We have been witnessing the dramatic consequences of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan of March 11; we are devastated about the loss of lives and homes. We sincerely hope that the Japanese members of the IACR, their relatives, friends, and colleagues will manage to cope with this disaster, and we wish them a lot of courage and strength. Our thoughts are with all of you.
The IACR board and the CHES steering committee are in close contact with the organizers of CHES 2011, which is scheduled for September 25-28 in Odaiba, Tokyo. We are all strongly committed to make CHES 2011 a success. The physical damage in the Tokyo urban area is relatively small and the CHES local committee believes that things will return back to normal in the next months. In view of this, the local committee expects no interference with the schedule of CHES 2011 in September. However, in order to be prepared for any additional issues, a contingency plan is being developed to move CHES to another city in Japan if the need would arise. Such a change of venue would be announced well in advance.