"APEC‐EqTAP Seminar on Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Reduction" was held on 27‐28 September 2005 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The purpose of the Seminar is to provide a feedback to the APEC member economies on earthquake and tsunami disaster reduction technologies on the basis of the accomplishments of an APEC‐based multi‐lateral research project EqTAP.

The research project EqTAP (Development of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Technologies and their Integration to the Asia‐Pacific Region) was conducted as a five‐year research project (April 1999‐March 2004) with MEXT, Japan as the major sponsor. The project was launched based on the discussion at various APEC meetings where the Great Hanshin‐Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake Disaster of 1995 was a hot issue. It was authorized as an APEC‐ISTWG project.

It is emphasized that the EqTAP project dealt with both earthquake disasters and tsunami disasters. Major outputs include greenbelt technologies for tsunami disaster reduction and effective methods of seismic enhancement of masonry houses. The experiences of the Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster on 26 December 2004 and the subsequent earthquake disaster on 28 March 2005 have demonstrated the urgent need to apply the outputs of the EqTAP project to practice.

In this context, the Seminar was proposed to be held as an APEC‐ISTWG project in order to disseminate the outputs from the EqTAP Project to the stakeholders in the APEC economies, and was approved as an APEC IST 06/2005 Project.

The Seminar was funded by the APEC's Operational Account. Also, a substantial part of the Seminar expenses was supported by NIED (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention), Japan.

The Seminar was organized by the following institutions.
※ Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan
※ Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Japan
※ National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Japan
※ Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), Japan
※ Ministry of Research and Technology of The Republic of Indonesia (RISTEK), and
※ Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, (BPPT), Coastal Dynamics Research Center, Indonesia

Program Overseers for the Seminar were Takashi Fujii, MEXT and Hiroyuki Kameda, NIED.

In order to facilitate enhancement of their disaster reduction capabilities, the Seminar was organized so that the disaster reduction technologies developed through EqTAP be presented with solid considerations upon their "implementation strategies", which was a key operating principle of the EqTAP.

Presentations and discussions were conducted on (1) Overview, (2) Regional perspective, (3) Tsunami disaster reduction technologies, (4) Disaster reduction planning technologies & information sharing, (5) Seismic enhancement of masonry buildings and houses (6) Information dissemination, and (7) Education. Memorial Session was held for late Dr. Raymundo S. Punongbayan, former Director of PHIVOLCS, Philippines and a great advisor for the EqTAP Project.

The Seminar provided the participants with a truly timely information source for appropriate disaster reduction technologies, and was concluded with future perspective and proposed framework of collaboration in utilizing available resources and human network.

All documents from the Seminar is downloadable at the web‐based "Proceedings of the APEC‐EqTAP Seminar on Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Reduction"(http://eqtap.edm.bosai.go.jp/apec_eqtap/index.html).

(For further information, contact Hiroyuki KAMEDA, Professor Emeritus Kyoto University & Visiting Researcher, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention/e‐mail:kameda@bosai.go.jp)

Contacts

Earthquake and Disaster-Reduction Research Division, Research and Development Bureau

(Earthquake and Disaster-Reduction Research Division, Research and Development Bureau)