ICUS NEWSLETTERInternational Center for Urban Safety Engineering

Institute of Industrial Science

The University of Tokyo

VOLUME 5 NUMBER 4JANUARY-MARCH 2006

RECENT EARTHQUAKE RELATED ACTIVITIESIN BANGLADESH

By

Mehedi Ahmed Ansary *

In the recent past, Bangladesh hasnot suffered any damaging largeearthquakes, but in the past fewhundred years, several largecatastrophic earthquakes struck thisarea. So far, all the major recentearthquakes have occurred away frommajor cities, and have affectedrelatively sparsely populated areas.This has limited the human casualtyand the economic losses. However,earthquakes in Gujurat (India, 2001),Bam (Iran, 2003), and Kashimir(Pakistan and India, 2005) haveamply demonstrated thatinappropriate construction technologymay lead to high casualty levels evenfor moderate earthquakes.

In 1897, an earthquake ofmagnitude 8.7 caused serious damageto buildings in the northeastern part ofIndia including Bangladesh and over1,500 people were killed. Thepopulation around this region is at least50 times larger than the population of1897 and cities like Dhaka, Kathmanduand Guwahati have populationsexceeding several millions. It is a causefor great concern that the next greatearthquake may occur in this region atany time.

The extent of damage to structuresand casualty level due to an earthquakein the future can be reduced by theintroduction of suitable mitigationmeasures. These mitigation measurescan be categorized as structural and/or

non-structural. The structural measuresare those that directly influence theperformance of building stock throughstrengthening of code provisions andthe prevalent construction practice.

The non-structural mitigationmeasures include improvement in thestate of awareness and preparednessbefore a disaster, land-use control andother government policies, and theresponse following a disaster. The non-structural measures help to reduce theseverity of casualty levels following anearthquake. In order to reduce theconsequences of a major earthquake inthe cities of Bangladesh, it is necessarythat appropriate structural as well asnon-structural measures areundertaken.

International Center for

Urban Safety Engineering

Damage to a brick masonry building during the 1897 Great Indian Earthquake

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ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 4

earthquake related topics in India forone to two weeks.

Under the leadership of the author,several BUET teams performed fieldsurveys after recent Bangladeshiearthquakes. The author also visitedearthquake affected parts of Gujaratstate of India as mentioned earlier withthe Gujarat Earthquake ReconnaissanceInternational Team under the jointsponsorship of Earthquakes andMegacities Initiative and WSSI. Theauthor has also contributed two reports:one on unreinforced masonry and theother on mud houses to the WorldHousing Encyclopedia Project.

Recently, BUET acquired 60 analogSMA-I Type accelerographs fromStrong-motion Accelerographs ForEarthquake Loss Reduction CitiesProject of Consortium of Organizationsfor Strong-Motion ObservationSystems, a WSSI initiative. Theseaccelerographs are already installed atthe Public Works Department (PWD)offices all over the country to acquireearthquake data. These data will be usedto develop attenuation laws forBangladesh, which can be readily usedfor earthquake hazard analysis andupdating of the existing seismic zonationmap.

A workshop on earthquakecurricula development was held atBUET on July 22, 2004. Thirty fourfaculties of different universities ofBangladesh attended and gave theirfeedback. A report was published.

The Directorate of ContinuingEducation, BUET, conducted the first

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKENIN BANGLADESH

In 2001, the World Seismic SafetyInitiative (WSSI) sponsored the authorto participate in an interdisciplinaryreconnaissance team from developedand developing countries around theworld to visit the earthquake affectedGujarat state. It was a unique experiencefor the author to visit and to get “live”learning experience from an earthquakedevastated region with the presence ofexperienced people of different interestsand professional background. Thisexposure motivated the author to workin the field of earthquake risk reduction.

In 1996, the author together with aBangladesh University of Engineering& Technology (BUET) team submitteda project proposal to the JamunaMultipurpose Bridge Authority to installseismic devices on the bridge (a 4.8 kmlong RC bridge) and the surroundingarea. The Panel of Experts approved theproject on March 1997. The author alsodeveloped a course on EarthquakeEngineering for postgraduate level atBUET and for the last few years hasbeen offering the course at thepostgraduate level. In the followingparagraphs a brief summary of activitiesundertaken by different organizations ofBangladesh to mitigate earthquakedisaster are presented.

