The Earth Sciences and Seismic Engineering Center (ESSEC) at An Najah National University Participated in a training course in Japan titled "Disaster Risk Reduction and Earthquake Strategy Design in Urban Areas". The course continued for two months in which twelve participants were involved from nine countries, including Palestine. The event was organized by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ministry of Planning.

Mr. Wala' Aj'aj represented the Earth Sciences and Seismic Engineering Center (ESSEC) in a course in which he gave a general presentation about Palestine and its seismic nature. He also highlighted the studies that the ESSEC has conducted on the seismic history in Palestine, risk assessment, seismic map, and evaluating points of weakness and capabilities in Palestine. The course covered several topics including technologies used in earthquake risk assessment, earthquake risk management, the communications and information regarding disaster management, as well as field visits to several Japanese institutions.

The ESSEC also participated in another training course in China titled "Earthquake Detection Techniques in the Developing Countries". The Center was represented by Engineer Hadeel Faidi and Engineer Ashraf Al-Sha'ar. The course was organized by the China Earthquake Network Center and continued for three weeks in which the Chinese experience in earthquake detection was discussed. A number of visits were made such as that to Beijing Gagzhen Institution for earthquake detection and technology. Finally, a report about Palestine's experience concerning earthquakes and disaster reduction was presented.