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Congratulations on the New Year. I hope that the new year of 2015 brings everyone more good health and happiness.
In November 2014 the North Nagano Prefecture Earthquake of seismic intensity of lower 6 occurred. Moreover the damage was magnified by the heavy rain associated with abnormal weather conditions and a typhoon. In August there were landslides associated with heavy rain, resulting in the death of more than 70 persons. This is still fresh in our minds. Confronted with these disasters I understand that our development of social infrastructure is still insufficient, and that the argument that says further public works is unnecessary is ignoring the reality and is just a fantasy. We are a group that specializes in concrete and concrete structures, and it is our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the public through infrastructure that is strong and resilient. I want to see us apply our efforts in the future to the maintenance and management and proper development of social infrastructure from various standpoints, based on dispassionate observation of the circumstances and accurate judgment, so I ask for your further support and cooperation in these matters.
The main activities of the Concrete Committee in 2014 were the publication in March of "Recommendations for Design and Construction of Post-installed Anchors in Concrete (Draft)" (Concrete Library 141), as the culmination of the activities of the Sub-committee on Post-installed Anchors (Chairperson Hidetaka Umehara). Also in June "Guidlines for the fire protection of concrete in tunnel structures (Draft)" (Concrete Library 143) was published as the culmination of the activities of the Subcommittee on Fire Protection Technology for Concrete in Tunnel Structures (Chairperson Mitsuyasu Iwanami). In 2014 JSCE also celebrated the centenary of its founding. As its contribution to this auspicious event, the Concrete Committee established a Centenary Publication Editorial Sub-committee (Chairperson Tsuyoshi Maruya), which published "Japan's Concrete Technology" (Japanese and English parallel translation). I encourage you all to read this.
The main activities for 2015 are scheduled to be the winding up of the Sub-committee to Research Systems for Ensuring the Safety of Concrete Structures (Chairperson Toshiro Kamada), the Sub-committee on Non-ferrous Slag Aggregates Concrete (Chairperson Kimitaka Uji), and the Sub-committee to Investigate PC Tanks for Wastewater Storage (Chairperson Hidetaka Umehara), and having their results published. We look forward to this. Also, the Sub-committee on the Revision of Standard Specifications (Chairperson Toyoaki Miyagawa) was established in 2014, and they have already started their activities. In addition the Sub-committee for Consultation and Coordination for the Standard Specifications (Chairperson Yasuhiko Sato) is active. The organization and member composition of the Subcommittee on the Revision of Standard Specifications has been comprehensively renewed, to enable more specific and substantial revision work, with a target of first stage revision in 2017.
My strong wish is for the many committee members to bring their knowledge together, to carry out comprehensive debate, and to produce a product that will be useful for the world and for the public. I look forward to your assistance and cooperation in the New Year.
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