BUETThe Department of Civil

Engineering, BUET offers postgraduatecourses on Earthquake Engineering,Soil Dynamics, Structural Dynamicsand Vibration Analysis. So far 15students completed their Master’s thesisrelated to Earthquake Engineering field.

The Department of CivilEngineering, BUET is working as aconsultant to monitor the seismicinstruments installed at the JamunaMultipurpose Bridge. In addition to theseismic instrumentation of the bridge,there are a borehole accelerograph at 57m depth and seven free-field seismicinstruments at Bogra, Natore, east andwest bridge approaches, Mymensingh,Gazipur and Dhaka.

In January 2004, a linkage wasestablished between the VirginiaPolytechnic Institute, USA and theNational Centre for EarthquakeEngineering, BUET with USAIDfunding. Under this project severalBUET faculties were trained in various

short course on Earthquake ResistantDesign and Retrofitting of Buildings inOctober 2004. In April and September2005 similar short courses forProfessional Engineers andPolytechnical Institute teachers ofBangladesh were offered. In July 2005,the Ministry of Science, Informationand Communication Technology ofGovernment of Bangladesh provided afund to the author for a one-year projectentitled Earthquake VulnerabilityAssessment and CommunityAwareness. Under this project, activitiesfor raising community awarenessregarding earthquake effects andvulnerability analysis of a ward of oldDhaka will be conducted and remedialmeasures will be proposed.

Recently, with the help of Prof.Maksud Helali of the MechanicalEngineering Department of BUET, theauthor together with Dr. Noor hasdeveloped an indigenous shaking table(3m x 5.5m) for checking structuralbehavior under dynamic loading.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIESThe Disaster Management Bureau

(DMB) was established with the help ofUNDP and UNICEF in 1993. Althoughinitially it was established to manageflood and cyclone, after 1997earthquakes in Chittagong and Sylhetregion, the Bureau started to traindifferent government officials andvolunteers about pre and post-earthquake preparedness andmanagement techniques. For the lastcouple of years, the Bureau hasconducted fifty or more earthquaketraining workshops in different regionsof Bangladesh. In 2002, it alsopublished a Disaster ManagementTraining Manual. The second part ofthe manual has a complete chapter onEarthquake Training Module andPublic Awareness Guidelines.

Indigenous shaking table

Integrated hazard map for Dhaka developed

by a Master’s student at BUET

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ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 4

The Ministry of Food & DisasterManagement (MoFDM) is currentlyworking as the government coordinatorfor all activities regarding earthquakes.Recently, they asked all the concernedministries, departments and armedforces division to submit a ContingencyPlan in case of an earthquake. TheMinistry also compiled a list of availablerescue and recovery equipmentavailable in the country. The MoFDMheld a mock drill on April 12, 2005.

The second phase (2003-2008) ofthe Program for Enhancement ofEmergency Response (PEER), aUSAID funded international projectincludes Bangladesh together with fourother PEER affiliated countries － India,Indonesia, Nepal and Philippines. Theprogram aims to strengthen andinstitutionalize capacities in emergencyand disaster response of the membercountries. A Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) in this regardwas signed between PEER andMoFDM in June 2004.

In 2001, the BangladeshMeteorological Department initiated aproject to establish four broadbandseismic stations at Rangpur, Sylhet,Dhaka and Chittagong cities. Theinstallation of these seismic stationswill be completed soon.

The PWD is responsible forconstructing all the governmentbuildings of the country. For the last fewyears, the PWD arranged several in-house workshops to train their engineersabout earthquake resistant design. Alsothe engineers of this organization havestarted to use seismic codes for buildingdesign.

The Bangladesh Armed ForcesDivision (AFD) played a significant rolein all the past disasters in the light of thetasks assigned in the “Standing Order onDisaster, 1999” circulated by MoFDM.Recently in consonance with thenational initiative, AFD chalked out acontingency plan for Dhaka city.According to the AFD’s contingencyplan, the city is divided into eight sectorswith predef ined tasks after anearthquake. AFD will also activate the“Disaster Management and ReliefMonitoring Cell” at the Prime Minister’sOffice after an earthquake.

