Japanese Technical Cooperation Project on the Reduction of Seismic Risk
for Buildings and Structures &
National Center for Seismic Risk Reduction
- short presentation -

Background of the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project on the
Reduction of Seismic Risk for Buildings and Structures

The Ministry of Public Works, Transports and Housing of Romania and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, JICA signed on August 1^st, 2002, the Technical Cooperation Project entitled The Japanese Technical Cooperation Project on the Reduction of Seismic Risk for Buildings and Structures.

The Project started on October 1^st, 2002 in the frame of the National Center for Seismic Risk Reduction as implementing agency. The duration of the Project is 5 years: October 1^st, 2002 – September 30^th, 2007. The Project was launched in the year that celebrates 100 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Romania.

Scope
The scope of the Project is to strengthen the capacity of earthquake related disasters prevention. The final beneficiaries of the Project are the Romanian citizens towards whom the Project is oriented through the contribution in life and property safety.

The goals of Japanese Technical Cooperation Project on the Reduction of Seismic Risk for Buildings and Structures are:

to improve the retrofitting techniques of vulnerable buildings in Romania;

to disseminate these improved techniques to the Romanian civil engineers;

to revise / improve the Romanian seismic design and retrofitting codes and regulations.

The Romanian-Japanese cooperation in the field of seismic risk reduction comprises mainly the following activities:

issuing of new technologies for retrofitting the earthquake vulnerable buildings and structures;
issuing of new codes for seismic resistant design and retrofitting;
seismic instrumentation of Bucharest and of densely built areas;
ensuring the development of technical knowledge by stages of training, studies and documentation, seminars, courses and lecturers in Japan, Romania and other countries;
promoting the international cooperation in the domain of seismic risk management;
disaster prevention education and preparedness of the population.

The Project is the output of four years of intensive efforts made by professionals from the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, the National Institute for Research & Development in Construction and Construction Economics–INCERC Bucharest, Ministry of Public Works, Transports and Housing, Romania, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Building Research Institute, Tsukuba and National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Tsukuba. In the period of 2001-2002 four working meetings took place in Bucharest between the representatives of the previously mentioned institutions. The meetings were devoted to the basis of the cooperation, the expected outputs and the implementation structure of the Project. The four working meetings amongst the parts decided also the types of equipments, seismic instruments and technical facilities which will be donated by the Japanese side.

Project schedule and financing
The duration of the Project is five years starting with October 2002. The schedule is as follows:

First year: investigation of Romanian evaluation and retrofitting techniques; study of Japanese evaluation and retrofitting techniques ;

Second year: collection of existing data on strong Romanian earthquakes, soil properties and vulnerable buildings;

Third year: performing structural and soil tests and investigations;

Forth year: preparation of technical manuals on building retrofitting, on seismic motion evaluation and on soil conditions;

Fifth year: preparation of regulation and norms on seismic evaluation and retrofit of buildings; preparation of documents for revision of seismic design codes in Romania.

During the Project period, 16 young Romanian engineers will be trained in Japan, 26 Japanese experts will work in Romania and equipment for seismic instrumentation of the Romanian territory, dynamic characterization of soil and seismic testing of structures rising up approximately to 260 million yens (i.e. 2.17 million USD) will be donated to the Romanian State by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, JICA. The total cost of the Project is roughly 630 million yens (i.e. 5.27 million USD).