GRIPS and the Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) in Bangladesh co-hosted a webinar on the disaster management on March 10, 2023 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. The Building Research Institute (BRI) in Japan also collaborated in organizing this webinar.

First, GRIPS Prof. Masaru Sugahara gave a lecture entitled, “Disasters in the world and Japan,” in which he discussed recent earthquakes and damage to buildings in the world and Japan, and Japan’s earthquake countermeasures for houses and buildings. Following Prof. Sugahara’s lecture, Dr. Tatsuya Azuhata, Director of Department of Structural Engineering of BRI, gave a presentation entitled, “Seismic Disasters under Urbanization and Seismic Building Codes,” in which he explained how earthquakes affect buildings, and the seismic design of buildings. From Bangladesh, Dr. Md. Shafiul Islam, Senior Research Engineer of HBRI, presented on the seismic evaluation in Bangladesh. The webinar, which attracted about 20 participants, was moderated by Dr. Md. Shafiul Islam.

During the discussion session, participants raised questions such as safety inspection on concrete block wall in Japan, and challenges of seismic evaluation in Bangladesh.