The Geological Survey ofBangladesh (GSB) is the oldestorganization in the country involvedwith the development of seismiczonation maps. The organization waspivotal in developing the 1972 and 1979

10 international and 30 local.With the financial assistance of

USAID and the Cooperative forAssistance Relief Everywhere (CARE),Bangladesh, BES translated andpublished the International Associationfor Earthquake Engineering’sGuidelines for Earthquake ResistantNon-Engineered Construction in 2004.Recently the f inal draft of anEarthquake Resistant Design Manualwas completed and will be jointlypublished by BES and the CanadianInternational Development Agencysoon.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

Also many NGOs, privateorganizations, universities and massmedia are playing an important role inearthquake risk mitigation inBangladesh. CARE-Bangladesh,Bangladesh Red Crescent Society,Oxford Committee for Famine Relief,ActionAID, CARITAS, EuropeanPolicies Research Centre, Franco-Bangladesh Association of Scholars andTrainees, Grameen JonokallyanSangsad, Safety Assistance forEmergencies, Bangladesh InsuranceAcademy, BRAC University,Chittagong University of Engineering &Technology, Institute of EngineersBangladesh, Institute of DiplomaEngineers Bangladesh, Military Instituteof Science & Technology, ShahjalalUniversity of Science & Technology,Real Estate and Housing Association ofBangladesh, Institute of ArchitectsBangladesh are some of thoseorganizations.

*Professor, BUET, Dhaka,Bangladesh & Secretary General,

Bangladesh Earthquake Society

seismic zonation maps. But unlike itspredecessor, the Geological Survey ofIndia (GSI) under the British rule, it didnot initiate any research in earthquakefield. Currently it depends on the USGeological Survey (USGS) and GSI forearthquake source information. InSeptember 2004, GSB together withUSGS and UNESCO conducted a four-day long workshop on seismic analysisfor the South Asia region in Dhaka.

In January, 2006 DMB with theverbal instruction of Minister, MoFDMhas started to develop a comprehensiveEarthquake Risk Management Planwhich comprised two plans namely,Earthquake Preparedness andEarthquake Response Plans. Also, theComprehensive Disaster ManagementProgramme under the MoFDM isproposing a Comprehensive DisasterManagement framework for the SouthAsian Association for RegionalCooperation (SAARC) countries. Thiswill be placed at the SAARC ExpertGroup meeting to be held in Dhaka inearly February, 2006.

BANGLADESH EARTHQUAKESOCIETY

Bangladesh Earthquake Society(BES), a non-government voluntaryorganization, was established on April2002 and was registered on January2003. The first election of the societywas held on August 2003 and thesecond election was held on December2005. The BES members consist ofengineers, geologists, NGO activists andgovernment administrators.

After the July 2003 RangamatiEarthquake, the author and othermembers of the Society visited theaffected earthquake sites and providedthe government with their technicaladvice. BES also organized two nationallevel workshops and held severalmonthly seminars so far. The firstworkshop was jointly organized withRAJUK (Capital DevelopmentAuthority) in August, 2003 to train theengineers of Bangladesh aboutearthquake resistant design. The secondworkshop was organized together withDMB, MoFDM in September, 2003 tosum up the findings of 2003 RangamatiEarthquake. BES also successfullyorganized the First BangladeshEarthquake Symposium (BES-1) onDecember 14-15, 2005. BUET andBES jointly hosted the symposium.More than 100 participants joined thesymposium, 40 papers were presented:

Guidelines for non-engineeredconstruction

page 4

15,000 times larger. The panorama iseven darker if the wooden houses withlow earthquake resistance, whose numberis over 10 million, are included in thecount. This situation is common to bothdeveloped and developing countries. Inthe symposium, Prof. K. Meguro, Dr. M.Yoshimura, Prof. H. Murakami(Yamaguchi University) and Mr. B.Fujimura (Waseda Shopping StreetAssociation) discussed this issue fromdifferent viewpoints.

At first, Prof. Meguro made anoverall explanation of the similarities anddifferences in developed and developingcountries in their quest to protect theirbuilding stock. He made emphasis on thetechnological and social viewpoints of theproblem. He then invited the other

speakers to share their ideas. Dr.Yoshimura introduced the successfulretrofitting experiences of California State,US, particularly the case of Berkeley City.She compared the system there and inJapan highlighting social, individual, andstructural differences. Prof. Murakamipointed out that even old structures canperform well during earthquakes in spiteof their age as long as they are wellconstructed － using good materials, atlocations with good soil conditions －and have good maintenance. This was thesituation observed during the 2000 TottoriEarthquake. She stressed that high qualityhouses represent a good social stockwhich is needed in countries like Japancharacterized by low birth rate and agingpopulation. Mr. Fujimura shared hisbelieve that for solving the issue at hand,the business driving force is essential. Heexplained his own activities to promoteretrofitting such as training of housebuilders and developing and obtainingapproval for new retrofitting methods.The presentations were followed by alively panel discussion in which there wasan exchange of questions and answers.

