5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) Held

The 5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) was held by the ICFM5 Secretariat set up in ICHARM of PWRI on Sep. 27th to 29th, 2011, at the United Nations University (UNU) in Shibuya, Tokyo, and Akihabara UDX. More than 450 people from 41 countries around the world participated in the Conference. Some 200 participants came to Tokyo from various places around the country, while over 250 participants traveled to Tokyo from outside Japan.This is the only recurring international conference wholly focused on flood management which has been held every three years consecutively since 2000 in various parts of the world starting at Kassel, Germany, followed by Beijing, China; Nijmegen, the Netherlands; and Toronto, Canada.

His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan and a few other high-ranking officials including Mr. Mir Changez Khan Jamali, Federal Minister for Science and Technology of Pakistan, and Mr. Rogelio Singson, the secretary of the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPHW), and Mr. Ken Okuda, Japanese Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, took part in the event.

It was a successful meeting. The Secretariat received a total of 417 abstracts covering all the announced topic areas. The International Scientific Committee of ICFM5 reviewed all the submitted abstracts. As a result, 256 presentations were delivered at various opportunities, including two plenary sessions, eight special sessions, 26 oral parallel sessions, and a poster booth session.

The first day of ICFM5 started with the opening address of Prof. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi, Director of ICHARM, at the United Nations University on the 27th. In the opening ceremony, congratulatory addresses were given by Mr. Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of WMO; Prof. Soon-tak Lee, Chairman of the UNESCO IHP Intergovernmental Council; Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Vice Rector of UNU; and Prof. Slobodan Simonovic, ICFM Ad-hoc Committee Chair.

The opening ceremony was followed by two plenary sessions on "Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System" and "Floods, Landslides and Debris Flows due to Torrential Downpours," and the International Forum on Mega Water Disasters held by MLIT and other governmental organizations.

The objective of the International Forum, determined in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in 2011, was to share from broad viewpoints the experiences and lessons learned by various countries to make us ready for mega water disasters. The discussions conducted in the Forum were reflected on the draft of ICFM5 Declaration.

The second and third days (9/28 - 29) of the Conference held at UDX, Akihabara, were dedicated to special, parallel, and poster/exhibition sessions. The handouts distributed to the participants include: a book of abstract proceedings containing more than 300 accepted abstracts and a copy of the first ICHARM book series on "Large-Scale Flood Reports." The Conference ended on Sep. 29th, after reading the draft of the ICFM5 declaration and announcing Brazil to be the host of ICFM6.

Following three days of extensive discussions on important issues that communities, nations, and regions face in flood management, a draft of the ICFM5 declaration was made by the ICFM5 chair and ad-hoc committee with respect to various discussions at ICFM5. The draft is available at the ICFM5 website (http://www.ifi-home.info/icfm-icharm/icfm5.html).

ICHARM would like to extend its deep gratitude and appreciation to the ICFM5 participants, the number of which (450) exceeded our expectations (300), for the support and cooperation they extended to us in various ways to bring success to the Conference. ICHARM also would like to acknowledge WMO, UNESCO, and the River Fund for their supply of subsidies. We hope it was a fruitful conference for all of you.

(Contact: ICHARM)

