International Conference on Disaster Management

<strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on 

Disaster Management 

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS 

Janaka Ruwanpura and Amarjit Singh (eds.) 

Honolulu, November 15 -16, 2010 

<strong>International</strong> Institute for Infrastructure Renewal and 

Reconstruction (IIIRR)


<strong>International</strong> Institute for Infrastructure Renewal and Reconstruction 

Table of Contents 

Preface 

The <strong>International</strong> Institute for Infrastructure Renewal 

and Reconstruction 

Organizing Committee 

<strong>Conference</strong>s, Mini- Symposiums, Meetings and Workshops 

List of Abstracts 

ii 

iii 

iv 

v 

vi 

Abstracts 

i



An “unusual” world event occurred when the massive 

December 26, 2004 tsunami struck several Indian Ocean 

countries. That caused several researchers from four countries 

and eight universities to form the <strong>International</strong> Institute for 

Infrastructure Renewal and Reconstruction (IIIRR) to study 

natural disasters and how their impact could be mitigated. Work undertaken so far by the IIIRR 

group includes various studies of floods, tsunamis and earthquakes. Given the situation with 

global warming, environmental interference by humankind, possible pandemics, various known 

unknown risks, and other emerging risks, our interest in a multidisciplinary approach to the 

related problems is timely. 

Disasters, whether small or large, have significant adverse effects on communities and 

ecosystems. Large-scale disasters hugely impact the resources of local communities and 

central governments. Return to normalcy is typically a slow process that depends on the 

severity of the disaster. The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Disaster Management (ICDM), hosted 

by the College of Engineering, University of Hawaii, Manoa, and co-sponsored by the American 

Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with support from IIIRR and University of Calgary, will be 

attended by researchers, and government and industry practitioners from three continents. The 

conference aims to discuss critical issues related to natural disaster management. This booklet 

carries the extended abstracts of the papers to be presented at the symposium. 

We acknowledge the speakers who will deliver the technical presentations, as well as all 

delegates from local, national and international destinations, our sponsors, and volunteers of the 

organizing committee from the the University of Hawaii and the University of Calgary for their 

support for the conference. We also thank Professor Peter Crouch, Dean of the College of 

Engineering at UH, for his leadership and assistance in hosting the conference in Hawaii. 

Best wishes for the conference, and have a wonderful stay in Hawaii! 

Dr. Amarjit Singh (<strong>Conference</strong> Chair) and Dr. Michelle Teng (<strong>Conference</strong> Co-Chair) 

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii, Manoa 

Dr. Chan Wirasinghe and Dr. Janaka Ruwanpura 

<strong>International</strong> Institute for Infrastructure Renewal and Reconstruction (IIIRR) 

Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary 

ii



The <strong>International</strong> Institute for Infrastructure Renewal and 

Reconstruction (IIIRR) is a multi-university international consortium 

whose mandate is to provide overall leadership in research, education, 

planning, design and implementation for infrastructure renewal and 

reconstruction projects in disaster affected or underdeveloped regions, 

including for all natural disasters in Canada and overseas, covering, for example, earthquakes, 

floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and landslides. 

Partners of IIIRR (2005-2009) 

www.iiirr.ucalgary.ca 

iii



Organizing Committee 

<strong>Conference</strong> Chair : Dr. Amarjit Singh, UH 

<strong>Conference</strong> Co-Chair : Dr. Michelle Teng, UH 

Technical Chair : Dr. Janaka Ruwanpura, UC 

Logistical Support : Gina Kanekoa, UH 

Margo Alvillar, UH 

Dr. Sanjeewa Wickamaratne, UC 

Samanthi Walawe Durage, UC 

Tharindu Weerasinghe, UC 

UH: University of Hawaii 

UC: University of Calgary 

iv



1. IIIRR kick-off meeting and workshop (University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada, May 2005) 

2. Mini-symposium on “Physics, Mechanics and Impact of Tsunamis” (University of 

Calgary, Calgary, Canada, Oct. 2005) 

3. IIIRR 2 nd meeting and training workshops (University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Galle and 

Kandy, Sri Lanka, Dec. 2005) 

4. Mini-symposium on “Hazard Mitigation and Infrastructure Renewal Related to Natural 

Disasters” and 3 rd IIIRR Meeting (Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 2006) 

5. IIIRR 4 th meeting and workshop (University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, Oct. 2006) 

6. <strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on “Mitigation of the Risk of Natural Hazards” and IIIRR 5 th 

meeting (University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka, March 2007) 

7. <strong>International</strong> Symposium on “A Dynamic Approach to the Mitigation of Natural Disasters” 

and IIIRR 6 th meeting and workshop (University of Calgary, Canada, April 2008) 

8. Workshop on “Natural Disaster Risk Reduction and Planning” funded by the Canadian 

<strong>International</strong> Development Agency (University of Calgary and University of Moratuwa, 

Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 2008) 

9. <strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on “Impact of the Mitigation of the Natural Hazards and 

Disasters on Social and Economic Infrastructure Development” (University of Moratuwa, 

Ahungalla, Sri Lanka, July 2009) 

10. <strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on “Disaster Management” (University of Hawaii, Manoa, 

Hawaii, USA, November 2010) 

Future Activities: 

11. <strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on “Building Resilience: Interdisciplinary Approaches to 

Disaster Risk Reduction and the Development of Sustainable Communities” (University 

