Total 21 participants from 13 countries in the 51st IISEE Annual Training Course have visited Shizuoka, Kobe, Osaka, Wakayama, Kyoto etc. from 8 (Monday) to 12 (Friday) November. 15 members of seismology and tsunami courses visited Shizuoka and Wakayama to investigate tsunami disaster management while 6 members of earthquake engineering course observed reconstruction of Kobe, Doshisha University and a prefabricated housing factory in Nara. All members visited Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, Akashi channel bridge, Nojima fault preservation museum in Awaji Island and the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park. Although we could not inspect the bridge girder of Akashi Bridge because of strong wind more than 20m/s, we all could realize the structure performance which withstands not only earthquakes but also strong wind.


Hajime KUROSAWA
Head of Administration Division, IISEE

We, Hurukawa and Vietnamese alumni, held the IISEE Alumni Meeting on November 9 during the 8th General Assembly of Asian Seismological Commission (ASC), which was held from the November 8th to the 10th in Hanoi, Vietnam. Six ex-participants (4 from Vietnam, 1 from Saudi Arabia, and 1 from Georgia), four Japanese lecturers, one IISEE/BRI staff member, one guest from International Seismological Centre (ISC), and four other guests had attended the meeting held at Institute of Geophysica. After self-introduction, we enjoyed talk and foods & drink prepared by the Vietnamese alumni.

Nobuo HURUKAWA
Research Coordinator, BRI

All members and trainees of IISEE participated in the 13^th Japan Earthquake Engineering Symposium that was held in Tsukuba from 18 November to 20 November 2010, and attended the international panel discussion entitled "What happened after large earthquakes in Asia? -What earthquake engineers should do?-" In addition to the presentations from Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia and Philippines, a congress member Mr. Nagashima, the former mayor of Yamakoshi Village, made a speech and noted comments on his expectation to the academy. Professors and policy makers from Asian earthquake disaster regions proposed the countermeasures to earthquakes based on their experiences. Trainees of IISEE listened to the lecturers' presentation and panel discussion eagerly.

Shoichi ANDO
Director, IISEE