PWRI Symposium 2011 Held

The PWRI Symposium 2011 was held on Nov. 10th, 2011, at the Sunrise Building, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
In the Symposium, reports were presented on topics related to the unprecedented mega disaster, the Great East Japan Earthquake, including the participation in MLIT’s Technical Emergency Control Force (TEC-FORCE) as well as the PWRI voluntary investigation team’s technical guidance to local people and inspection of damage to civil engineering structures in the afflicted areas. Other disaster survey reports, including flash reports, cover the devastating damage by Typhoon Talas, centering on the Kii Peninsula, and technical guidance and disaster surveys related to this typhoon.
In addition, we reported on the outcome of the second Mid-term Plan, which ended last year, and on the research results of the major priority projects, and we outlined the research activities of the 3rd Mid-term Plan, which started this year.
The President of the Foundation for Riverfront Improvement and Restoration, Dr. Koutarou Takemura, was invited as a speaker for a special lecture, and his speech on “The Relationship between Disasters and Japanese Identity” gave the audience a remarkable opportunity to think about the future while looking back at history.
Some 360 participants from non-profit foundations and private corporations participated in the Symposium. The questionnaires gathered from the participants after the lectures included comments such as, "The lectures gave me a lot of ideas that can be utilized in our business. We are looking forward to your R&D activities, which make great contributions to the society," and "I hope you will continue to let us know about the updated trends in technology through those lectures." Negative comments that require more improvement were also included, which read "The reports are only outlines; they won’t draw the attention of the general public," and "I hoped reports would contain specific examples."
According to the questionnaire, lecture themes the participants hoped to hear in the future included "civil engineering work for disaster restoration and advanced civil engineering technology (disaster prevention or mitigation," "measures to cope with large-scale natural disasters," "trends of civil engineering research (the latest civil engineering technology) abroad," and "the maintenance technology of structures." The activities that it is hoped PWRI will take on are also mentioned, including "the provision of technological outcomes, more publicity activities, provision of reports on earthquake disasters, and quick diffusion of reports on earthquake resistance, earthquake safety, or danger."
PWRI will intensify its efforts to host even better symposia in the future. By doing so, PWRI will ensure that the symposia adequately serve as platforms for reporting on the superior research results achieved at its facilities.


(Contact: Planning and Management Division)

25th CERI Lecture Meeting Held

On Friday Nov. 11th, 2011, the 25th Lecture Meeting of the Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region (CERI) was held at the Hotel Sapporo Sun Plaza. This event has been held annually since 1986 to highlight the achievements of our research and raise awareness of issues related to civil engineering technology for cold regions. This year, 337 people attended the event.
A special lecture titled The Era of Management was delivered by Atsushi Kasahara, a professor emeritus at Hokkaido Institute of Technology. He is a highway engineering specialist who has held a variety of key positions on committees for national/local government bodies and major academic societies.
Professor Kasahara outlined his views, saying “The missions of civil engineers should be to provide convenience, safety and favorable environments to people in the form of good-quality infrastructure, and to pass these assets on tothe next generation.” He continued, “The two main things needed today are an asset management system to maximize convenience and minimize cost and a risk management system to effectively deal with unpredictable losses with minimum expenditure. The results of past studies conducted by CERI and the objectives of research to be performed as part of the next medium-term plan should be regarded as elements of these management systems. There is a need to establish effectively functioning management systems that contribute to society.” His words reflected the hope that the extensive intellectual property accumulated so far will be passed on to the next generation. Against the background of today’s emphasis on management, his presentation captured the audience’s attention.
As reports on study achievements, the results of seven priority projects run by CERI based on its second medium-term plan (FY 2006-2010) were presented by project leaders and research team leaders. CERI’s Executive Director for Research Coordination outlined the new medium-term plan (FY 2011-2015).
A panel exhibition designed to highlight research activities at CERI was also held in the foyer of the venue. Technologies developed by CERI and the outcomes of studies performed by each research team under the second medium-term plan were exhibited using DVD footage, panel-based information and pamphlets in an easy-to-understand manner. The exhibits were viewed with interest by many visitors.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the many people who took the time to attend this year’s event.


(Contact: Cold-Region Technology Promotion Division, CERI)

Agreement Signed on the Promotion of Cooperation with the Institute of National Colleges of Technology