of Salford(UK), Dambulla, Sri Lanka, July 2011 

v



List of Abstracts 

Plenary Session 1: Emergency Preparedness 

1. Overview of joint task force homeland defense 

A. Abdmishani 1 

2. Preparedness and mitigation strategies using DIMSUS: 

disaster impact mitigation support system 

E. H. Oh, A. Deshmukh, and M. Hastak 2 

3. A preliminary network for tornado warning in Alberta 

S. Durage, S.C. Chan Wirasinghe, and J.Y. Ruwanpura 3 

4. Earthquake preparedness: A case study of public training in Iran 

F. Sadeghpour and M. Andayesh 4 

Plenary Session 2: Hazard Analysis & Planning 

1. Empirical study on dynamic change of flood risk curve in Kosen 

town, Kumamoto 

T. Fujimi, R. Kakimoto, and F. Yamada 5 

2. Mapping underground utilities integrating GPS and laser 

technologies 

A. Chasey and A. Patel 6 

3. Numerical and experimental study on the effect of coral reef and 

beach vegetation as natural barriers on reduction of long wave 

run-up 

R. Mohandie and M. Teng 7 

4. Mitigating seismic hazards in Hawaii through the use of an expert 

system 

H.M. Greenway, K. Miyagi, K. Edwards, and D. Thomas 8 

vi



Plenary Session 3: Risk Management 

1. Methodology to locate the optimum location for new facilities 

and server systems for disaster risk reduction 

K.P.H. Perera, S. Bandara, and S.C. Chan Wirasinghe 9 

2. Implementation of disaster mitigation in mountainous area through 

risk communication 

R. Kakimoto, F. Yamada, and T. Fujimi 10 

3. Lessons learned from the California safety assessment program: 

Organization and performance 

T. Korman 11 

4. Network modeling for reliability assessment of tsunami warning and 

evacuation systems 

S. Wickramaratne, J.Y. Ruwanpura, and S.C. Chan Wirasinghe 12 

Plenary Session 4: Construction Management and Structures 

1. Sustainability impact on construction management in developing 

countries: Iraq as a case study 

B. Mohamed 13 

2. Post-disaster water supply in Peru 

J. Foster, G. El-Swaify, J. Tyler, and A. Singh 14 

3. Assessment and retrofitting of structures 

R. Dissanayake 15 

4. Lessons learned from the February 27, 2010 magnitude 8.8 Chilean 

earthquake 

I. N. Robertson 16 

vii



Plenary Session 5: Reconstruction and Infrastructure 

1. 200 houses in 30 days after disaster 

S. Patel and M. Hastak 17 

2. Socio-economic conditions of post conflict housing reconstruction 

K. Seneviratne, and D. Amaratunga, and R. Haigh 18 

3. Private construction sector engagement in post-disaster 

reconstruction 

R. Sutton and R. Haigh 20 

4. Improving Infrastructure in Nicaragua 

J. Tyler, G. El-Swaify, J. Foster, and A. Singh 21 

5. The Malik SuperSyntegration as the most effective and efficient tool 

for immediate disaster response coordination 

A. Reissberg 23 

Plenary Session 6: Tsunami and Weather Analysis and Mitigation 

1. Tsunami damage survey after the February 27, 2010 8.8 Chilean 

Earthquake 

I. N. Robertson 25 

2. Failure Modelling of tsunami warning and evacuation systems 


3. Human body flowing experiments by tsunami 

T. Arikawa 27 

4. Tsunami mitigation planning for Sri Lanka – A decision theoretic 

approach 


viii

<strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Disaster Management 


University of Hawaii at Manoa 

Honolulu, 15-16 November 2010 

ABSTRACTS





OVERVIEW OF JOINT TASK FORCE HOMELAND DEFENSE 

A. M. Abdmishani, Joint Task Force- Homeland Defense, Amir.abdmishani@us.army.mil 

The Joint Task Force Homeland Defense (JTF-HD) briefing will provide an overview of the organization 

and mission of Joint Task Force Homeland Defense. The briefing will highlight JTF-HD‟s role in assisting 

partner nations and U.S. territories in their preparation for an All Hazards event, as well as demonstrate 

the tools used to track disasters and share information with interagency partners. The briefing will also 

outline JTF-HD‟S support to civil authorities in a HA/DR event, highlighting JTF-HD‟s support of FEMA in 

domestic disasters and support to USAID during an international crisis. The briefing will also offer an indepth 

look at JTF-HD„s response to the September 2009 American Samoa tsunami and explore the 

challenges encountered during the response. 

1





A PRELIMINARY NETWORK ON TORNADO WARNING FOR ALBERTA 

S.W.Durage, Project Management Specialization, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of 

Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada, swalawed@ucalgary.ca 

J.Y.Ruwanpura, Project Management Specialization, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of 

Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada, janaka@ucalgary.ca 

S.C.Wirasinghe, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, 

Canada, chan.wirasinghe@ucalgary.ca 

Tornadoes are nature‟s most violent storms with rotating columns of high velocity wind capable of 

creating incredible amount of damage and significant numbers of fatalities and injuries. Canada 

experiences more tornadoes than any other country with the exception of the USA, with approximately an 

average of 80 occurrences reported annually. Alberta is a province in the Canadian Prairies located on 

the fringe of tornado alley in North America. Although the frequency and the impact of tornadoes have not 

been high in Alberta compared to the rest of the tornado alley, in the recent past Alberta has experienced 

two major events in 1987 and 2000. These two events are among the country‟s top ten deadliest 

tornadoes. Effective communication of tornado warnings to the public plays a major role in reducing the 

risk of death and injury during such events. This presentation includes a recent investigation to explore 

the impact of past tornadoes and to understand the tornado warning and communication procedures 

adopted in Alberta. Content analyses of the web pages of Environment Canada and Public Safety 

Canada and other related literature were conducted to understand the national level tornado watch and 

warning services. Discussions were carried out with the officials of the Alberta Emergency Management 

Agency and the Calgary Emergency Management Agency to learn how they are associated with tornado 

warning communication at both regional and local levels. Based on this information, the sequence of 

major components from the process of tornado detection to evacuation of vulnerable communities was 

determined and the information flow was developed as a network. This research provides useful insights 

into strengths and weaknesses of the existing tornado warning and communication systems in Alberta. 

The researchers plan to investigate the development of a more efficient tornado warning and 

communication system for Alberta to mitigate the impact of tornadoes to public and property. 

2





PREPAREDNESS AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES USING DIMSUS: 

DISASTER IMPACT MITIGATION SUPPORT SYSTEM 

E. H. Oh, Construction Engineering & Management, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West 

Lafayette, IN, USA, ohe@purdue.edu 

A. Deshmukh, Construction Engineering & Management, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, 

West Lafayette, IN,USA, deshmukh@purdue.edu 

M. Hastak, Construction Engineering & Management, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Dr., West 

Lafayette, IN, hastak@purdue.edu 

Impacts caused by natural disasters, such as the earthquake in Ichuan, China, and the recent floods in 

Indiana and Iowa damaged residents and main infrastructure destructively, as well as, functions and 

services of associated industries in the affected areas. A common observation in the analyses of these 

natural disaster events is the inadequacy of critical infrastructure to withstand the forces of natural 

calamities and the lack of mitigation strategies when they occur on the part of emergency-related 

organizations, industries, and communities. If the emergency-related agencies thus could identify and 

fortify the vulnerable critical infrastructure ahead of time, the damage and impacts can be significantly 

reduced. 

This paper introduces the framework of a decision support model, disaster impact mitigation support 

system (DIMSUS), which was established based on inter-relationships between infrastructure and 

associated industries. The inter-relationships are defined in terms of the dependency of activities of local 

industries and communities on associated critical infrastructure. Data for disaster impact analysis in terms 

of the social, economic, and technical aspects were collected from the Midwest areas that were severely 

affected by the 2008 Midwest floods. 

Measurement factors, such as social and economic contribution, the potential damage of the critical 

infrastructure, and the probability of occurrence, were identified in order to establish the network system 

of the DIMSUS, which uses Bayesian network theory and the system dynamics simulation method. The 

main functions of DIMSUS are criticality, vulnerability, and severity assessments in order to identify critical 

and vulnerable infrastructure, timeline of being vulnerable and the level of severity of damaged 

infrastructure. DIMSUS allows the development of customized strategies and plans for preparedness, 

response, and recovery of communities and industries. Eventually, a better understanding of the impact 

of disasters on infrastructure and associated industries and communities would assist emergency-related 

agencies in identifying appropriate disaster mitigation strategies. 

