Professor Satofuka began by discussing the trends surrounding disaster prevention research around the time of the Center’s establishment.

When disaster prevention research began to involve a wide range of areas, including people and society, a movement to establish a disaster prevention research institute took shape at Ritsumeikan University. In 2005, Ritsumeikan University established the Research Center for Disaster Prevention Systems when it was selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for the High-Tech Research Center Development Project. Based on the results of this center’s research, the university established the Frontier Research Center for Natural Disaster Mitigation in 2009.

According to Professor Satofuka, the Center's distinctive features had already been clearly defined from the time its predecessor, the Research Center for Disaster Prevention Systems, was launched. Namely, this refers to the fact that the Center actively conducts interdisciplinary research that combines disaster science and disaster prevention engineering, the traditional mainstays of the discipline, with other research fields.

Among the interdisciplinary research pursued by the Center, projects conducted with researchers in the fields of sensors and sensing and information and communications have led to numerous achievements, according to Professor Satofuka.

What kind of research is the Center currently working on? Examples include research on slope failure during heavy rains. Slope failure refers to the phenomenon when a mountain slope collapses, causing major damage such as mudslides and landslides, and these are often reported in the news. This research aims to elucidate the mechanisms of slope failure by using sensors to continuously conduct observations and run experiments in the field. The researchers are also developing a system that uses sensors to monitor slope conditions and evaluate slope stability based on observed data, such as the amount of moisture and rainfall on a slope.

Looking at the information and communications fields, the Center is conducting research on how to IoT can be used to support snow removal operations. Unlike highways and other major roads with few obstacles, on residential roads, various structures like curbs and fire hydrants become buried in the snow. What’s more, snow removal is not an easy task, since operators must avoid pedestrians, vehicles, and other obstacles.

With this project, the Center is looking at ways to improve the efficiency of snow removal. Researchers developed a system that uses GPS and 5G telecommunications to transmit photos of snow-free roads to snowplow operators in real time. In addition, a system is under development that uses LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), which measures the shape of objects by emitting infrared lasers, to map a wide area of road surfaces and analyze snow accumulation and snowfall conditions in real time in areas where snow removal is required.

In another project, researchers are working to solve the problem of communication infrastructure breakdowns in the event of a disaster. By developing a network that can connect mobile terminals, such as smartphones and in-vehicle communication devices, to each other wirelessly like a relay, the Center is trying to help build an information system that can used in emergency situations.

Numerous research achievements have revealed that the Center has accumulated new knowledge in a wide range of areas, including the elucidation of the mechanisms of natural disasters, the understanding and communication of the phenomena themselves, and even disaster response. However, Professor Satofuka emphasizes that the collaboration with the sensor and information communication fields is "only a small part of the Center's interdisciplinary research.

The Center has become a hub that connects many researchers in various fields, and from what we heard, it is actively engaged in research. The diversity of information and people gathered at this hub will be a source of innovation that will lead to cutting-edge research in the field of disaster prevention.

Next, Professor Satofuka spoke about the importance of interdisciplinary research with the social sciences, using river disaster prevention as an example.

It is clear that policies on disaster prevention are constantly being improved using knowledge derived from examples of past disasters. According to Professor Satofuka, this is why it is so important for the Center to work with governments and other entities that actually formulate and implement disaster prevention policies and to create connections with society.

The Disaster Prevention Frontier Research Forum, established at the time of the Center's opening in 2009, provides opportunities for researchers to make direct connections with society. In addition to holding seminars and symposiums to share information and issues with national and local government administrators, private companies, and other stakeholders, members of the Forum also conduct surveys and research to solve individual problems, and they teach disaster prevention courses for employees in charge of disaster prevention in local communities and companies as well as for junior high and high school students.

In this way, the Center's disaster prevention research has steadily produced results while maintaining extensive ties not only with the research community, but also with those on the frontlines of disaster prevention. Dr. Satofuka says that his goal has always been to "contribute to improving people's safety.”

The "frontier" in the name of the Center tells us that it always has an eye on the future. It will be interesting to see what kind of innovations will emerge from now on.