(by K. Meguro)

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 4

The 6th Workshop on“Comparative Studies on UrbanEarthquake Disaster Management” washeld on January 18, 2006 at the KobeInternational Conference Center. It wascosponsored by the Research Center forDisaster Reduction Systems at theDisaster Prevention Research Institute,Kyoto University and ICUS and wasattended by approximately 100 people.This time the topic was: “Towards adrastic increase of retrofitting of existinglow earthquake resistant structures －Comparative study of the environmentsurrounding seismic retrofitting activitiesin different countries.”

Recently, Japanese society has beenshocked by the scandal of faultyapartment buildings, mainly RCbuildings, deliberately designed andconstructed without following theEarthquake Resistant Design Code.When the next big earthquake comes,they will surely perform poorly. However,these will not be the only affectedstructures. If the number of the buildingsrelated to this scandal is compared to thetotal number of existing low earthquakeresistant buildings in Japan, the later is

Comparative Studies on Urban Earthquake Disaster Management

Prof. Meguro pointed out key issuesfor protecting building stock

ICUS PARTICIPATION – IIS OPEN HOUSE

RNUS SeminarRNUS Seminar on ‘Advanced

Technologies toward SustainableConcrete Structures’ was held onJanuary 17th, 2006. The speakers wereProf. Toyoharu Nawa and Dr. PipatTermkhajornkit from the HokkaidoUniversity and Prof. SomnukTangtermsirikul from the SirindhornInternational Institute of Technology,Thammasat University.

Prof. Toyaharu Nawa presented thedevelopment of various types ofsuperplasticizers and the production ofhigh performance concrete. Prof.Somnuk gave a presentation about both

theoretical background and practice ofzero-slump concrete in Thailand, while,Dr. Pipat Termkhajornkit made apresentation entitled ‘XRD and ItsApplication in Cement and ConcreteField’. The seminar was well receivedby AIT personnel.Special Visit of Prof. H. Mutsuyoshi

It was a great honor for RNUS towelcome Professor Hiroshi Mutsuyoshiand Assistant Professor Takeshi Makifrom Saitama University on March 15th,2006.

On this occasion, Prof. Mutsuyoshikindly gave the special lecture entitled‘Structural Damage due to 2004Niigata-Ken-Chuetsu Earthquake’ toAIT staff and students. The presentationdelivered special characteristics of theNiigata-Ken-Chuetsu earthquake andpromising technologies to preventsudden failure and to minimize theresidual deformation of structures underseismic loads. Meeting participants

RNUS Activities

RNUS Seminar Snapshot

ICUS Director Visited the AIT President

On March 21st, Prof. Uomotovisited AIT and held a meeting withProf. Said Irandoust, the currentPresident of AIT and Prof. WorsakKanok-Nukukchai, the Acting Dean ofthe School of Engineering andTechnology. The meeting was alsoattended by Dr. Pennung Warnitchai,Dr. Susaki and Dr. Kato. The director ofICUS and the president of AIT agreedto strengthen the collaboration betweentheir institutions and to promote moreactivities in the region.

(by R. Sahamitmongkol)

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ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 4

The Director of ICUS, Prof. T.Uomoto, visited Bangladesh Universityof Engineering & Technology (BUET),Dhaka, Bangladesh from February 17 to19, 2006. He was accompanied by Dr.Mehedi Ahmed Ansary. During hisvisit, Prof. Uomoto met Prof. Md. AleeMurtuza, Vice-Chancellor (VC) ofBUET and Prof. Md. MazharulHoque, Head of the Department ofCivil Engineering, BUET. Theydiscussed the establishment of an ICUSbranch office at BUET (South AsianNetwork Office for Urban SafetyEngineering: SAUS) and collaborativeresearch activities between ICUS and

Prof. K. Meguro and Ms. H. Kuniya,Anchorperson of Close Up Gendai

BUET. Prof. Uomoto also met thePresident of the Institute of Engineers inBangladesh, Mr. Akhter Hossain anddiscussed issues of mutual interest. Mr.Hossain also holds the post of Secretaryof Ministry of Energy and Power,

Government of Bangladesh. Prof.Uomoto met Mr. Abu Sadek and Dr.MA Noor, members of the BangladeshConcrete Society, and the President ofthe Bangladesh Earthquake Society,Prof. JR Choudhury, at his office. At theend of his visit, Prof. Uomoto delivereda lecture on non-destructive testing atthe BUET seminar room which wasattended by about 100 people. Thelecture was presided by the Head ofthe Department of Civil Engineering,BUET, Prof. Md. Mazharul Hoque andBUET VC Prof. Md. Alee Murtuza wasthe Chief Guest.