3





EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC 

TRAINING IN IRAN 

M. Andayesh, Project Management Specialization, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Calgary, Canada, 

m.andayesh@ucalgary.ca 

F. Sadeghpour, Project Management Specialization, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Calgary, 

Canada, farnaz@ucalgary.ca 

Iran is located on the World earthquake belt. Several shakes are recorded every year all over the country. 

The 2003 Bam earthquake, with more than 25,000 casualties and 25,000 injuries, was the most 

destructive earthquake in the current century in Iran. This earthquake played the role of an eye opener 

and became the start point for various mitigation and preparedness activities in several major cities all 

over the country. Tehran, the capital of Iran, is the main social, economical and political center in the 

country with a population of more than 7.7 million people. With four main faults and several previous 

sever shakes in its history, Tehran is considered as one of the most vulnerable cities in the country. 

Following the Bam earthquake, the need for preparedness became an obvious matter for the city of 

Tehran. Several preparedness activities such as creating evacuation plans and training professional 

rescue teams took place as part of these efforts. Among these activities, public training is regarded very 

challenging since it involves training and communicating with regular citizens who may not even have 

relevant backgrounds. As one of the main outcomes of public training is self survival during earthquake, it 

will have a direct impact on reducing human casualties, and therefore, deserves more attention in 

earthquake preparedness plans. 

As part of planning for earthquake preparedness and mitigation, The City of Tehran has assigned an 

internal unit, Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization (TDMMO), to coordinate disaster 

management issues, namely: Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Reconstruction in Tehran. Under 

preparedness activities, TDMMO defined a public training project for regular citizens. In January 2008 

this project was assigned to a local NGO, Nahal Future Studies Center for execution. During the 8-month 

execution period of this project, 60 public seminars were held and more than 2500 citizens were trained. 

Calibrating tests were conducted to compare the participants‟ knowledge before and after the training. 

The results showed a great improvement in participants understanding of earthquake preparedness as a 

result of these trainings. This paper shares the experience of this successful case study on earthquake 

preparedness public training. It presents details of teaching packages, instructor preparation, and seminar 

organization. In the end lessons learned and best practices from this project that can be used in similar 

projects in the future are presented. 

4





EMPIRICAL STUDY ON DYNAMIC CHANGE OF FLOOD RISK CURVE 

IN KOSEN TOWN, KUMAMOTO 

T. Fujimi, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, fujimi@kumamoto-u.ac.jp 

R. Kakimoto, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, kakimoto@kumamoto-u.ac.jp 

F. Yamada, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, yamada@kumamoto-u.ac.jp 

In Japan, the large number of flood control facilities has been constructed since 1950‟s, which can reduce 

the number of flood. However, ironically, the decrease of the number of flood makes us feel safe even in 

potentially flood vulnerable area and attracts more population and properties there. Economic damage is 

thought to be more severe if flood happens. Thus, we can make a hypothesis that flood risk structure is 

changing from high frequency, low damage type to low frequency, high damage type. We verify it by 

observing the dynamic chance of flood risk curves. Our research subject area is Kosen town in 

Kumamoto city in Japan where inland water flood frequently occurs once or twice every year. We plot 

flood risk curves in 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, respectively by the following steps. First, the 

subject area is divided into 5m * 5m meshes. We input land-use, buildings, and land elevation data into 

each meshes by reference to paper map and laser profiler data. Second, we predict each amount of 

participation corresponding to 5, 10, 50 years return period and simulate the inundation areas and depths 

corresponding to them. Third, the economic loss is estimated each year and each return period by 

following the guideline of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation. Finally, we plot 8 risk 

curves. On the whole, the risk curve gradually shift to left, which means flood risk is getting small. This is 

because the population in Kosen town has been decreasing since 1980. On the other hand, the economic 

damage has been increasing since 2000 if we focused on 100 and 200 years return period cases. This is 

caused by the increase of people living surrounding the flood control basin. These results empirically 

verify that the flood risk basin triggered to change risk structure from high frequency, low damage type to 

low frequency, high damage type. 

5





MAPPING UNDERGROUND UTILITIES INTEGRATING GPS AND 

LASER TECHNOLOGIES 

A. D. Chasey, Arizona State University, AZ, USA, achasey@asu.edu 

A. Patel, Arizona State University, AZ, USA, Alpeshkumar.patel@asu.edu 

The U.S. continues to face the challenge of correctly identifying underground utilities. Records of utility 

locations are rarely available and if available, much of the data is located relative to ground level or 

physical features which may no longer be in existence or have been altered. Having accurately mapped 

utilities and knowing their location will not only improve construction efficiency but will also reduce 

accidental damage to utility services which cause interruptions and loss of service. 

A methodology to integrate Global Positioning System (GPS) and laser technology will be outlined. This 

process will assist collecting underground utility field location data, accurately and consistently, in a 

minimal amount of time, with less effort, while maintaining maximum safety. It will also form a framework 

to develop a permanent database in which data collected regarding utility locations can be stored and 

retrieved in a three dimensional geo-referenced map for future use. 

This research focused on utilities which were installed using an open trench method. The integrated 

technology was tested under construction field conditions and the preliminary results indicate that utility 

data can be collected quickly and cost effectively using these integrated technologies. The positional 

accuracy of the underground utilities was mapped in three dimensions (3D) within ± 0.45m accuracy. 

6





NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF 

CORAL REEF AND BEACH VEGETATION AS NATURAL BARRIERS 

ON REDUCTION OF LONG WAVE RUN-UP 

R. Mohandie, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, 

rmohandi@hotmail.com 

M. H. Teng, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 

Honolulu, HI, USA, teng@eng.hawaii.edu 

A joint numerical and experimental study was carried out to examine the mitigating capabilities of coral 

reefs and vegetations as natural barriers on tsunami and storm surge run-up. Nonlinear wave equations 

were solved numerically to simulate wave propagation over variable water depth such as that over a reef 

and to predict the wave run-up onto coastal land with different types of vegetation. The experiments were 

performed in a wave tank at the University of Hawaii and also in the large NSF funded tsunami basin at 

the Oregon State University. 

In this study, long waves with various amplitudes and wavelengths propagating over coral reefs of 

different lengths and heights were investigated to quantify under which conditions a coral reef may be 

effective in reducing wave run-up. We found that for reefs to be effective as a barrier for long waves such 

as tsunamis and storm surges, the reefs must be sufficiently long in the wave propagation direction, for 

example, its length shall be at least of the same magnitude as the wavelength or longer. In this study, it 

was shown that an effective reef can reduce the long wave run-up by as much as 50% by the combined 

reef-induced effects of wave separation and wave breaking. 

