Events
The First Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction: Exploring New Paradigms of Natural Disaster Research Based on the Lessons Learned from the Great Disasters
Date: November 24 - 25, 2011
Venue: Kihada Holl, Uji Campus, Kyoto University
Organized by:
- Disaster Prevention Research Institute
- Natural Disaster Research Council
- International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM Society)
Co-organized by:
- The Global COE Program “Global Center for Education and Research on Human Security Engineering for Asian Megacities”
- The Global COE program “Sustainability/Survivability Science for a Resilient Society Adaptable to Extreme Weather Conditions”
Number of attendants: 124
Report 180
Outline
The purpose of this summit is to gather the researchers from important research institutes involved in disaster risk reduction around the world, and share the academic challenges for natural disaster research and issues on the implementation of disaster prevention based on the lessons learned from recent great natural disasters including the Great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. And it also aims to explore new paradigms for disaster risk reduction, and forms the mutual communication networking with these institutes.
Report
The summit started with the opening remarks and roadmap by Prof. Hajime Nakagawa(Vice Director of DPRI) and Prof. Manabu Hashimoto(Vice Director of DPRI), and all participating organizations were asked for the short presentation to introduce their activities, interests and thoughts. This was to deepen the understanding among the organizations.
In the afternoon, following to the address of Masayoshi Nakashima (Director of DPRI), the keynote lectures were provided by Prof. Hajime Mase (DPRI, Kyoto University, Japan), Dr. William L. Ellsworth (Earthquake Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, USA), and Dr. R. Sukhyar (Geological Agency, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia) about new findings and scientific challenges based on the lessons learned from the great natural disasters.
The participants were parted into four groups, Integrated Disaster Risk Management, Earthquake and Volcanic Disaster, Atmospheric and Weather Related Disaster, and Geo-Hazards, held the animated group discussions for about 3 hours on the theme of scientific challenges and the status of international collaboration research.
On the next day, there were two keynote lectures by Prof. David Smith (Cabot institute, University of Bristol), and Prof. Rajib Shaw (Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University), regarding to the issues and challenges in international collaboration on natural disaster research. After the reports from the group discussions, the overall discussion was conducted. It was clarified that the interdisciplinary approaches that should be worked on in the future and the objectives on the implementation of disaster risk reduction.
Over the further discussions, the summit was concluded with the resolution incorporating the establishment of an international alliance among organizations involved in disaster reduction and risk managements. A lot of people and organizations were able to participate and cooperate in this summit. Although each institute had been relying on the personal networking, 52 disaster prevention institutes in 14 countries have combined as an organization. It was a 7very fruitful and meaningful meeting.
