National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, also known as NIED, is a National Research and Development Agency that conducts research on science and technology related to disaster risk reduction. It owns experimental and observational facilities throughout Japan. The headquarters is located in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture.

WWW bosai.go.jp/e 𝕏 C2010NIED FB nied.bosai YT c2010nied

History

The history can be broken into phases:
1960s - 1970s

April 1963: National Research Center for Disaster Prevention established in Tokyo
December 1964: Institute of Snow and Ice Studies established in Nagaoka
October 1969: Shinjo Branch established
June 1970: Large-Scale Earthquake Simulator constructed in Tsukuba
March 1974: Large-Scale Rainfall Simulator constructed in Tsukuba
April 1978: Headquarters moved from Tokyo to Tsukuba

1990s - 2000s

June 1990: NRCDP reorganized as NIED
June 1996: K-NET starts operation
March 1997: Cryospheric Environment Simulator constructed in Shinjo
April 1997: Construction and operation of Hi-net, KiK-net, and F-net
January 2001: NIED becomes under the jurisdiction of MEXT
October 2004: Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center established in Miki
April 2005: E-Defense starts operation

2010s - 2020s

April 2010: Operation of V-net starts
April 2016: DONET transferred to NIED
November 2017: Operation of MOWLAS starts
February 2019: Construction of N-net starts
November 2021: I-Resilience Corporation established as a joint venture company
November 2023: 60th anniversary of establishment

List of presidents

WADATI Kiyoo
TERADA Kazuhiko
SUGAWARA Masami
OHHIRA Naruto
TAKAHASHI Hiroshi
HAGIWARA Yukio
UEHARA Shigetsugu
KATAYAMA Tsuneo
OKADA Yoshimitsu
HAYASHI Haruo
TAKARA Kaoru

Locations

Source:

Tsukuba HQs
Snow and Ice Research Center
Snow and Ice Research Center, Shinjo Cryospheric Environment Laboratory
Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center

Research Facilities/Observation Networks

Source:

Three-Dimensional Full-Scale Earthquake Testing Facility “E-Defense”
Large-scale Rainfall Simulator
Cryospheric Environment Simulator
Severe Storm Observing System
"MOWLAS"

International activities

NIED established and has been the secretariat of the Japan Hub of Disaster Resilience Partners, a research network of 17 national universities, research institutes and other disaster management organizations in Japan since 2019. In 2021, JHoP established ICoE-Coherence to promote international research on disaster risk reduction and management under the framework of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, which is supported by the International Science Council and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
NIED also conducts various international activities in disaster science employing knowledge and experience from Japan such as:

Asian Consortium on Volcanology
Climate-induced geohazards mitigation, management, and education in Japan, South Korea, and Norway
Joint research with Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, United States
Enhancement of Earthquake and Volcano Monitoring and Effective Utilization of Disaster Mitigation Information in the Philippines