Early Warning

ARISE Japan’s annual public symposium, titled “Creating disaster resilient communities by ‘going local’ in DRR,” was held online on 2 March 2021. The event was attended by 60 participants, over half of whom were from the wider private sector, as well as others from academia, local government, and civil society.

This article captures the experiences and reflections of Japanese UN staff as they recall where they were and what they did ten years ago when Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded; the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated a need to ensure that the Sendai Framework, the Bangkok Principles, and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (EDRM) Framework are followed by countries to effectively deal with the ongoing crisis and minimize the possibility and impact of a future one.

Before the year 2020 had ended, ASEAN achieved a great milestone through the adoption of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2021-2025 on 27 November.

Ahead of this year’s World Tsunami Awareness Day (WTAD) on 5 November, three winners of the 2020 Hamaguchi Award were announced by the International Promotion Committee for Tsunami/Coastal Disaster Resilience Technology.

While the physical damage caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami has been all but erased, its influence on disaster risk reduction, and disaster preparedness planning more specifically, continues to today.