UBC experts are available to comment on various aspects of the March 11 earthquake in Japan.
Seismic, engineering, geophysics, radiation safety
Prof. Perry Adebar
Dept. of Civil Engineering
Tel: 604.822.6820
Email: adebar@civil.ubc.ca
- Structural engineering, earthquake engineering, high-rise buildings, bridges, concrete structures
Prof. Carlos Ventura
Dept of Civil Engineering
Tel: 604.822.6946
Email: ventura@civil.ubc.ca
- Director of Earthquake Engineering Research Facility
Asst. Prof. Solomon Tesfamariam
School of Engineering, Okanagan campus
Phone: 250.807.8185
Email: solomon.tesfamariam@ubc.ca
- Earthquakes and infrastructure — including transportation (roads, bridges), water and power systems, buildings
Prof. Michael Bostock
Dept. of Earth and Ocean Sciences
Tel: 604.822.2082
Availability: March 11 until 4pm
Email: bostock@geop.ubc.ca
- Earthquakes, structure of the Canadian upper mantle
Prof. Emeritus Peter Byrne
Dept. of Civil Engineering
Tel: 604.822.2156
Home tel: 604.732.5448
- Liquefaction in the Fraser Delta and B.C. hydro dams and bridge and pipelines water crossings
Assoc. Prof. Kenneth Elwood
Tel: 604.822.0581
Email: elwood@civil.ubc.ca
(Experienced first-hand the 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand)
- Seismic design and seismic response of existing concrete and masonry buildings, seismic retrofit.
Prof. Elizabeth Hearn
Dept. of Earth and Ocean Sciences
Cell: 603.286.0196
Availability: March 11 until 2:30pm, limited availability on March 12-13.
Email: ehearn@eos.ubc.ca
- Geophysics, earthquakes, plate tectonics
Prof. Barbara Lence
Tel: 604.822.1365
Cell:778.322.5779 Home:604.801.5779
Email: lence@civil.ubc.ca
- Tsunami modeling for Vancouver Island, emergency response preparedness for tsunami flooding and dam failure
Anne Trudel
Manager of environmental health & safety, TRIUMF
Tel: 604.222.7370
Email: atrudel@triumf.ca
- Radiation safety, radiation physics, and environment, healthy, and safety
Prof. Dharma Wijewickreme
Dept. of Civil Engineering
Tel: 604).822.5112
Cell: 778.228.5593
Email: dharmaw@civil.ubc.ca
- Geotechnical engineering, specifically earthquake-induced soil liquefaction
The impact
Prof. Paul Evans
Institute of Asian Research
Tel: 604.822.4686
E-mail: paul.evans@ubc.ca
- How Japan responds to crisis, the relief effort; organized UBC’s public forum on the disaster.
Assoc. Prof. David Edgington
Dept. of Geography
Office: 604.822.5612
Email: david.edgington@ubc.ca
Blog: blogs.arts.ubc.ca/wordpressmu/dedgington/
- Rebuilding Kobe after the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake; trade and investment in Japan; urban and regional change in Japan
- Watch videos of Edgington analyzing the earthquake: http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca
Assoc. Prof. Julian Dierkes
Institute of Asian Research
Skype: jdierkes
Gmail chat: jdierkes@gmail.com
Email: julian.dierkes@ubc.ca
Twitter: @jdierkes
Cell: (+33) 07.60.43.91.92 (currently in France)
- Contemporary Japan and the political and social impacts of the earthquake
Hon. Prof. Joseph Caron
Institute of Asian Research
Tel: 604.822.2048
Email: jpcinjp@hotmail.com
- Canada’s former Ambassador to Japan, expert on Canada-Japan relations
Assoc. Prof. Yves Tiberghien
Dept. of Political Science
Phone: 604-822-4358 (In Taiwan until March 28; email is best until then.)
Email: yves.tiberghien@ubc.ca
- The situation, Japan’s response and domestic politics, a first-person account from Taiwan
Prof. Jessica Main
Institute of Asian Research and Dept. of Asian Studies
Tel: 604.822.9305
Email: jessica.main@ubc.ca
- Spiritual organizations as key responders to disaster in Japan, Buddhist responses to previous earthquakes (Kobe 1995, Tokyo 1923)
- “Starting with the KOBE earthquake in 1995, we saw a tremendous upsurge in Japanese NGO groups and non-profit organizations responding with humanitarian aid – in some cases, they got their faster than the government,” says Jessica Main. “Religious groups participated in this and have a long history of providing various kinds of relief to suffering in Japan. Buddhist and other spiritual groups responded with relief and aid to reconstruction after the great Tokyo earthquake of 1923 and I expect they will continue to raise funds, coordinate relief efforts with local members, and offer comfort in the aftermath.”
Asst. Prof. Christina Laffin
Dept. of Asian Studies (currently in Tokyo)
Email: christina.laffin@ubc.ca
Skype: christinalaff
- UBC Asian Studies professor in Tokyo for an academic year researching Japanese literature.
A first-person account from UBC Asian Studies Prof. Christina Laffin from Tokyo:
“Things have finally calmed here after seemingly endless aftershocks through about 1 a.m. I am still awaiting the return of my partner as all trains are full and travelling very slowly. I’m watching the news and cleaning up my apartment.
“As I write, we have just experienced another tremor at 3:59 am that was predicted on TV along with a warning for all to take refuge. These warnings have been relatively frequent and alarming. I’ll remain awake through the night, shifting between the television and the front door as the aftershocks continue.”
“When the earthquake first hit I was thankfully inside my apartment preparing to meet some scholars on the west side of Tokyo. I live in the northeast of Tokyo (in Nerima-ku), at the most inland point of the city. We had experienced tremors an hour beforehand, but they were minor and par for the course in Tokyo. This time, however, the quake seemed very strong. It was still possible to move, so I grabbed my USB drive in one hand and my lunch in the other (probably not the most necessary items in retrospect) and ran downstairs.”
“Most of the neighbourhood was congregating outside and the older residents noted that this was more severe than anything they had ever experienced. We waited for what seemed like a very long time, watching the power poles sway. When the ground steadied, we ventured back into our apartments to find things flung off shelves, whole cupboards shifted, and broken glass and crockery. The aftershocks kept us running to the ground floor, then back to check on television reports.”
“My partner was flying from San Francisco to Tokyo and arrived in the evening, six hours after the quake had struck. Like many others who remain stranded, he walked, took a taxi, and is now lining up for a train home. Local transport was not running for hours after the quake, but has now resumed and will continue through the night until the backup is eased.”
Laffin is on leave at the University of Tokyo Historiographical Institute through June 2011.
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