ISSMGE Bulletin: Volume 5, Issue 3 June 2011

Askar

Message to ISSMGE Members from
Prof. Askar Zhussupbekov, The Vice President of ISSMGE for Asia

I received a letter of invitation from our editor, Appointed Board member of ISSMGE, Professor Ikuo Towhata, to write an article for inclusion in this current issue of ISSMGE bulletin, regarding 14ARC and the recent developments of Asian member societies. I am delighted to accept the invitation letter and it is a great honor and privilege for me to address my message as Vice President of ISSMGE to all members of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. The Asian Region of ISSMGE is composed of 23 member geotechnical societies. I am glad to welcome Lebanon to become a new member society in the coming month. Among almost 30 technical committees of ISSMGE, several member societies in the Asian Region are hosting the following six very important technical committees :

TC 103: Numerical Methods in Geomechanics, hosted by HKGS, Chair K.T. Chan;
TC 210: Dams and Embankments, CISMGE, Chair Xu Zeping;
TC 302: Forensic Geotechnical Engineering, hosted by IGS, Chair V.V.S. Rao;
TC 303: Coastal and River Disaster Mitigation and Rehabilitation, JGS, Chair Susumu Iai;
TC 304: Engineering Practice of Risk Assessment and Management hosted by GSS, Chair K.K. Poon;
TC 307: Dealing with Sea Level Changes and Subsidence: SEAGS, Chair is Tham– Soon Tan.

There are also Asian Technical Committees relating to different topics Asian Technical committees are including several topics such as ATC 3 Geotechnology for Natural Hazards, hosted by JGS and Chaired by Prof. Ikuo Towhata, University of Tokyo; ATC 7 Thick-Deltaic Deposits, hosted by KGS and Chaired by Prof. Nam – Jae Yoo, Konwoon National University; ATC 10 Urban Geoinformatics, hosted by JGS and Chaired by Prof. Mamoru Mimura, Kyoto University; ATC 15 Geotechnical Engineering of Collapsible Soils, hosted by KGS and Chaired by Prof. Askar Zhussupbekov, Eurasian National University; ATC 18 Mega Foundations, hosted by KGS and Chaired by Prof. Myoung –Mo Kim, Seoul National University; ATC 8 Ground Water Environment and Quality Management, hosted by JGS and Chaired by Prof. Makoto Nishigaki, Okayama University; ATC 19 Geoengineering for Conservation of Heritage Monuments and Historical Sites, hosted by JGS and Chaired by Prof. Yoshinori Iwasaki, Geo-Research Institute.

ATC19 is the latest on the list. It was established in 2010, but now this very important technical committee has 68 active members – geotechnical engineers all over the world. Prof. Iwasaki has been working for more than 15 years in studying the characteristics of geotechnical and masonry structures in Angkor, the ancient capital of Cambodia (see Photos 1 and 2). Since then, he has extended his activities to other areas in Asian Region including Iran, India, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia and Afghanistan. These activities have allowed him to organize ATC 19 involving many well know scientists and experts of historical architectures and cultural heritage monuments. The secretary of ATC 19 is the talented Prof. Mamoru Mimura who has been working in the study of geotechnical problems of conservation of historical sites mainly in Japan.

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