UNDRR News

The ranks of UNISDR’s Private Sector Partnership (PSP) have swollen in Japan thanks to the admission of nine new companies and a business federation, the Keidanren, which represents more than 1,300 firms and 112 business associations. In addition, more than 10 companies are poised to join.

Rice and sake from Fukushima are part of a charm offensive currently underway by the office of the Governor of Fukushima as Japan prepares to host the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March, 2015.

The launch of a new satellite to conduct ‘health checks’ on some of the earth’s most vulnerable and exposed regions marks a new era of disaster risk monitoring.

Cooperation in disaster management is a key element of building peace and prosperity in North-East Asia, a high-level regional conference has been told.

Disaster experts from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea today agreed to launch joint research aimed at enhancing the compatibility of disaster data and terminology across North-East Asia.

Senior disaster management officials and experts from across North-East Asia today endorsed the Hyogo Framework for Action as a consistent and guiding force for national progress in disaster risk reduction.

Three years on, the pain has not diminished. Today, the whole of Japan is remembering the day of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The confirmed death toll stands at 15,884 with 2,633 missing and 267,000 people are living as evacuees.

For the third time in thirty years, Japan is preparing to host a World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

– Filled with the desire to share his story, a young wheelchair user, together with his three classmates, shared his experience and vision for a more inclusive and safer community for everyone. “Supporting each other is very important, as I always experienced in my school. I wish that such support will emanate not just in a school, but also throughout a community,” said Mr. Takuro Suzuki who is a third year in a junior high school. “This would contribute to building an inclusive community where everyone, including persons with disability and elderly, feels comfortable to live safely.”

The Mayor of a Japanese city devastated by the March 2011 tsunami aims to make his municipality a global leader of inclusive redevelopment. Mr Futoshi Toba, the Mayor of Rikuzenkata City in Iwate prefecture, said: “We can start from zero and make sure that every citizen is integrated in the planning and reconstruction process, in particular those persons with disabilities and the elderly people who were the most exposed by the 11 March disaster.” The Mayor was speaking during the visit of Ms Margareta Wahlström, the Head of the UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). “Rikuzentakata has the opportunity to become a model city for the world,” the Mayor said. “Our city will have a lot to showcase on inclusive reconstruction processes that can help other cities in the world to be better prepared against disasters. We hope to share this experience to the world.”