(by M. A. Ansary)

Prof. Uomoto Visited BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Prof. T. Uomoto presenting ICUS brochuresto Prof. Md. Alee Murtuza VC, BUET

On January 18, 2006, ICUSsigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) with The LifeCycle Management (LCM) ResearchCenter, the Port and Airport ResearchInstitute (PARI) in order to collaboratein research and other academicactivities.

LCM Research Center wasestablished on April 1, 2005 to respondto the demands of efficient operation

and maintenance of infrastructures. TheSustainable Engineering Division ofICUS aims to develop new technologiesfor the evaluation of structural safety.The two centers will exchange personneland will provide research cooperation inthe f ield of maintenance andmanagement of new technologies forstructural safety and other fields ofcommon interest.

(by H. Kanada)

ICUS Signed MOU with LCM Research Center, PARI, Japan

Prof. T. Uomoto and Dr. H. Yokota,Director of LCM Research Center

On January 16, 2006, ProfessorMeguro appeared in the TV program“Close Up Gendai.” This is NHK’scurrent affairs program, broadcastedfrom Monday to Thursday at 19:30.

The TV program was concernedwith the lack of earthquake resistance ofold wooden houses. Lessons from the1995 Kobe earthquake have not been

learned and many wooden houses arenot reinforced against great earthquakesyet.

He suggested promotion systemssuch as renovation grant, tax cut andpreferential treatment based on thehouse hold’s current situation.

(by T. Uomoto)

Professor Meguro Appeared in NHK TV Program

On March 21, 2006, Prof. Uomotovisited to Chulalongkorn University as arepresentative of IIS. He and Prof.Ekasit Limsuwan, Director of ChulaUnisearch signed the contract for theestablishment of a collaborativeresearch office.

Both parties agreed to establish alocal office in Chula Unisearch in orderto support the activities of IIS professorswhen they have research activities in

Thailand. Chula Unisearch was founded

under Chulalongkorn University on Feb14th, 1986. It was the first agency inhigher education institution in Thailandcreated to put knowledge and expertiseof its faculty members to the publicservice. Chula Unisearch is determinedto create for faculty members andresearchers the environment to helpsolving the country problems by

studying, analyzing and solving issues incollaboration with concerned agencies.

(by R. Sahamitmongkol)

Contract for the Establishment of IIS Office at Chula Unisearch

Ceremony participants

The 10th ICUS Open Lecture washeld at the Convention Hall of theInstitute of Industrial Science (IIS),The University of Tokyo (UT) in theafternoon of March 16, 2006. The titleof the lecture was “Communication ofScientific Technologies and RiskManagement Technologies to thePublic.” About 80 people attended thelecture.

Prof. Marie Oshima (IIS, UT),Dr. Toshiko Kikkawa (AssociateProfessor, Faculty of Business andCommerce, Keio University), and Dr.Yayoi Tanaka (Associate Professor,

Department of Civil Engineering, UT)delivered the following speeches:1. Prof. Marie Oshima: “Importance

of communicating scientif ictechnology to the public.”

2. Dr. Toshiko Kikkawa: “How tocommunicate risk information tothe public.”

3. Dr. Yayoi Tanaka; “Drawbacks ofcommunication by engineers.”Prof. M. Oshima emphasized that

scientists and engineers should paymore attention to increase publicunderstanding of their research andintroduced some activities forcommunicating research results to

young generations such as junior andsenior high school students. Dr. T.Kikkawa explained howunderstanding of risk information isdifferent between engineers and thegeneral public. Finally, Dr. Y. Tanakashowed examples of poorcommunication between engineersand the general public in the processof public involvement in cityplanning.

Prof. T. Uomoto deliveredconcluding remarks on this OpenLecture and expressed gratitude to thepresenters and participants.

