I was inaugurated as director of Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center (E-Defense) after Professor Nakashima. I will make a best effort to contribute to earthquake disaster prevention as the antecessor. I would like people who relate to our operation to extend friendly courtesies and assistance to us.
E-Defense of National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) was constructed as an experimental facility which was applied lessons learned from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, in which numbers of precious lives were taken because of collapsed building. Regarding to the fact, we focus on mainly breakthrough of destruction mechanism of buildings and their earthquake countermeasures by promoting experiments using full-scale building with inputting earthquake motion.
Over 10,000 buildings including houses are considered to be dangerous for use by emergency safety check because of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. In addition to it, as Tsunami damage, the tsunami-hit regions became very wide that we never experienced before and moreover Tsunami created devastating catastrophe and took a heavy toll. Those created unparalleled catastrophe in the nation history lately. I was in Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai when the Earthquake occurred. I was frightened by fierce earthquake motion and shocked to watch radical change of landscape of Minami Sanriku, Arahama and Sendaishinko some days later. And I became painfully aware that how an earthquake attacks us is still incomprehensible.
Needless to say, preparation for great earthquakes which are expected to hit areas in Japan in the days ahead including Tokai area, Lake Hamana in Shizuoka prefecture and eastern Japan, Tonankai area, from Lake Hamana in Shizuoka prefecture and western part to Cape Shiono in Wakayama prefecture and eastern part and Nankai area, from Cape Shiono in Wakayama prefecture and western part to Cape Ashizuri in Kochi prefecture and eastern part are urgent issues. The survey analysis of earthquakes and revaluation of the countermeasures we have gained in the past will support the preparation, and based on those, I assume the governments will provide more reliable criteria guideline.
As E-Defense of NIED, we will continue to study for countermeasures against earthquake disaster from many perspectives by using the facilities considering contribution to those advanced guidelines.
April 25, 2011
Koichi Kajiwara
Director of Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Center
National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster prevention (NIED)
