Date: May 12, 2003
Place: National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Tsukuba, Japan
Attendees: U.S. Side-- William Roper (Chairman) GWU
Josephine Malilay CDC
K. Thirumalai DOT
Japan Side-- Takaaki Kusakabe (Chairman) NILIM
Hiroaki Miyatake CO
Akihiro Sanada NILIM
1. Objective and Scope of Work
(1)Objectives
The objective is to support and enhance application of advanced information technologies to emergency management, response operations, and public health evaluation. Timely emergency management decision-making demands accurate and timely data detection, assemblage, analysis and interpretation, and dissemination about natural and technological disasters. To meet this need, it is necessary to use advanced information & communication technologies including remote sensing technology.
(2)Scope of Work
a) Plan and conduct Task Committee workshop and joint meetings to identify state-of-the-art for advanced disaster information techniques and public health issues following wind and seismic events,.
b) Exchange information related to rapid assessment of infrastructure change and condition assessment methods and processes that will assist emergency decision makers during multiple stages of an emergency,
c) Exchange information related to public health assessments to be better prepared immediately following a disaster to know the status of affected populations during emergencies,
d) Exchange information on technological developments, state-of-the-art technology, and their practice, identify research topics and develop joint research programs,
e) Exchange information related to rescue, recovery and rehabilitation of lives as a result of disasters.
f) Encourage exchange of guest researchers between institutions of the U.S. and Japanese and sharing of research findings, publications, and recommended practice.
2. Accomplishments
(1) Two Japanese researchers visited George Washington University in February 2003 to exchange information between US and Japan. The first draft of T/C-F charter was formulated upon this activity.
(2) Following the Resolutions of the 34th Joint Meeting, the Task Committee F charter was developed and submitted for approval of the Joint Meeting. The Task Committee F involves the Theme F and the Theme I which are a listed in "3.2 Task Committee Charters and Recommended Committee", in the Strategic Plan.
3. Future Plans
(1) A Japanese visiting researcher will stay at George Washington University for approximately one year from September 2003.
(2) The Task Committee will plan a workshop on "Utilization of IT for Crisis Management and Disaster Mitigation (Tentative)". This workshop is scheduled in May 2004.
(3) The Task Committee will continue to exchange research findings and to develop future cooperative research topics in the following technologies:
a) Technology for gathering and analyzing information
b) Technology for transferring information
c) Technology for sharing and providing information
d) Technology to assess the characteristics of the environment for projecting mortality, disease, injury, and the amount of damage on public health infrastructure
(4) The Task Committee will undertake collaboration with Task Committee G on health monitoring of transportation infrastructure.