Opening Ceremony for the On-Site Laboratory “International Research Laboratory for Earthquake and Tsunami Risk Cognition and Reduction” at the National Autonomous University of Mexico

To commemorate the launch of the Kyoto University On-Site Laboratory “International Research Laboratory for Earthquake and Tsunami Risk Cognition and Reduction”, an opening ceremony was held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico on November 29th, 2024. The establishment of the On-Site Laboratory was approved by the Kyoto University in September this year, and researchers from both sides will travel back and forth and interact with each other by utilizing the laboratories set up both at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University.

 

In addition to the Jose Luis Macias Vazquez, Director of the Instituto of Geophysics and Javier Gomez Castellanos, Investigation Coordinator of the School of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the opening ceremony was attended by Kozo Honsei, Ambassador of Japan to Mexico, Chiaki Kobayashi, Director General of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mexico Office, Enrique Guevara Ortiz, Director General of the National Disaster Prevention Center, and Jose Alfredo Galvan Corona, Director General of the Project Operation in Mexico, Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. From Kyoto University, Yasuyuki Kono, Vice-President for International Strategy and Tomoharu Hori, Director of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute attended the ceremony.

 

In the symposium that followed, Director Tomoharu Hori gave an opening remarks and Associate Professor Yoshihiro Ito, Assistant Professor Genta Nakano from Disaster Prevention Research Institute and Professor Victor Cruz Atienza and Associate Professor Josue Tago Pacheco from National Autonomous University of Mexico summarized the long-term collaboration and outcomes of the international collaboration between National Autonomous University of Mexico and Kyoto University started from the 1990s to the present day, and expressed their hopes for further international collaborative research based at the “International Research Laboratory for Earthquake and Tsunami Risk Cognition and Reduction”.

 

The symposium also aimed to explore the potential collaboration with Latin American countries. Ana Milena Prada Uribe, Sub-director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, Colombia, Marino Protti Quesada, National University of Costa Rica, Miguel Angel Hernandez Martinez, El Salvador University and Marina Manea, National Autonomous University of Mexico introduced the current research activities and some seeds of the potential future collaborations.