Acknowledgements

This report would not have been possible without the generous help and guidance from many of our Japanese friends and colleagues, who selflessly acted as guides and interpreters, and provided much needed assistance with the logistics of the site visits. Dr. Yashimi, President of the Japanese Geotechnical Society, and the Japanese Geotechnical Society generously hosted and sponsored the reconnaissance visit. Prof. Akai, Prof. Ishihara, Prof. Nakagawa, Dr. Iwasaki, and Prof. Towhata were instrumental in making most of the arrangements for accommodations and in coordinating the site visits. Prof. Ohnishi led the ground reconnaissance of slopes and structural fills, and he and his family graciously opened their home to provide a lunch stop for the members of the reconnaissance team.

While much of the information contained in the report is based on site visits by the reconnaissance team members, important observations and background information was obtained and corroborated from many sources, including: M. Ando, K. Irikura, M. Kikuchi, K. Koketsu, T. Nakata, K. Toki, and Y. Yoshimi; and participants in the Fourth Japan-U.S. Workshop on Urban Earthquake Hazard Mitigation, led by H. Kameda and S. Tubessing, which coincidentally began in Osaka on the day of the earthquake.

The Kansai Electric Power Co. and the Toyo Construction Co. donated boat transportation, and the Konoike Corp. provided bus transportation for visits of the Port of Kobe, and to Port and Rokko Islands. Messrs. Matsumoto and Akiyama of the Kansai Electric Power Co., Dr. Konoike and Dr. Ono of the Konoike Corp., the representatives of the Fudo Construction Company, especially Messrs. Kanda, Takahashi, and Tsuboi, Mr. Yamamoto of the Ministry of Transportation, Mr. Tsutui of the Toyo Construction Co., Mr. Nakaya of the Kuraray Co. Ltd., Dr. Yoshida of the Sato Kogyo Co., Ltd., and Mr. Nitta of the Kobe Kosoku Railway Co. helped as tour guides and provided technical information about foundation conditions in the inspected localities.

Dr. Iwasaki provided the CEORKA seismic array data for Port Island. He also obtained background information about the GRS-RW wall systems and arranged a meeting with Japanese Railroad (JR) personnel. Mr. Nagato of JR provided technical details and guided a tour of the sites.

Prof. Tatsuoka generously provided information on the design and construction of geosynthetically reinforced slopes and walls, and shared his observations of earthquake performance. Prof. Matsui provided much of the background information on the soil conditions and properties in the region.

The funding for most of the reconnaissance team and the report was provided by a grant from the Siting and Geotechnical Systems Earthquake Hazard Mitigation Program of the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation Award No. CMS-9520204. Dr. C. Astill of the National Science Foundation was instrumental in providing timely support for this effort. Dr. L. Weber of the National Science Foundation, Tokyo, helped in obtaining essential information on the situation and conditions for travel immediately following the earthquake.

In addition, L.F. Harder, Jr., received funding from the Department of Water Resources, State of California, for the reconnaissance of dams and levees, and W.D.L. Finn's visit was funded by the National Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada. The financial support from these organizations is gratefully acknowledged. K. Soga would like to acknowledge support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the U.K., Dr. S. Steedman of Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, Ltd., and Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, Ltd.

Finally, we would like to acknowledge and thank the people of the Kobe area. Despite having to deal with the catastrophic impact of a large natural disaster, the people we encountered went out of their way to provide assistance and welcome, so we could learn from their experience.

Chapter One
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