By Dr. Toshiaki Yokoi, Mr. Mizuo Inukai & Ms. Yoriko Iiba of IISEE

The opening ceremony of the Latin American Earthquake Engineering Course was held at the BRI Hall from 9:30 to 10:30 on Thursday, June 5. Fourteen participants from Dominican Republic (2), El Salvador (4), Nicaragua (4) and Peru (4) crossed the Pacific Ocean and join the IISEE training course.

Please see the Newsletter attached on pages 1&2.

By Dr. Toshiaki Yokoi & Dr. Tatsuya Azuhata of IISEE

The 7th session of the Inter-national Platform for Reducing Earthquake Disasters (IPRED) was held at “Almaty-Resort” in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 28 to 30 May. The IPRED is a platform established by UNESCO in collaboration with the IISEE, which acts as the “Centre of Excellence.” Current members of the IPRED are Chile, Egypt, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Turkey and Japan. These countries are counterparts of Technical Corporation Projects by JICA on which the BRI has collaborated about for the past 30 years.

Please see the Newsletter attached on page 2.

By Dr. Masanori Tani, IISEE Research Engineer

I visited CISMID (Japan-Peru Center for Seismic Investigation and Disaster Mitigation) of National University of Engineering in Peru from May 28th to June 6th with Prof. Shunsuke Sugano (Special Visiting Researcher of IISEE/BRI).

Please see the Newsletter attached on page 3.

By Dr. Takumi Hayashida, IISEE Research Seismologist

I made a visit to Nicaragua from May 28 through June 9 as a JICA short-term expert, following the Dr. Yokoi's visit (IISEE Newsletter No.109). I instructed micro-tremor array measurement (SPAC method), single-point microtremor measurement (H/V method) and multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) both inside and outside Managua city.

Please see the Newsletter attached on pages 3&4.

By Ms. Yoriko Iiba, Head of IISEE Administration Division

The third colloquium, which is a seminar consisting of presentations by the training participants, took place in IISEE for two days on Thursday, May 22 and on Friday, May 23. On the first day the participants of the Earthquake Engineering course presented the outline of their individual study reports, and on the following day the participants of Seismology course and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation course followed suit.

Please see the Newsletter attached on page 4.

By Ms. Yoriko Iiba, Head of IISEE Administration Division

The IISEE Curriculum Committee is organized to assist IISEE staff with giving practical advice on the training program and its activities. The committee is comprised of 18 members who are university professors and researchers of public organs. The members are 5 from seismology field, 3 from Tsunami, 7 from earthquake engineering, and 3 from civil engineering. Dr. Yuji Ishiyama is the chair. He is Emeritus of Hokkaido University and once IISEE’s Head of Earthquake Engineering Division.

Please see the Newsletter attached on page 4.