Three types of vegetation, namely, grass, shrub and coconut trees, were modeled and investigated to 

examine each particular type‟s effectiveness in reducing wave run-up. All three types of vegetation were 

found to be effective in reducing wave run-up especially on mildly sloped beaches with a reduction rate 

ranging from 20% to more than 50%. A numerical simulation that incorporated the effects of coral reef 

and the combined vegetation types showed that on a 5 degree slope the reduction in run-up was 61% as 

compared to an unprotected scenario (no vegetation or coral reef). 

7





MITIGATING SEISMIC HAZARDS IN HAWAII THROUGH THE USE OF 

AN EXPERT SYSTEM 

M. Greenway, Computer Science Department, University of Hawaii-Hilo, HI, USA, 

mtgreenway@gmail.com 

K. Miyagi, Computer Science Department, University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hilo, HI , USA, mkohei@gmail.com 

H. K. Edwards, Computer Science Department, University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hilo, HI, USA, 

hedwards@hawaii.edu 

D. Thomas, Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes, University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hilo, HI , USA, 

dthomas@soest.hawaii.edu 

The Kiholo Bay earthquake in 2006 resulted in extensive damage to post and pier homes on the Big 

Island of Hawaii. Post and pier is one of the most prevalently used methods for residential construction in 

Hawaii and thus a large amount of homes are at risk from future earthquakes. 

In order to help mitigate the potential for future damage from earthquakes to these homes, FEMA 

commissioned a report on how to increase the earthquake resistance of post and pier construction. The 

result was a suite of engineered retrofits designed to be suitable for a range of post and pier constructed 

homes. The report generates individual retrofits based upon several parameters such as square footage, 

post height, post spacing, and home location. Depending on the values of these factors, the report guides 

the homeowner to one or more appropriate retrofit recommendations selected from a matrix consisting of 

more than 2130 possible configurations. 

While sound from an engineering perspective, the volume of the report had the potential to be difficult for 

the common home owner to understand. In order to make the results of this report more accessible to the 

general public, this research group developed a web-based expert system. This expert system makes the 

recommendations from the report more accessible to homeowners in Hawaii. The system also assists 

them with performing these retrofits by producing a detailed instruction and parts list document. Finally, 

this system can be extended through a software product line architecture in order to address other types 

of hazards with their own unique regions, factors, and recommendations. 

8





METHODOLOGY TO SELECT THE OPTIMUM LOCATION FOR NEW 

FACILITIES AND SERVER SYSTEMS FOR DISASTER RISK 

REDUCTION 

K.P.H. Perera, Road Development Authority, Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka, 

piyaruwan@gmail.com 

J.M.S.J. Bandara, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, 

Bandara@civil.mrt.ac.lk 

S.C. Wirasinghe, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada, 

Chan.Wirasinghe@ucalgary.ca 

Disaster Management or Disaster Risk Reduction is known as preparing for unavoidable disasters before 

they occur, disaster response, and supporting& rebuilding society. Disaster that may demolish emergency 

facilities will have a higher impact on human life. At the same time requirement to establish new service 

facilities will increase to satisfy the demand. Therefore, determination of the number and the locations of 

emergency facilities / server systems that maximizes the operating efficiency to reduce disaster impacts 

and manage the risk will be very important. 

In this paper, a methodology is presented to find the optimum locations for new facilities where there are 

existing demands points to be found. To explain this research the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 can be 

considered as a case study. Due to the tsunami, many people lost their residences. Internally Displaced 

Person (IDP) Camps were located to protect such victims. The IDP Camps had several necessities such 

as food and water. So the operational requirements are storage facilities, efficient distribution and 

minimization of the transportation cost. IDP Camps were considered as demand points, and supply points 

can be considered as emergency storages for the required facilities. The key elements are the 

transportation between demand points and supply points but there may also be some internal 

transportation between supply points/emergency facilities which also need to be considered. 

The objective is to find the most suitable location for a particular facility by minimizing transportation cost 

and also minimizing the delivery time. The optimum facility location that minimize the total delivery time 

was found by an iterative process that uses multi index transportation problem solution along with center 

of gravity concept of locating facilities. 

9





IMPLEMENTATION OF DISASTER MITIGATION IN MOUNTAINOUS 

AREA THROUGH RISK COMMUNICATION 

R. Kakimoto, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and 

Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, kakimoto@kumamoto-u.ac.jp 

F.Yamada, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and 

Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, yamada@kumamoto-u.ac.jp 

T. Fujimi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and 

Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, fujimi@kumamoto-u.ac.jp 

The greater part of Japanese country is mountainous area and is exposed to a landslide disaster due to a 

heavy rain. It is very difficult for local government to order an evacuation against the landslide disaster 

because of a complex mechanism of a landslide and being not able to forecast a local-scale severe 

squall. Furthermore, an aging society and depopulation are rapidly became in the most part of the 

mountainous area. Therefore, the residents need to organize the voluntary evacuation system. 

The aim of this study is to test the application of the proposed community-based disaster-risk 

management to a disaster mitigation in mountainous area. The frame of the proposed risk management is 

based on the risk communication with PDCA cycle. As for the case study, risk communication for a 

landside disaster due to heavy rain was implemented at Suge-community in Yamato Town, Japan. 

As a result of two years of the risk-communication activities that means two cycles of PDCA, the 

workshops for a disaster mitigation were held eight times and the voluntary evacuation drill for the 

landside disaster was carried out twice. The workshops were managed smoothly and the participants 

raised awareness about the disaster-risk. 

Two custom-made supporting information systems for the voluntary evacuation were also developed 

through discussion at the workshops. One is an information system of the rainfall-level in order to judge 

an evacuation by themselves. Another one is an information system of evacuation status of the local 

community in order to reduce the confirmative time of evacuees. The information networks of both 

systems are constructed by radiotelegraphy because of a poor infrastructure of information networks and 

a moderate price to make them. 

10





LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FEBRUARY 27 TH 2010 MAGNITUDE 8.8 

CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE 

I. N. Robertson, University of Hawaii, UH COE, 2540 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI, USA, ianrob@hawaii.edu 

The 8.8 moment magnitude earthquake that struck Chile at 3:34AM on February 27 th , 2010, was the 

seventh largest earthquake in recorded history. It caused significant structural damage to buildings, 

bridges and industrial facilities throughout central Chile. However, thanks to the quality of design and 

construction practices in Chile, only 500 lives were lost, many of which were due to the subsequent 

tsunami. The vast majority of buildings, bridges and other structures survived intact, providing valuable 

lessons about the performance of current structural design and construction practices during a major 

ground-shaking event. 

This presentation will provide an overview of the damage caused to buildings, bridges and port facilities 

by the Chile earthquake. These observations are based on a 5 day survey as part of an EERI 

reconnaissance team of 30 engineers, performed three weeks after the earthquake. Because Chilean 

structural design is based on the American Concrete Institute, ACI318 building code, and construction 

practices are generally very good, the lessons from this event can be applied directly to design and 

construction in the US and around the World. 

