Dear colleagues who are interested in slope instability phenomenon and problems,

This is a message from Ikuo Towhata, ISSMGE Vice President for Asia. I hereby would like to ask for your participation in a conference in the Himalayan treasure of Nepal on slope instability and other geohazard issues. If you are not involved in geohazard problems, please circulate this message to your colleagues.

I believe you are working quite actively for better understanding and mitigation of landslide disasters. To facilitate and promote your activities, I would like to request your participation in an upcoming conference that will take place in Nepal this year November. In case if you have already decided to participate in this conference, please forgive me and invite your colleagues to join us in Nepal.

The conference circular is attached here with this e-mail.

One of the major features of this conference is that it provides the participants several opportunities to visit various sites of slope instability in the mountain areas of Nepal as well as to see the grand landscape of the Himalaya. Specifically, the participants will visit various places in the Kathmandu (capital of Nepal) basin, slopes along the Kathmandu – Pokhara road and the Himalayan giant mountains around Pokhara valley.

During the opening session of the conference in Kathmandu, the conference organizers plan to invite high-rank government officials of Nepal who have been annoyed by slope instability problems and need international advices and support.

I intend to support Nepal Geotechnical Society, the lead organizer of this symposium, by inviting international participants but so far the response of international participants is not encouraging. Therefore, although the official due date of abstract submission has been over, I will wait for your positive action until early May.

Please support this international joint activity through your nice research lectures and at the same time enjoy the great nature of this Himalayan country.

Best wishes
Ikuo Towhata
Professor of University of Tokyo
Vice President for Asia, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering