The PWRI Reacts to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011
 Surveying Bridge Damage |
 Surveying River Levee Damage |
 Surveying Sediment Disasters |
 Number of Experts Dispatched to the Disaster Regions |
On Mar. 11th, 2011, a moment magnitude 9.0 (provisional value) earthquake with its hypocenter offshore from Iwate Prefecture struck. This earthquake damaged roads and bridges and collapsed slopes, and its tsunami wreaked massive destruction along the Pacific coast of the Tohoku and Kanto regions. The PWRI reacted to the destruction in response to requests from the MLIT and local governments by immediately dispatching its personnel to investigate fact-finding of the damage and provide technical support for recovery efforts.
(1) Roads
Experts on bridges, earth structures, etc. were sent to the disaster regions where they surveyed the damage to bridges, road embankments, and other road structures.
Link: Damage of Highway Bridges Due to The 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake
Link: Earth structures and slopes on roads
(2) Rivers
Experts on earth structures, dams etc. and specialists in tsunami were sent to the disaster regions where they surveyed the damage related to river levees, dams, tsunami.
Link: Damage to river dikes due to the earthquake
Link: Damage to Dam
(3) Sabo
Sediment disaster experts were sent to the disaster regions to survey the state of landslides and other related damage.
Link: Sediment-related disasters and sabo-related facilities
(4) Geology and ground
Experts on geology and ground were sent to the disaster regions where they surveyed the state of liquefaction related damage and the active faults revealed on the ground surface by aftershock.
Link: Landforms, geology, and active faults
(5) Other matters
Sewage work experts dispatched to the disaster regions surveyed sewage treatment facilities.
Link: Reports on surveys of sewage work (Japanese only)
The PWRI is continuing to do its utmost to provide technical support to complete the recovery of the disaster regions as quickly as possible, by restoring roads required to transport goods and repairing damaged river levees.
(Contact: Planning and Management Division)
Training Programs for Capacity Development
 Town watching in Kuki city |
 "Tatami-tei" along the Gokase river in Nobeoka City |
 Number of students and trainees at ICHARM since March 2006 |
 Group Photo with 58 members from 16 countries including Director Takeuchi, Chief Executive Uomoto, ICHARM staff, and students |
To mitigate water-related disasters all over the world, ICHARM has been providing various kinds of training programs for governmental engineers in developing countries to strengthen individual problem-solving capacity and organizational coping capacity in water-related disaster management. The following lists such programs:
1. M.Sc. Program: Water-related Disaster Management Course of Disaster management
Policy Program 2009-2010 (JICA/GRIPS) (October 2009-September 2010, 12 students)
2. M.Sc. Program: Water-related Disaster Management Course of Disaster management
Policy Program 2010-2011 (JICA/GRIPS) (October 2010-September 2011, 12 students)
3. Training Program "Local Emergency Operation Plan with Flood Hazard Map" (JICA)
(January-February 2011, 12 participants)
4. Training Program "Capacity Development for Adaptation to Climate Change" (JICA)
(February-March 2011, 7 participants)
5. Ph.D. Program "Disaster Management" (GRIPS) (October 2010-, 1 student)
Last mid February, three of those training programs were simultaneously in session.
Thirty-one foreign students from 15 countries, which was the largest number ever since the establishment of ICHARM, came together at ICHARM. ICHARM has accepted 161 participants from 21 countries in total (including the participants in the FHM training course between FY2004 and FY2005).
ICHARM aims to contribute to mitigate water-related disaster damage in developing countries through such capacity development programs.
Visit the ICHARM web site for the reports of these activities:
http://www.icharm.pwri.go.jp/training/index.html
(Contact: ICHARM)
Enhancement of Cooperation and Coordination with local governments
 Conclusion of the agreement with Kushiro City (left: Mayor Ebina; right: Director General Kawamura) |
 Conclusion of the agreement with Sapporo City (left: Deputy Mayor Nakada; right: Director General Kawamura) |
 Example of previous local government collaboration (Sapporo City) Tunnel Investigation Review Committee field study activities |
CERI declared itself a "Doctor of Civil Engineering" in June 2010, and resolved to improve the technical skills of local municipal employees and actively support them in disaster situations as a form of technical cooperation and support for local governments in Hokkaido.
As part of this initiative, cooperation and coordination agreements were formed with Hokkaido, Sapporo City and Kushiro City to offer technical supports (e.g., construction, inspection and repair of facilities) to local governments and provide technical consultation flexibly and quickly in disaster situations.
Cooperation and coordination agreements were made with Kushiro City on Feb. 24th, Sapporo City on Mar. 29th, and the Hokkaido Department of Construction on Mar. 31st, 2010.
Upon the signing of the agreement with Hokkaido, CERI Director General Kazuyuki Kawamura expressed hopes for strengthened alliance and collaboration between Hokkaido and CERI, as well as for enhanced mutual coordination and collaboration to reinforce the provision of technical guidance to municipalities in Hokkaido and technical assistance in disaster situations.
Hokkaido, Department of Construction Executive Director Kouji Miyagi said that Hokkaido and CERI would collaborate in civil engineering matters, promote efficient and effective construction, maintenance and management of social capital in the prefecture, and support the development of Hokkaido.
