Int’l disaster risk reduction forum opens in Sendai

November 27, 2017

Sendai, Miyagi Pref.- A three-day international conference to discuss measures to reduce disaster risk opened in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Sunday.

Experts from Japan and abroad will exchange views to give substance to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which was adopted at the U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in the city in 2015 to reflect lessons from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The annual International Disaster and Risk Conference, dubbed the World Bosai Forum, is held alternately in Sendai and Davos, Switzerland, which has hosted international meetings on disaster risk reduction. Miyagi is one of the three prefectures hit hardest by the March 2011 disaster.

The ongoing conference brings together about 1,000 people from more than 40 economies, including representatives of government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes and companies.

In some 50 working groups, participants will discuss challenges listed in the Sendai Framework, including preparedness to "build back better" to reconstruct a community in a way that makes it more resistant to disasters and empowerment of women and the disabled to lead disaster response and reconstruction.

The opening ceremony of the conference on Sunday was held together with that of a national meeting on the promotion of disaster management sponsored by the Cabinet Office and others.

After attending the ceremony, Hachiro Okonogi, Japanese minister for disaster management, told reporters that the government will take this opportunity to redouble efforts to strengthen disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction. The government also hopes that the public will have a better sense of self-help and mutual assistance, he said. Jiji Press