of a review oftraining projects carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in line of theadministrative and financial reform of the government. Figure 1-2 shows the contents ofprevious seminars.
In 2002, the IISEE Training Program marked its 40th anniversary. In commemorationof this, on 28th November 2003, the Symposium on the 40th Anniversary of theInternational Training in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering was held with 176
participants at the Seiryo-Hall in Nagata-cho, Tokyo. In the symposium, the 40 years
history and training outcomes of the IISEE program were looked back. Also, lecturesand a panel discussion were conducted with a title “Status Quo and Issues ofEarthquake Disaster Prevention in Developing Countries and International Cooperation
Activities and Future Prospects on Earthquake Disaster Prevention” with an aim to seek
for measures to further improve training effects and technical cooperation to developing
countries in future based on challenges and needs in earthquake disaster prevention
technology in developing countries. Summary of the symposium was compiled in the“Symposium in Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the International Institute of
Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (IISEE) Training Project” (Issued by BRI,
September 2004).
3-7 Independent Project by the Government of Japan IV (October 2004-)
In 2003, the last year of the third term, as a JICA’s training course after starting it
training review of the Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Course training, it was
decided to be continued as a new course by adding lectures related to earthquake
disaster mitigation policy after a JICA’s project review conducted every 5 years. The
new course aims to train qualified personnel who can plan, instruct and disseminate
technologies by acquiring advanced technologies related to seismology and earthquake
engineering and, at the same time, obtaining administrative ability in earthquake
disaster reduction to utilize and disseminate these technologies. Therefore, subjects
related to earthquake disaster mitigation policy such as “Disaster Mitigation Policy
Management”, “Regional and Urban Disaster Mitigation Planning”, “Project Cycle
Management related to Disaster Mitigation”, etc. were newly established and they
became common subjects of the Seismology Course and the Earthquake Engineering
Course together with other subjects given for the previous Strong Earthquake Motion
and Earthquake Disaster Course. Accordingly, the Strong Earthquake Motion andEarthquake Disaster Course was closed. Because of the new subjects added, the course
period was extended by one month and the total duration became an almost full year.
Furthermore, a master’s degree program was introduced in the 2005-2006 training
course after GRIPS (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), JICA and BRI had
reached an agreement about the award of a master’s degree for participants completingthe annual training program that had long been a pending issue. Then, each participantof the annual training course can obtain a master’s degree (Master of Disaster
Mitigation) in one-year training if the required credits are obtained and 19 participants
who completed the annual training program received the “master’s degree” for the firsttime in September 2006.

In addition, the “Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Course” was newly started. The course
was established to mitigate damages caused by tsunami disasters in view of hugetsunami disasters by the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and it is also a master’s degree
program as the “Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Course”. The name ofmaster’s degree was changed to “Master of Disaster Management” from the annual
training in 2006-2007.
From 2007, the collaboration with UNESCO resumed. The training program had
been once jointly conducted by UNESCO and the Japanese government but there wasno cooperative relation directly between the two bodies from 1985 when it was
independently conducted by the Japanese government, though experts were dispatchedfrom UNESCO for ten years. However, in 2007, after discussions aimed at constructing
a new cooperative relation, activities such as dispatch of experts and other kinds ofactivities were resumed. In April and May 2007, expert dispatch from UNESCO wasresumed for the first time in 12 years and two experts were sent for the Tsunami
Disaster Mitigation Course (Figure 6-2D). In addition, UNESCO donated books for the
training. Also, initiated by UNESCO and IISEE in cooperation with MLIT, the“International Platform for Reducing Earthquake Disasters” (IPRED) was launchedwhich aims for promoting international network for earthquake disaster mitigation
research and training in the field of building and housing and developing international
backup system at the time tremendous earthquake and tsunami occurs.
The Wenchuan Earthquake on 12 May 2008 in China caused extensive damage,leaving more than 87,000 dead and missing and 6.5 million houses collapsed. The
Japanese government started the “Human Resource Development Project for Aseismic
Buildings”, a JICA’s technical cooperation project, as part of a reconstruction support
after a huge earthquake. Objectives of the project is to train structural engineers andothers in China to secure earthquake resistance of buildings for planned duration of 3
years through the combination of expert dispatch, training in Japan, training in China
and so forth. IISEE/BRI is in charge of “Earthquake Resistant Design, Assessment, andRetrofit Course (so-called China Seismic Building Course)” in trainings implemented inJapan and accepts 20 structural engineers from China for a period of about two months
to conduct lectures related to earthquake resistant design, assessment and retrofit as wellas site observations. Finally the course was conducted for 4 years from 2009 to 2012
and 72 participants were given the training in IISEE.

In relation to the Great East Japan Earthquake (Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku
Earthquake) occurred on 11th March 2011, analysis on damage by the Great East Japan
Earthquake was added to lecture subjects (Structural Response Theory and Damages by
Tsunami) of the training course and “front line training”, as a special observation toaffected areas, was included in a study trip carried out in cooperation with JICA andrelated local organizations.
In 2014, Latin American Earthquake Engineering Course was launched as a twomonths’ new training course. It is given the lectures in Spanish, a common languagein Latin America.

It is planned for three years’ project and 14 participants from 4

countries attended the course in 2004.
As mentioned, the IISEE training program has entered a new stage after the
introduction of a master’s degree course to the one-year training program. All the staff
members at IISEE are committed to their work on a daily basis, sincerely hoping thatthe training will further contribute to mitigating earthquake disasters in developing
countries.
1,653 participants from 99 countries have completed the training program as of
September 2014 and they now play a leading role in the sustainable development of
their native countries through earthquake disaster mitigation and other works.