The cooperation and coordination agreements made with Hokkaido cover technical consultation in disaster situations, technical guidance and collaboration concerning civil engineering matters, improvement of technical capacity in municipalities, fostering of engineers in local governments, research on civil engineering, technical development and dissemination of study results.
Hokkaido, Sapporo City, Kushiro City and CERI respond to related inquiries, hold technical committee meetings and provide technical consulting, and also plan to hold periodical meetings and establish more specific cooperative relationships.
(Contact: Planning Division, CERI)
The PWRI has Reorganized
 (Reference) Organizational Chart (Apr. 1st, 2011) |
The PWRI carried out the following reorganization on Apr. 1st, 2011.
◯ Establishment of the Research Evaluation and International Section
Japan must contribute to the betterment of life in both Asia and other regions of the globe by applying the public works technologies nurtured in its unique natural environment to share its achievements with the international community and to support the adoption of its standards as international standards. The PWRI has established the Research Evaluation and International Section under the Planning and Research Administration Department with its mission defined as the strategic implementation of international support activities
◯ Reorganization of research groups to strengthen soil and geology research system
To strengthen soil and geology research system, the PWRI has reorganized its research groups by newly establishing the Geology and Geotechnical Engineering Research Group consisting of three research teams: the Geology Research Team, Soil Mechanics and Dynamics Research Team, and the Construction Technology Research Team. The PWRI has also renamed the former Material and Geotechnical Engineering Research Group as the Materials and Resources Research Group.
◯ Establishment of the post of Research Coordinator for International Water Disaster Risk Management
The post of Research Coordinator for International Water Disaster Risk Management has been established to introduce water disaster risk management technologies to the world, which is one of the missions of ICHARM. At a same time, ICHARM’s team system has been abolished and it has united for flexibly handling the Center’s activities
(Contact: Planning and Management Division)
Third Mid-term Plan and the 2011 Plan of the PWRI Announced
 Mid-term Plan/Annual Plan Enactment |
 Priority Research and Development Challenges |
The MLIT(Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transtport and Tourism) announces the goals which the PWRI should reach through its operations every five years (below called, “mid-term goals”). And as stipulated by the Act on General Rules for Independent Administrative Agency, each Independent Administrative Agency must prepare an operating plan for 3 to 5 year periods in order to achieve the mid-term goals (below called “mid-term plan”). The PWRI enacts such mid-term plans, and to ensure it achieves its goals, at the end of each year, enacts a plan for its operations during the following year (below called “annual plan”).
The enactment or revision of a mid-term plan or an annual plan are announced and notifications of the enactment or revision are sent to the competent ministers (the MLIT, and the MAFF(Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)). The PWRI conducted its research activities in line with the Second Mid-term Plan during the five year period from 2006 until 2010. In 2011, the PWRI will prepare the new Third Mid-term Plan, begin operating to achieve its new goals, and enact a 2011 Plan to guide its operations during the present year.
The following Project Research system is operated under the Third Mid-term Plan.
Priority research and development related challenges are defined as obtaining achievements during the period of the Mid-term Plan which can be reflected in the preparation of related administrative policies and definition of technical standards by the national government. Six challenges based on the categorization from a) to d) are set as shown in the Priority Research and Development Challenge Diagram on the right, with 16 Project Researches positioned under these challenges.
Beginning with the Third Mid-term Plan, research under the PWRI research system is conducted at three levels, Project Research, Priority Research, and Basic Research. Of these, the Project Research and Priority Research are positioned as the above-mentioned priority research and development challenges and receive about 75%F all research funding.
The PWRI will continue working to contribute to the future improvement of public works technologies and to the efficient provision of good quality public capital.
(Contact: Planning and Management Division)
2011: First Meetings of the Internal Evaluation Committees
 Internal Evaluation Committee (Tsukuba) |
 Internal Evaluation Committee (CERI) |
 Flow of Research Evaluations at the PWRI |
The Internal Evaluation Committees met in Tsukuba from Apr. 20th to 22nd and in Sapporo from Apr. 26th to 28th.
The PWRI evaluates the contents of research and development-including the necessity for the research and development, state of its implementation and progress, and quality and degree of reflection of its achievements-at three stages: before, during, and after each research project.
Research evaluations are classified as internal evaluations performed by the PWRI and as external evaluations performed by highly specialized academic experts such as researchers from universities and private companies. The evaluations are performed as a series of deliberations, first by Internal Evaluation Committees, then by the various subcommittees of the External Evaluation Committee and finally by the External Evaluation Committee.
The Internal Evaluation Committee consists of two committees, the Internal Evaluation Committee at Tsukuba and the Internal Evaluation Committee at CERI. Some committee members participate in deliberations of both committees.
This Internal Evaluation Committee deliberated on 85 projects, primarily ex-post evaluations of priority research projects, which ended in FY2010; the final year of the Second Mid-term Plan.
The results of these deliberations of the Internal Evaluation Committees were discussed by the subcommittees of the External Evaluation Committee from the middle of May to the end of June, and by the External Evaluation Committee on Jun. 16th.
(Contact: Research Evaluation and International Section)