Not only are the large cities in Japan, but also many other cities in the world are currently (or will be) confronted by the same risk, which constitutes a real threat to the sustainable urban life at global level. Moreover, the recent earthquakes that occurred in Japan have revealed new problems of damage characteristics caused by long period shaking or consequential impacts of functional disorder of critical facilities such as the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which had not been properly taken into account as discovered by the research activities of the "21st century COE (21COE) Program on Evolution of Urban Earthquake Engineering". Such mega-scale damages caused by an earthquake may bring the Japanese economy to ruin as well as impact the world economies at the same time. In order to avoid these catastrophes and build a safe environment for society, advanced research activities on Urban Earthquake Engineering that integrate earthquake-resistant technologies on urban development, regeneration, and reconstruction into a single framework, have to be urgently and strongly encouraged. Further these activities shall include fostering of researchers and academic staff and disaster management engineers who will be able to develop new strategies and practices for implementing appropriate technologies for mitigating these mega-risks in a global field.

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