(by M. Yoshimura)

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ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 4

10th ICUS Open Lecture Was Held

ICUS PARTICIPATION – IIS OPEN HOUSE

The 5th International Symposium onNew Technologies for Urban Safety ofMega Cities in Asia (USMCA) will beorganized by the School of Engineeringand Technology, AIT, Thailand and ICUS.

The symposium will be held at CapePanwa Hotel, Phuket in Thailand onNovember 16-17, 2006. The scope of thesymposium covers the following areas.• Safety Assessment of Existing

Infrastructure and Buildings• Planning for Development and

Maintenance of Urban Infrastructure• Environmental Impact Assessment of

Urbanization• Advanced Technologies for

Monitoring and Assessment forUrban Safety

• Disaster Management Engineering• Application of Remote Sensing to

Announcement of USMCA 2006

Prof. M. Oshima

Enhance the Safety of Society• Rehabilitation and Retrofitting of

Urban Structure against DisastersYour participation is crucial for the

meaningful discussion and success ofthe symposium. For more information,please access the symposium website athttp://www.sce.ait.ac.th/rnus/usmca2006

(by R. Sahamitmongkol)

ICUS PARTICIPA-

The first collaborative workshopon disaster management betweenICUS and The University of TokyoHospital was held on February 1,2006 at the hospital auditorium.

It was held for doctors, nursesand administrative staff in order togive them a better understanding ofthe current problems, and to raisetheir disaster awareness.

A project team was formed toconsider the role of The University ofTokyo Hospital in a time of disaster.ICUS members are investigating thesocial demands of a disaster base

hospital during a disaster situationand based on these findings proposean adequate disaster managementmanual.

Prof. Meguro del ivered a

Workshop on Disaster Management at The University of Tokyo Hospitalpresentation on the importance of anefficient disaster management manualwhile Prof. Amano outlined thebackground and future plans of theproject. Dr. Yoshimura introducedcountermeasures against greatearthquakes and the role of a disasterbase hospital and Dr. Kanadapresented the necessity of reviewingthe current disaster managementmanual. The workshop was attendedby more than 100 participants whowere impressed with the presentations.

(by H. Kanada)Prof. Amano outlined the project

Dr. T. Kikkawa Dr. Y. Tanaka

ICUS New Staff

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ICUS Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 4

The 10th Earthquake TechnologyExpo/Natural Disaster Recovery Expowas held on February 1-2, 2006 atPacifico Yokohama. This is the biggestexhibition of advanced technologiesfor reducing disasters. It has beenheld every year after the 1995 KobeEarthquake. This year more than9,000 people including risk managersin private companies, localgovernment officials and structuralengineers visited the exhibition.

Hundred thirty booths weredisplayed and ICUS prepared a boothfor presenting the Integrated

Information System for Total DisasterManagement. This is a leaning tooldeveloped by Prof. Meguro researchgroup in ICUS to increase thepeople’s disaster awareness and toeffectively reduce disasters. Over 400

visitors enjoyed the experience ofoperating it.

ICUS is willing to join theEarthquake Technology Expo again inthe next year.

(by M. Yoshimura)

Dr. Mehedi Ahmed Ansary joinedICUS as a Project Associate Professoron January 16, 2006. He graduatedfrom the Department of CivilEngineering, BUET in 1991 and joinedat the same Department as Lecturer inJune 1991. He obtained his PhD in CivilEngineering from the University ofTokyo in 1996. He was promoted toProfessor in the Department of CivilEngineering, BUET in 2006.

His research interest is urbandisaster mitigation which includesdevelopment of microzonation maps forcities of Bangladesh, assessment ofbuilding and lifeline vulnerabilities,

characterization of strong groundmotion from free-field and bridgemonitoring data, raising awarenessamong citizens of Bangladesh throughsimplified experimental techniques andeasily understandable guidelines forearthquake resistant construction, study

of other urban disasters such as floods,fires and tornadoes, etc.

He is currently working as theSecretary-General of BangladeshEarthquake Society which is affiliatedwith the International Association ofEarthquake Engineering. He is also theProject Director of the VirginiaPolytechnic Institute, USA and theNational Centre for EarthquakeEngineering - BUET Linkage projectfunded by USAID, Bangladesh fromJanuary, 2004. He is a member ofconsultative panels of severalGovernment agencies of Bangladesh.

(by T. Uomoto)Dr. Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

• Prof. Uomoto visited BUET to discussthe establishment of an ICUS branchoffice there (Feb 17-21) andChulalongkorn University to sign thecontract for the establishment of an IIScollaborative research office (Mar 20-22).

• Prof. Meguro attended an EarthquakeSummit in Beijing (Feb 19-23). Healso visited Algeria and Pakistan (Mar17-26) to conduct microzonationstudies and shaking tabledemonstrations of his proposal localacceptable, simple and economicalmasonry retrofitting method.

• Dr. Oki attended IPCC AR4 WG 2Conference in Merida, Mexico (Jan

14-21), AGS Annual Meeting 2006 inBangkok (Mar 18-23), and GlobalWater System Project/ScientificSteering Committee in Oaxaca,Mexico (Mar 22-26).

• Dr. Ooka attended 2006 ASHRAEWinter Meeting in Chicago, 86th AMSAnnual Meeting in Atlanta (Jan 21-Feb 2), and AGS Annual Meeting2006 in Bangkok (Mar 18-23).

• Dr. Ansary visited BUET to discuss theestablishment of an ICUS branchoffice there (Feb 17-21).

• Dr. Kato stayed at AIT for his researchwork and teaching duties at RNUS(Jan 10-18, Feb 27-Mar 22, Mar 26-31).

ICUS Activities

Awards

• Dr. Susaki attended the ASEANSubcommittee on Space Technologyand Applications in Hanoi (Feb 15-17) and the Forum on Monitoring ofGlobal Environment from Space at IIS(Mar 12-19).

• Dr. Endo visited Bangkok to carryout data processing of ANHRR andMODIS (Mar 4-14).

• Dr. Yoshimura visited Istanbul toarrange the workshop with IstanbulTechnical University and toinvestigate the urban structures ofGarata area (Mar 17-26).

• Dr. Sahamitmongkol stayed at AITfor his research work and teachingduties at RNUS (Dec 29-Mar 29).

THE 10TH EARTHQUAKE TECHNOLOGY EXPO

Dr. Oki, Dr. Sinjiro Kanae (IIS)and Dr. Yukiko Hirabayashi (Research

Associate of University of Yamanashi)won the Annual Prize of the Journal of

Hydraulic Engineering, JapanSociety of Civil Engineers (Mar 7).

ICUS BoothIntegrated Information Systemfor Total Disaster Management

page 8

levels. The concept of the BCPoriginated from dealing with the ITindustry. In its earlier stage, it wasapplied mainly to infrastructuralenterprises or financial firms. At present,it is being widely applied to otherbusiness areas. Moreover, thestandardization of the BCP has begun tobe discussed at the InternationalOrganization for Standardization.Enterprises will inevitably be required toadopt the BCP within 1~2 years. TheBCP will become one of the mostimportant company assets and will

represent a competitive advantage forthose companies who adopt it.

At present, ICUS and TheUniversity of Tokyo Hospital arestudying how the latter should functionas a disaster base hospital during large-scale emergencies, such as in the case ofsevere earthquakes. Taking the role of adisaster base hospital duringearthquake disaster is very importantand that is why it is necessary toinvestigate the BCP for The Universityof Tokyo Hospital.

(by R. Amano)

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering, ICUSInstitute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, JapanTel: (+81-3)5452-6472, Fax: (+81-3)5452-6476E-mail:icus@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jphttp://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

Editor’s Note

The importance of the BusinessContinuity Plan (hereafter referred to asBCP) that takes into account theexperience gained from the series ofcoordinated terrorist attacks in theUnited States and the Niigata ChuetsuEarthquake is being increasinglyrecognized in Japan. For example,advanced enterprises in the UnitedStates specify the Recovery TimeObjectives (RTO: the target timerequired for the recovery of corebusinesses or basic services in caseswhen enterprises face emergencies suchas natural disasters, fires and terroristattacks) and make positive use of expertson data-back-up. Furthermore, a systemfor PDCA (plan-do-check-act) withregard to the BCP is set in place. In thisrespect, the BCP plays an importantrole in business activities at large andthis plan has been carried out atmanagement levels.

The ratio of Japanese enterprisesapplying the BCP is limited to about8%. It will be indispensable to fullypromote its implementation as well as toput it into practice at management

PRINTED MATTER

International Center for

Urban Safety Engineering

The role of BCP (Guideline of The Small and Medium Enterprise Agency)