11





NETWORK MODELLING FOR RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF 

TSUNAMI WARNING AND EVACUATION SYSTEMS 

S.Wickramaratne, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, 

Canada. swickram@ucalgary.ca 


Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. janaka@ucalgary.ca 

S.C. Wirasinghe, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, 

Canada. chan.wirasinghe@ucalgary.ca 

The threat of tsunamis has been known since ancient times; yet the severity is increasing with higher 

death tolls and larger property damages owing to the increase of the global population and higher 

densities closer to the seashore.. The 2004 mega tsunami that killed nearly 300,000 people in the Indian 

Ocean countries was an eye opener that has caused the international community to contemplate on 

providing better coverage for endangered nations. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) and 

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) will provide interim service in the Indian Ocean until 2011 when a 

regional tsunami watch provider/s (RTWP) are expected to take over. Indonesia, India and Australia, 

being the top three candidates for being an RTWP, have shown considerable progress in terms of 

deploying more detection systems, nurturing capacity building exercises and improving communication. 

Given this dynamic environment, it is a necessity to evaluate the current provisions for tsunami warning 

and evacuation (TWE) for a given country. The Indian Ocean tsunami warning and mitigation system was 

tested on World Disaster Reduction Day, October 14, 2009, by launching an international drill titled 

“Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 2009 (IOWave09)” (UNESCO, 2009). The IOWave09 has been the only 

drill so far to jointly test the international warning process and local evacuations. The exercise was a 

success in many countries although the expense for the preparation and execution was considerable. 

This paper proposes an alternative with a practical and comprehensive methodology for estimating the 

durations of TWE processes utilizing the network modelling concept (Fernando et al, 2008). 

The entire TWE process can be schematized in the form of an activity network (Ruwanpura et al, 2009). 

Sri Lanka, being the second worst hit country from the 2004 tsunami event, is selected for modelling the 

national warning and evacuation components. The activity durations obtained from estimates quoted by 

the experts attached to the stakeholder institutions provide numerical input for the network, which in turn, 

could be simulated to derive a stochastic estimate for the total duration of the TWE process. Numerous 

scenarios including tsunamis originating from different source locations: Sunda Trench and Makran Fault, 

differences in daytime and nighttime tsunamis, and impact of the failure of stakeholder organizations have 

also been modelled. With knowledge of the projected tsunami arrival times in Sri Lankan coastal cities, 

the probability of successful evacuation could readily be estimated from this simulation exercise. 

12





SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT ON CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT IN 

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: IRAQ AS A CASE STUDY 

B. K. Mohamed, School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, 

mohamed@engr.oregonstate.edu 

Sustainable development contributes to the economic and social advancement of construction projects. 

Ignoring sustainability during the cost estimating process associated with evaluation phase develops 

many problems of conventional decision methodology used in construction industry in the most of 

developing countries. This research focuses on sustainability which is the key factor in all decision 

making in design and construction processes. Therefore, Iraqi construction industry should respond to 

sustainability as a leading indicator of its competitiveness. The construction management and 

sustainability could help to manage the rebuilding of the destroyed public infrastructure during the 

disaster wars periods passed thru thirty years ago and also to modernize of private buildings and plants. 

Field study has been carried out by adopting personal interviews and questionnaires conducted with 

experts, experienced consultants and designers working in many design organizations. The data 

collected has been analyzed and the results obtained show a clear weakness in controlling the project 

cost during design stage in the field of project price forecasting and sustainability moreover, the design 

work in Iraq is suffering from a lack of scientific techniques and a lack in experience in the domain of 

sustainability field. This will take an integrated approach to construction management which 

encompasses both public and private sector perspectives for building and engineering construction and 

the roles played by all the participants in the construction team (owners, contractors, design 

professionals, and other supporting professionals). 

The research investigates the most important factors of sustainable building projects and aims to describe 

a comprehensive and explicit framework for sustainable construction and to explore and evaluates the 

factors which have the most cost impact on the setting of reliable sustainable construction project budget 

estimated at the early stages of the design process creative approaches to building performance 

assessment with general sustainability characteristics. 

13





POST-DISASTER WATER SUPPLY IN RURAL PERU 

J. Foster, Department of Ocean Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

G. El-Swaify, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

J. Tyler, Department of Ocean Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

A. Singh, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

On August 15, 2007, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Peru. Most of the 

approximately 519 casualties occurred in the city of Pisco, which was at least 80% destroyed. Located 

roughly 18 km north of Pisco, the small farming community of La Garita del Carmen suffered damage or 

collapse of 95% of the homes during the earthquake. Due to the relatively small population of La Garita 

(1,412), immediate assistance in the community was limited to temporary housing and the installation of 

latrines. However, no long-term relief plans had been initialized months after the earthquake. In 

December 2007, student members of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) -University of Hawai„i (UH) 

chapter traveled to La Garita to determine the post-earthquake needs of the community and begin to 

develop a plan for long-term assistance. 

Approximately 60% of the water distribution tanks used for water supply in the community were destroyed 

by the earthquake. Since then, residents of La Garita have relied on fifty-five gallon drums of water being 

trucked into the community to meet their fresh water needs. However, due to resource scarcity, each 

family is limited to two drums (110 gallons) per week. This presentation will discuss the findings of EWB- 

UH as well as present a holistic, multi-disciplinary, long-term assistance plan for mitigating effects of 

future disasters on a rural developing community. Among the feasible solutions is digging new wells, 

constructing pipelines from wells at a distance, purifying water from streams, and creating a system of 

regular supply by truck from another city. 

As determined by the initial site visit, a potable water distribution system is the most crucial component to 

the recovery of the community. This system will be designed by EWB-UH and constructed by residents of 

La Garita as well as members of EWB-UH. This presentation will discuss plans and challenges facing the 

design and implementation of this system. Challenges include minimizing costs while incorporating 

disaster resilience, coordination of efforts across international boundaries, and raising money for the 

project. 

