UCL-IRDR visited Japan for collaborative research and education withIRIDeS (2024/4/16-20)
Theme：The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake
Place：Sendai City and Minami-Sanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture and Noto Peninsula, Kanazawa Prefecture

Associate Professor Punam Yadav (Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL) and Dr.
Stephen Roberts (Institute for Global Health, UCL) visited Japan under a support from theTohoku University-University College London (UCL) Matching Fund under a project title“Significance of Women’s Leadership for DRR: a case of Northern Japan post 2011 Tsunami”
from the 16 to the 20 April 2024 together with Associate Professor Anawat Suppasri (TsunamiEngineering Lab) and Dr. Miwako Kitamura (International Research Collaboration Office).
On the 16 April 2024, they visited several areas affected by the 2024 Noto Peninsula
Earthquake, meet with women leader in each evacuation shelters in Noto Peninsula as well
as local government staff in Noto town to investigate the current difficulties and needs in theevacuation shelters as well as future challenge on recovery and reconstruction. On the 17thApril 2024, they visited IRIDeS to discuss on the ongoing Double Degree on disaster scienceand other possible collaborative research with IRIDeS`s director (Prof. Shinichi Kuriyma), Prof.
Fumihiko Imamura (Tsunami Engineering Lab) and Prof. Shinichi Egawa (International
Cooperation for Disaster Medicine Lab).
On April 18, 2024, representatives visited the Tohoku University Center for Gender Equality
Promotion and met with Dr. Lee to discuss gender equality initiatives between UCL and Tohoku
University. On April 19 and 20, the delegation traveled to Minami-Sanriku Town, where they
conducted an interview with Ms. Keiko Abe, a hotel owner. Her company has been actively
supporting local businesses and community members. Additionally, her company has
established 'Inochino Mori', an educational program aimed at enhancing students'
understanding of the relationship between nature and disasters in this region. During this visit,
we discovered the importance of leadership through a gender lens, informed by lessons fromthe Great East Japan Earthquake.
Furthermore, there was a meeting with Dr. Seyama from Saitama University to discuss
employment and gender inequality in Japan’s academic environment.
We hope that the collaboration between UCL and IRIDeS will enhance understanding of bestpractices and future challenges related to women's leadership in disaster risk reduction. This
cooperation is also expected to significantly contribute to the potential and capacity fordeveloping young researchers in the future.
More information
2024 Tohoku University-University College London Matching Fund
https://web.tohoku.ac.jp/ged/11688?lang=en
UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/risk-disaster-reduction/ucl-irdr
UCL Institute for Global Healthhttps://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-health/institute-global-health
Text and photos： Anawat Suppasri (Tsunami Engineering Lab)
Miwako Kitamura (International Research Collaboration Office)(continues to the next page)

Visit to a local evacuation center inShunranno-sato

A meeting at IRIDeS

A meeting at Tohoku University Center for
Gender Equality Promotion

Visiting at Minami-Sanriku Inochino-mori