On April 16, a ceremony was held in Manta City, Manabí Province, Republic of Ecuador (hereinafter referred to as “Ecuador”), to mark the donation of seismically isolated exhibit equipment that was developed under the “Museum Seismic Isolation Equipment Project in Manabí Province,” a general cultural grant.
The ceremony (from left to right: JICA Ecuador Office Director Miura, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Morishita, President Noboa, Minister of Cultural Heritage Muñoz, and Director of the Nuclear Energy Museum Ureta Ciudad Alfaro) President Noboa (back right) receiving an explanation of the exhibits at the Manta National Museum and Cultural Center
The ceremony, attended by government and business officials from both Ecuador and Japan, was attended by President Noboa, Minister of Cultural Heritage Muñoz, and Mayor Valdivieso Manta from the Ecuadorian side, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Morishita and JICA Ecuador Office Director Miura from the Japanese side.
Ecuador has many diverse and valuable cultural heritage sites that tell of its ancient Andean history, and the government of the country has recently reaffirmed the importance of cultural preservation of these sites and is promoting the preservation and understanding of cultural assets. On the other hand, Ecuador is also an earthquake-prone country located in the Pacific Rim Earthquake Zone, and a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that occurred off the coast of Manta in April 2016 caused extensive damage to a wide area, including two national museums in Manabí Province. Knowledge on the response and prevention of damage to cultural property in the country is limited, making the prevention of damage to valuable cultural property a challenge.
The General Cultural Grant “Project for the Installation of Seismic Isolation Equipment in the Museums of Manabí” is to install seismic isolation equipment for the exhibition and conservation of cultural properties in the Manta National Museum and Cultural Center (Manta, Manabí) and the Archaeological Museum of Ojas Jabonsillo (Portoviejo, Manabí) in Manabí, which were severely damaged by the 2016 earthquake. This project is to install seismic isolation equipment for the display and preservation of cultural properties at the Cultural Center (Manta, Manabi) and the Archaeological Museum of Ojas Haboncillo (Portoviejo, Manabi). This project is expected to provide safer cultural facilities for the public by utilizing Japanese disaster prevention technology to build seismically isolated display cases and mobile shelves, which will help build back better and improve the vulnerability of cultural properties to disasters.
Ceremony attendees visit the Archaeological Museum of Ojas Haboncillo Archaeological Museum of Ojas Haboncillo
At the ceremony, President Noboa expressed his hope that the installation of the first seismically isolated exhibit in Ecuador would be an important milestone for the country, contributing not only to the protection of cultural assets, but also to the promotion of historical understanding for future generations. He also expressed his gratitude to the Japanese government for its support in making the project a reality.
Japan has made “environmental conservation and disaster prevention” one of the priority areas in its aid policy for this country, and JICA is also providing technical cooperation in parallel with this project, including “Strengthening and Dissemination of Disaster-Resistant Urban Development” and “Capacity Improvement Project for Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk”.
© Source JICA
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