14





ASSESSMENT AND RETROFITTING OF STRUCTURES 

R. Dissanayake, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, ranjith@civil.pdn.ac.lk 

Numerous structures require retrofitting due to various reasons such as ageing, environmental attack, 

increase of load, change of function, design or construction errors and etc. Retrofitting is also required to 

mitigate effects of a disaster. In order to determine retrofitting schemes and methods that are most 

desirable in terms of costs and technical advantages, it is essential to do a structural assessment to 

understand its actual structural condition. This study introduces and discusses the principles of assessing 

and retrofitting of structures and also the relevant modern retrofitting techniques. A few examples of 

retrofitting structures with materials such as steel and concrete, prestressed concrete and fibre reinforced 

polymer (FRP) composites are included. Practical applications of seismic structural retrofitting are also 

discussed. The structural condition assessment procedures and guidelines includes preliminary 

investigation and planning, condition surveys, material testing (destructive and non-destructive testing) 

and field load testing. Using the data obtained from the above mentioned procedures, a structural 

analysis is performed. Based on the above results the final conclusions are made. Once it is decided to 

retrofit, a detailed structural analysis is required to be performed. Based on the results of structural 

assessment and the detailed structural analysis, the method(s) and material(s) of the retrofitting is 

proposed. The structural analysis of a proposed retrofitting scheme is usually based on loads and 

stresses specified by the client. A detailed structural analysis should have two objectives: (a) to take 

advantage of the methods available today with emphasis on structural behaviour and (b) to identify those 

elements that need retrofitting. Where deficiencies are observed, retrofitting should be combined with the 

necessary level of repairs. If the structural analysis is satisfied, the proposed retrofitting will be 

implemented. Otherwise the structure is re-analysed considering some more improvement of retrofitting 

method(s) or material(s) until it satisfies the required improvement of the structure. 

15





LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE CALEMA SAFETY ASSESSMENT 

PROGRAM: ORGANIZATION AND PERFORMANCE 

T. M. Korman, California Polytechnic State University, CA, USA, tkorman@calpoly.edu 

Following the occurrence of a natural disaster, such as flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes, local 

building officials have often struggled in the effort to evaluate building safety of hundreds or thousands of 

damaged structures under their jurisdiction. Recognizing the lack of ability of local building officials to 

perform multitudes of inspections in short periods of time and the need to have a cadre of trained 

professionals available to assist local governments, the California Emergency Management Agency 

(CalEMA) developed the Safety Assessment Program (SAP) which utilizes volunteers and mutual aid 

resources to provide professional engineers, architects, and certified building inspectors to assist local 

governments in safety evaluation of their built environment in an aftermath of a disaster. The SAP 

provides experienced professionals who can quickly evaluate damaged structures, identifying those that 

are safe for occupancy to which people can return, while marking those that are unsafe or have restricted 

use. The SAP is managed by CalEMA with cooperation from professional organizations. SAP produces 

two resources, SAP Evaluators and Coordinators, which are local government representatives that 

coordinate the program. SAP has been used successfully in responding to disasters, such as the 

Northridge, Napa, and San Simeon earthquakes in California, as well as in response to Hurricane Katrina 

in 2005. The program has three trainings associated with it: Evaluator Training, Coordinator Training, 

and Evaluator Train-the-Trainer. This presentation will focus on the lessons learned regarding the 

organization and performance of the SAP during several of the most recent disasters. 

16





200 HOUSES IN 30 DAYS AFTER DISASTER 

S. Patel, Construction Engineering and Management, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, 

West Lafayette, IN, USA, smpatel@purdue.edu 

M. Hastak, Division of Construction Engineering and Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, 

IN, USA, hastak@purdue.edu 

Disasters, both manmade and natural, are the extreme events that have low probability of occurrence and 

high consequences that affect individuals and communities. Emergency agencies have developed 

response plans to alleviate the adverse effects of these catastrophes that have diverse intensities and 

broader impact area. However, These events have also entailed constrictions on planners who are then 

forced to develop response plans that address all varied issues and requirements of victims in spite of all 

the uncertainties after disaster. These comprehensive response plans have fallen short in providing good 

quality temporary shelters and alternatives for permanent homes after recent disasters. As a 

consequence of extended stay in temporary homes, victims have experienced unfavorable health 

problems. Therefore, deliberate plans are required that provide guidelines to emergency planners in 

presenting post disaster housing assistance in short period of time to reduce response time and thus 

sufferings of victims. 

A strategic framework is proposed through this research to develop a set of guidelines for emergency 

agencies to construct two hundred homes in thirty days after disaster. The main objective of this research 

was to perform feasibility study of implementing such a strategy that would enable agencies to provide 

better solutions for post disaster housing assistance. The first two of four phases in the framework carry 

out pre disaster planning and establish relationships among the participating entities. Whereas, third 

phase includes simulating post disaster processes identified in the previous phases to execute 

optimization studies. The last phase is about the real implementation of this strategy after disaster that 

also incorporates its outcomes and experiences into previously planned strategy. This would help in 

improving the strategy for future disasters. Successful execution would facilitate opportunities to reduce 

stress of victims and encourage them to participate in the redevelopment process. 

17





SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF POST CONFLICT HOUSING 

RECONSTRUCTION 

K. Seneviratne, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK, 

T.K.K.Seneviratne@pgr.salford.ac.uk 

D. Amaratunga, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK, 

r.d.g.amaratunga@salford.ac.uk 

R. Haigh, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK, r.p.haigh@salford.ac.uk 

Conflicts continue in many parts of the world and they often cause huge impacts such as death and injury 

to much of the population, massive displacement of people as refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 

(IDPs), widespread destruction of properties, poor institutional capacity and vulnerability to disease and 

crime. 

The concept of post conflict refers to the period following the end of a conflict in a given country. The 

focus of the post-conflict period varies from emergency relief, development of policies to implementation 

of policies. In practice these activities are likely to overlap and do not occur in a straightforward process. 

The ability for the development and implementation of policy will depend on the extent to which peace 

can be maintained. Emergency activities focus on establishing basic governance and providing 

humanitarian services. Activities for the development of policy focus on the planning of necessary 

administrative and physical infrastructure and these occur when emergency activities are being 

concluded and when more concrete plans can be made for the future. Activities for the implementation of 

policy tend to be concentrated later in the post-conflict period when there is a return to a reasonable 

degree of political and social stability. 

Post-conflict reconstruction refers to the reconstruction of enabling conditions for a functioning peace time 

society. Post conflict reconstruction is seen as a long term comprehensive project that requires 

unremitting effort by the governing regime, ex-rivals and the international community 

Reintegration of displaced people claims the need of repair and reconstruction of housing and this can 

lead a country towards development, followed by peace. Post conflict housing is asserted as one of the 

most important problems to be dealt with in the period of reconstruction. By the end of most conflicts 

there was a huge housing shortage in affected countries. In the wake of a conflict, housing reconstruction 

may be a crucial incentive to repatriation and resettlement, and the rebuilding of communities as part of 

wider efforts towards peace. Investment in the social capital of disaster affected communities is identified 

as the key to building sustainable recovery. 

18





Housing reconstruction is a complex process which faces significant challenges, and success typically 

requires a good deal of time and preparation. In the immediate aftermath of an emergency, this may not 

be available. The urgent need to do something within a short space of time is not conducive to good, 

sustainable housing reconstruction, nor is the tendency of donors to set short timeframes for the 

disbursement of emergency funds. Housing interventions after conflicts are often planned and 

implemented rapidly, and in isolation from their political, economic or social environment. Local skills, 

preferences and needs tend to be marginalised for the sake of speed, and little effort is made to 

document the philosophies, methods and processes underpinning housing reconstruction. 