PWRI, headed by Chief Executive Taketo Uomoto, signed the Agreement on the Promotion of Cooperation with the Institute of National Colleges of Technology with the Institute of National Colleges of Technology (hereinafter KOSEN), headed by President Yujiro Hayashi, on Dec. 7th, 2011.
The deterioration of bridges constructed in great number during Japan’s period of rapid economic growth (from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s) has become a serious social problem. Municipalities are facing difficulty in coping with these aging bridges because of their lack of engineers specializing in bridges compared with the national government and prefectural governments. Therefore, the maintenance technological capability of municipal road administrators is highly required.
KOSEN is currently tackling the problem of deteriorating bridges. To be specific, engineering-field teachers from 13 national colleges of technology (Fukushima, Gunma, Ishikawa, Fukui, Maizuru, Wakayama, Akashi, Tokuyama, Kure, Kagawa, Anan, Kochi, and Kumamoto) jointly established the Bridge Deterioration Research Association to address the deterioration of bridges under municipal management. The joint efforts of KOSEN and this Association will make it possible to promote more effective support to municipal governments around the entire country.
One of KOSEN members, Kagawa National College of Technology (herein Kagawa NCT) held a program on bridge maintenance by holding the Practical Course on Bridge Maintenance for road administrators of municipal governments for a total of 19 times from August 2008 to March 2010 to help cope with aging-related problems of municipal bridges.
CAESAR sent lecturers to this program. With respect to Kagawa NCT’s holding this course, CAESAR and Kagawa NCT signed the Agreement on the Development of Municipal Road Administrators’ Bridge Maintenance Engineering Capability on May 29th, 2009.
This agreement signing marked the start of the expansion of the two parties’ joint efforts to an organization-wide scale at each organization.
On the day of the signing, KOSEN President Mr. Hayashi and PWRI Chief Executive Mr. Uomoto delivered a greeting and Principle of Kagawa NCT Kamon and Acting Director of CAESAR Kuwabara explained the effort so far made by each party and the intent of the agreement. The heads of the two parties signed the agreement to finalize the framework of the bilateral effort.
The agreement is a powerful tool to promote mutual support for human resources development and industry-academic joint education and to improve effective cooperation in R&D and other fields in a concrete way. We thereby continue to support Japanese academic promotion and the growth of industrial technology and to contribute to the betterment of local community through the development and maintenance of social infrastructures.


(Contact: CAESAR)

Ph. D. Program and M.Sc Program Started at ICHARM

In 2007, ICHARM started a M.Sc. program, the Water-Related Disaster Management Course of Disaster Management Policy Program (JICA’s Training for Expert on Flood-related Disaster Mitigation) jointly with the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is a one-year course for government organization administrative officials responsible for flood control in developing countries. So far, a total of 41 students have completed the course and acquired the degree of Master of Disaster Management.
The most recent program, which was started from October 2011, or the fifth year since its start, had the largest number students in its five-year history, consisting of two Bangladeshis, two Chinese, two Indonesian, two Nepalese, six Pakistanis, one Tunisian, one Vietnamese, one Fijian, one Filipino, and one Sri Lankan.
ICHARM also launched a Ph.D. program, Disaster Management Program, in cooperation with GRIPS in October 2010. This year, three students (one each from the Netherlands, Ethiopia, and Nepal) joined the program. The joint entrance ceremony for both the M.Sc. program and the Ph.D. program was held on Oct. 7th, marking the start of their research activities at ICHARM.
A few months have passed since the start of the programs. Students are leading a full life busy with academic activities, including lectures, exercises, local visits, and master theses, while experiencing both the perplexed and joyful feelings of living in a foreign land that they had never visited before.
The progress of the program participants is to be reported from time to time in the ICHARM Newsletter.

(Contact: ICHARM)

Civil Engineering Day 2011 Opening to the Public

The 18th annual Civil Engineering Day 2011 Opening to the Public event was held jointly by PWRI and the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) on Nov. 19th, 2011.
This annual event is held to help a wide variety of people understand what kind of research the two research organizations usually conduct and what civil engineering itself is.
Unfortunately, it rained on that day, but despite the bad weather, 537 people attended the event.
The experiment facilities opened to the public this year were the test track, the pavement test field, the dam hydraulics laboratory, the debris flow generator, the exhibition of members sampled from decommissioned bridges, and the ocean and coastal experiment facilities that generate tsunami. Watching those facilities, visitors showed a great interest in tsunami. Many of them satisfied the ocean and coastal experiment facilities, saying, for example, "It was good that I could see the mechanism of how a tsunami occurs."
Many participants enjoyed the six programs of the hands-on civil engineering experiment, which provided visitors with various experiences related to civil engineering. One of the programs, “Let’s Experience Liquefaction!,” which helped visitors experience liquefaction with a model experiment, made the children cry out “Wow!” in surprise as they watched liquefaction occurring in the model. It was a sign of their high interest in liquefaction. In the tunnel excavation experiment, which, although it looked like playing with sand, allowed visitors to learn the strength of a tunnel, many children joined the experiment and learned the mechanics of tunnel strength.
An exhibition of panels and movies presenting the responses to the Great East Japan Earthquake was held as a special program. Many visitors stopped to watch the movie showing the initial response of the Tohoku Regional Development Bureau on the very day of the earthquake, and enthusiastically watched the panels showing the activities of PWRI and NILIM. As in the previous year, a variety of events designed to please various people were held. For example, the Display of Work Vehicles held with the cooperation of the Kanto Regional Development Bureau, the Cardboard Bridge Model Displaying which was wonderfully created by elementary school children of fifth grade, and the Science Cafe, which let visitors learn about sediment disasters on roads.
As a whole, many visitors made good comments about the event, saying "The explanations were very thorough," or "I want to visit again next year," according to the questionnaire survey. As for the weather, a comment along the lines of "It rained unfortunatelly" was shared by many visitors.
We believe that this year’s Civil Engineering Day provided visitors to good opportunities , so visitors feel civil engineering more closely and to gain a better understanding of it.
The Civil Engineering Day Opening to the Public is one of the few opportunities for PWRI to advertise their activities and highlight the importance of civil engineering projects. So, PWRI will make every effort to promote the quality of the event in the future.
PWRI would like to thank many people for their cooperation with the event and appreciate the cooperation of the visitors.