Projects that overlook users‟ needs and local variations in physical and socio economic conditions lead 

to dissatisfaction in the residents and remodelling by themselves or rejection and abandonment (Barakath 

et al., 2004). Socio economic conditions account for age, gender, marital status, education, average 

family size, family structure, income, occupation etc. (El-Masri and Kellett, 2001; Barakath et al., 2004). 

Socio economic features of the users are important for planning development policies (El-Masri and 

Kellett, 2001; Barakath et al., 2004). El-Masri and Kellett (2001) emphasize the understanding of socioeconomic 

conditions of the victims for achieving comprehensive reconstruction as so many aspects of the 

dwellings are bound up with socio economic factors. Accordingly, it is important to address beneficiaries‟ 

socio economic conditions in post conflict housing reconstruction. This necessitates understanding their 

socio-economic conditions in the context of post conflict reconstruction and how these conditions are 

linked with post conflict housing. In this context, the objective of this presentation is to discuss the findings 

of beneficiaries‟ socio-economic conditions in the context of post conflict reconstruction and how these 

conditions are linked with housing, based on a comprehensive literature review carried out on post 

conflict reconstruction and post conflict housing reconstruction. 

19





PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR ENGAGEMENT IN 

POST-DISASTER RECONSTRUCTION 

Sutton, R. University of Salford, UK 

Haigh R., University of Salford, UK, R.P.Haigh@salford.ac.uk 

Post-disaster recovery presents an opportunity to create more resilient communities but resource 

constraints often prevent effective reconstruction of damaged buildings and infrastructure. The task of 

rebuilding is complex, challenging, and fraught with potential pitfalls. Reconstruction is threatened by 

institutional limitations, and a lack of access to professional skills and knowledge to support local efforts. 

Consequently, there are many reports of ineffective management and poor building standards during the 

construction process. 

Despite this demand for appropriate skills and knowledge, traditionally, the private sector is treated with 

suspicion in humanitarian efforts. This is due to the concern that business is an unreliable development 

partner and is not conducive to long range planning. 

This is an account of a study to examine the extent to which the private construction sector should be 

engaged to help alleviate the resource gap frequently encountered following a disaster. This qualitative 

study involved interviews with a stratified purposeful sample of respondents representing stakeholders 

involved in post-disaster reconstruction activities in Sri Lanka, including government, non-state and 

private sector organisations. 

The results suggest that the private sector can contribute effectively through providing project 

management and engineering expertise. Current private sector support examples are identified and the 

different methods of engagement explained. The key motivations for the private sector include: 

philanthropy, market understanding, human resource development, sustainability and a focus on 

communities. The rationale for reconstruction stakeholders to engage with the private sector includes: 

access to technology, expertise and knowledge sharing. Both sectors refer to the benefits of financial 

support, the expertise of people, and of forming long term links between organisations. 

20





IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE IN AN INTERIOR REGION OF 

NICARAGUA 

J. Tyler, Department of Ocean Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

J. Foster, Department of Ocean Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

G. El-Swaify, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

A. Singh, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

The community of La Pita, Nicaragua, is a relatively remote area, northeast of the capital, Managua. La 

Pita is a coffee-growing, farming community in a hilly region, and so has traditionally lacked road and 

bridge being used. Nevertheless, farmers need to take their coffee produce to Managua to sell, but find 

themselves inconvenienced owing to the lack of road access. Moreover, the Tourist ministry of Nicaragua 

constructed eco-housing in La Pita with an aim to attracting tourists, but tourists are unable to get to the 

La Pita side of the river in their busses or cars, resulting in the eco-housing not being used for its intended 

purpose. 

A group of student members belonging to the Engineers without Borders (EWB) -University of Hawaii 

(UH) chapter conducted an assessment tour of La Pita, and were subsequently approved by the national 

EWB to undertake the design and construction of this bridge. The cornerstone of this project is that the 

local community will provide contributory labor, logistics, and local management. A contact person in La 

Pita, a former mayor of the community, is leading the effort in La Pita. He is assisted by a Nicaraguan 

architectural engineer with experience in bridge work. 

The design of the bridge, however, is being coordinated by members of the EWB-UH chapter, assisted by 

the professional EWB chapter in Honolulu (EWB-HI). The design must not only be approved by EWB, but 

has some complications, as attempts are made to economize on costs and use as much of the existing 

bridge as possible while maintaining safety. Specifically, the superstructure is unusable and has to be 

totally replaced; one masonry abutment has to be totally demolished owing to tree roots growing into it 

and water erosion, though the other abutment is usable. The first phase of design, complete with 

calculations and drawings, and a health and safety plan, has been approved by EWB, and now a revised 

design for the reconstruction of one abutment is being drawn up. 

Challenges on this project include using American standards for design and safety, finding good bearing 

rock at the local site, and coordination of the manufacture and erection of bridge girders in Managua. The 

construction management for resource allocation decisions also poses a challenge owing to language 

barriers. However, EWB-UH is providing all construction planning and scheduling for the project. The 

21





use of free design, free local labor, free construction planning, and free labor contribution by EWB-UH 

students when they get down to Nicaragua will greatly minimize total construction Professionals from 

EWB-HI are busy preparing a definitive cost estimate, which is expected to not exceed $75,000, which 

sounds quite reasonable for a 20 ft span. 

This paper will describe the challenges and efforts, the design and construction plans, the collaborative 

teamwork across cultural boundaries that unite people for a common purpose in a bridge project in a 

developing country, and efforts at raising the funds required to complete this project. But, even though 

EWB has approved the project, perhaps the biggest challenge is raising money for the project. 

22





THE MALIK SUPER SYNTEGRATION AS THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND 

EFFICIENT TOOL FOR IMMEDIATE DISASTER RESPONSE 

COORDINATION 

A. Reissberg, Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Manoa 

My proposal is to use the Malik SuperSyntegration (MSS) as a tool to set up the most efficient and 

effective disaster response for catastrophic events – in as short as 2,5 or 3,5 days, organized right after 

the event. 

MSS is a revolutionary highly innovative tool based on our 30 year research tradition in cybernetic 

management. This method is an extremely effective and efficient problem-solving tool with 

groundbreaking superlative results to deal with high complexity and solve the biggest challenges and the 

most pressing decisions of the top management level. It uses the power of up to 40 key players and their 

collective knowledge in the intelligence-enhancing, brain-interlinking architecture of the Syntegration. It 

has three parts: 

- an innovative cybernetic communication process for knowledge and intelligence enhancement 

- our holistic management systems for effective and efficient functioning of organizations 

- a menu of simultaneously implemented cybernetic instruments to control complexity 

The decision process is speed up 100-fold and the people effectiveness is enhanced 80-fold. It is holistic 

and integrates 4 dimensions: technical, cultural, management/control and time level. 

Right after a catastrophic event, as seen during Katrina and in Haiti, resources poor in and much 

efficiency and effectiveness is lost in the beginning due to coordination and information failures. This 

unique tool comes to solutions with enormous speed and implementation power to coordinate 

organizational networks. MSS has proven successfully in over 500 applications without failures, in the 

business and non-business sector. I am proposing to use this tool as a setup to coordinate disaster 

management efforts and enhance resource (time, money, manpower) efficiency by a great deal to help 

victims more quickly. 

A more interlinked world needs more effective organizations. Cybernetic tools entail completely different, 

innovative and creative solutions for the business and non-business sector that the methods used today 

cannot provide. 

23





TSUNAMI DAMAGE SURVEY AFTER THE FEBRUARY 27 TH 2010 

MAGNITUDE 8.8 CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE 

I. N. Robertson, University of Hawaii, UH COE, 2540 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI, USA, ianrob@hawaii.edu 

The 8.8 moment magnitude earthquake that struck Chile at 3:34AM on February 27 th , 2010, was the 

seventh largest earthquake in recorded history. It generated a large local tsunami and a Pacific-wide 

tsunami warning. Considerable damage resulted when a series of three major tsunami waves inundated 

the central Chilean coastline. 

Thanks to a past history of tsunamis following major earthquakes, the affected communities were almost 

entirely evacuated before the first wave struck. Thousands of lives were saved by this community 

awareness and rapid response. 

Light-framed coastal construction was generally destroyed by the hydrodynamic effects of the tsunami 

inundation. Debris impact and scour also affected more substantial concrete and steel-framed structures. 

However, many engineered structures were able to survive the tsunami effects unscathed, providing 

valuable lessons for the development of tsunami design guidelines. 

This presentation will provide an overview of the damage caused to coastal buildings, bridges and port 

facilities by the tsunami. These observations are based on a 5 day survey as part of an EERI 

reconnaissance team of 30 engineers, performed three weeks after the earthquake. These observations 

will be related to current efforts at the University of Hawaii to develop Performance Based Tsunami 

Engineering, PBTE. 

24





FAILURE MODELLING OF TSUNAMI WARNING AND EVACUATION 

SYSTEMS 




Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. janaka@ucalgary.ca 


Canada. chan.wirasinghe@ucalgary.ca 

Seismic waves generated from an earthquake (the most common cause of a tsunami) provide an alert for 

tsunami warning centres to probe on possible oceanic waves. Starting from the detection, a sequence of 

activities are triggered, including transmission, communication, decision making, issuance of warning, 

and national level analyses leading to evacuation. This whole process is guided by a number of 

international and national level stakeholder institutions involved in the tsunami warning process. For 

example, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), West Coast- Atlantic Tsunami Warning Centre 

(WC/ ATWC) and Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) evaluate the threat and issue a series of bulletins 

for the endangered nations. Stipulated national level authorities, e.g Department of Meteorology (DoM) 

and Disaster Management Centre (DMC) in Sri Lanka, further process the information and arrive at a 

decision on whether to evacuate the coastal belt of the country or not. The decision for evacuation must 

be taken at the national level, and the PTWC‟s or JMA‟s alerts only assist the national authorities. 

This dynamic signal of information which started as a detection of seismic waves and a pulse from 

tsunami detection instruments has now been transformed into an evacuation order which, in turn is 

promulgated via electronic media, police, and by the public. Ruwanpura et al (2009) and Wickramaratne 

et al (2010) discussed a methodology by which this dynamic flow of information is modelled and 

simulated to obtain an estimate of the cumulative probability distribution of the time taken to complete the 

total tsunami detection, warning and evacuation (TWE) process. However, it is vital to model the overall 

effect to the above time estimate when one or more stakeholders ceases to function as anticipated. The 

purpose of this paper is to investigate such mishaps, quantify the consequences and evaluate the threat 

with respect to the Sri Lankan context. 

A complete outage of PTWC, DoM, DMC, District units of DMC and Police have been modelled and the 

delays in completing the TWE process are interpreted against the normal operating conditions. The 

institutions can also be ranked based on the criticality of the delay imposed. In addition, the arrival times 

of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in major coastal towns in Sri Lanka, and the delays derived above provide 

an estimation of the probability of evacuation of those towns under the stipulated scenarios. 

25





HUMAN BODY FLOWING EXPERIMENTS BY TSUNAMI 

T. Arikawa, Port and Airport Research Institute, Japan, arikawa@pari.go.jp 

To clarify the height of tsunami by which the human is washed away is important for the evacuation 

project, the estimation of damage and promotion of early evacuation. Therefore, in this report, the human 

body flowing experiments by using artificial tsunamis were conduced, and the mechanism of flowing was 

clarified. 

The person stands at the same position as the log and is attacked by tsunami. The number of human is 

ten adult males and seven women. The person was instantaneously washed away by the 0.6m tsunami. 

In this condition, the tsunami force was calculated by using Morison equation. 

The results say that the sliding criterion is half of about weight and the falling criteria is about 1.3 times or 

more weight. The result changes by the man, the woman, the adult, the child, and the elderly person, so 

that we need more test. 

26





TSUNAMI MITIGATION PLANNING FOR SRI LANKA – A DECISION 

THEORETIC APPROACH 




Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. janaka@ucalgary.ca. 


Canada. chan.wirasinghe@ucalgary.ca. 

The 2004 Sumatran tsunami which caused over 300,000 fatalities and $13B in property damage 

illustrated the vulnerability of the Indian Ocean countries to such an event. Subsequently, the Indian 

Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) created the required infrastructure and provided capacity 

building over the region, which in turn gave birth to more country focused tsunami warning systems. In 

particular, Indonesia, India and Australia claim to posses individual detection systems that safeguard their 

respective territories. Meanwhile, the interim early warning service of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre 

(PTWC) will be terminated in 2011 when the sub region is expected to gain capability in terms of regional 

warning ability. However, the information sharing policy among the regional watch providers is still 

unclear given current difficulties with data access. Sri Lanka, in this context, could have been better 

benefitted had a country focused detection system been put in place. In this study, we propose four 

alternatives for a Sri Lanka specific detection system which will piggy back on the international system: 1. 

a tide gauge system, 2. a tsunami buoy system, 3. a combined system and 4. „do nothing‟. Among the 

factors to be considered will be the probability of tsunami occurrence from the Sunda Trench and Makran 

Fault respectively, for the day and night time cases. The probability of successfully completing an 

evacuation and the damage that may occur if a tsunami were to go undetected will also be considered. 

Further, the study quantifies the costs associated with the detection systems, and the cost and probability 

of false warnings. The rarity of tsunamis and the significant expenditure for tide gauges/ buoys impose a 

burden in comparison with the opportunity of saving human lives. The decision analysis provides a 

solution approach for this problem, enabling the computation of the expected values for each alternative 

for a number of scenarios considered above. 

27

International Conference on Disaster Management

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