(Contact: Planning and Management Division)

PWRI’s New Technology Showcase Held in Various Parts of Japan

Venue	Tokyo	Osaka	Niigata	Sapporo
Date	Fri., Sep. 30th	Wed., Oct. 19th	Thu., Nov. 17th	Thu., Jan. 19th
Place	Sohyo Kaikan	Kensetsu Koryu Kaikan	Toki Messe	Hokuno Kenpo Kaikan
Technologies presented	11	12	12	12
	① Earthquakes and disasters: 5	① Earthquakes and disasters: 5	① Earthquakes and disasters: 4	① Earthquakes and disasters: 4
	②Maintenance: 3	②Ground improvement: 2	②Ground improvement: 2	②Repair and conservation: 3
	③Environmental conservation: 3	③Maintenance: 5	③Environment and maintenance: 3	③Environmental conservation ・ Maintenance: 3
			④Winter road management: 3	④Quality and function improvement: 2
Special lectures	PWRI Chief Executive		Mayor of Sanjo City
	The Fun and Agony of Research		Sanjo City’s Disaster Counteraction
Audience	436	248	243	272

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PWRI Disaster Management Drills for 2011

The first of September is National Disaster Prevention Day. In addition to the comprehensive disaster-preparedness drill conducted by the government, various organizations throughout Japan, including local public authorities, carried out disaster drills. These activities are intended to raise people’s awareness of disaster prevention. Considering this, PWRI conducted drills on the same day.
The drills were conducted by assuming that a strong earthquake with the epicenter in southern Ibaraki Prefecture had occurred at 7 a.m. and registered an intensity of a high 6 on the Japanese scale in places including Tsukuba City and Tsuchiura City. The drills mainly consisted of three elements, 1) training on assembly, 2) training on facilities inspection, and 3) training on setting up and operating the disaster management headquarters.
The assembly training had drill participants confirm the safety of personnel and their families by recording in a register of assembled persons the time that the drill participants gathered at PWRI, the damage conditions, and other information.
In the facilities inspection training, the assembled personnel practiced conducting an emergency inspection of the respective buildings and laboratories based on the facilities inspection training plan.
The training on setting up and operating a disaster management headquarters was also held. It involved setting up a disaster management headquarters, with the Chief Executive serving as the chief of the headquarters, assigning the drill participants into groups of general management personnel, technical team, information/facilities personnel, general affairs personnel, welfare personnel, and procurement personnel. They provided reports about the assumed disaster (disaster situation, facilities inspection situation, reserve supplies, etc.). The managerial personnel, including group directors and higher, who were gathered at the headquarters discussed problems concerning PWRI’s internal initial response system at the time of earthquake. Having experienced the unprecedented disaster called the Great East Japan Earthquake, heated discussion was held on points for improvement and corrections of the internal response system.
As a designated public organization, PWRI is required by the Disaster Countermeasure Basic Act and PWRI Operational Plan for Disaster Prevention to execute disaster prevention drills. When requested by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to provide a response to disaster, PWRI is legally obligated to conduct necessary operations. In this respect, PWRI regularly conducts drills to set up a disaster management headquarters inside the compound and to be ready for a quick response. Through those exercises and based on the experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake, PWRI endeavors to realize what each person can and should do, and to make ourselves always ready for a quick response to a disaster.


(Contact: Planning and Management Division)