ADRC Highlights
Asian Disaster Reduction Center Monthly News
● Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries
Vol. 363
June2023
TOPICS
Promoting Cooperation
with Member Countries¶ Visit of a DDPMDelegation¶ Asian Conference on
Disaster Reduction 2022:
Field Trip
Participation inInternational
Conferences
Participation in the 4th
Conference of the Society
for Disaster Education

Visit of a DDPM Delegation

A delegation from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM),
Thailand visited Japan from 17 to 21 May 2023 to conduct the “Study Visit
Program for Enhancing the Capacity of a National Early Warning System andEstablishing Cell Broadcast System in Thailand.” The delegation included Mr
Boontham Lertsukekasem, Director General of DDPM, and 11 other senior
officials who are in charge of early warning system and dissemination in thedepartment.
The group visited some organisations involved in the river early warning andinformation dissemination system including: the Kanto Regional Development
Bureau’s Kofu Work Office under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportand Tourism (MLIT); the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) under
the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC); the Sumida CityOffice; the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK); NTT Docomo; the JapanTelecommunications Engineering and Consulting Service (JTEC); and the Honjo
Life Safety Learning Center. The visits gave the group an opportunity to obtain
directly from the respective organisations a wide perspective of the latest initiatives
taken in Japan concerning the river early warning system ranging from theacquisition of river observation data to information dissemination to the publicthrough the dissemination system utilized by the emergency response agencies
such as FDMA and local governments, and by the media and mobile phonecompanies.
Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) supported the delegation by advisingon the development of its agenda and by accompanying the delegation on the studyvisits.

Kofu Work Office,Kanto RDB, MLIT

Japan Broadcasting Corporation(NHK)

Sumida City Office

Asian DisasterReduction Center
Higashikan 5F, 1-5-2
Wakinohamakaigan-dori,Chuo-ku, Kobe
651-0073 Japan
Tel: 078-262-5540
Fax: 078-262-5546
editor@adrc.asia
https://www.adrc.asia© ADRC 2023

Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2022: Field Trip

Continuing from the previous issues, this issue provides details of the Asian
Conference on Disaster Reduction 2022 (ACDR2022), especially on the field tripthat took place after the conference.
On 12 March 2023, after the conference adjourned, participants moved by bus
to the Yuriage area in Natori City. After each enjoying a lunch of local seafood andproducts at Yuriage Minato Asaichi (morning market) /Maple Hall, the participantsjoined a walking tour to observe the recovery and urban planning situations in thearea following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, with the assistance of theNatori City Kitagama Construction Promotion Office.
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The participants visited the following three places with the Mayor of Natori City, Mr YAMADA Shiro:(1) Earthquake Reconstruction Museum, (2) Teizan Canal and Restoration Public Houses, and (3)Kawamachi Terrace Yuriage (commercial shopping centre).
At the Earthquake Reconstruction Museum, the participants divided into two groups and received anexplanation from the Mayor on the overview of the recovery situation of the area and the facility's function
as a flood defence facility at the time of emergencies. In particular, the explanation of the post-disaster town
planning attracted a lot of interest, as it talked about how the population declined immediately after theearthquake and tsunami event, and how it turned to increase after the promotion of the new town planning.

Explanation by the Mayor of Natori City, Mr YAMADA Shiro in front of the Earthquake Reconstruction Museum

Participants of the Field Trip

The participants then walked along the Teizan Canal and the reconstruction public housing area, where
they were able to directly see and learn how the land level was raised and tsunami emergency evacuationsites were set up in public housings.
Finally, the participants visited the Kawamachi Terrace Yuriage commercial centre and were given abriefing on its disaster preparedness functions. After the explanation, the participants had some time to stroll
around the shopping area overflowing with locals and tourists enjoying the weekend on the riverbank.
During the two-hour field trip, participants raised active questions about the specific community
development measures and reconstruction policies implemented by Natori City, and showed great interest in
the reconstruction efforts taken in the area so they could reflect them to their jobs at home as disastermanagement administrators and officials.
This field trip was made possible through a great contribution of Natori City Kitagama Construction
Promotion Office. The brochure, “Initiatives for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction in Natori City, Miyagi
Prefecture,” provided by the office, served not only as a great reference material for the visit, but also asource of many valuable reconstruction experiences for the participants to take home.
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Teizan Canal and the reconstruction public housing area

We would like to thank once again to all those who supported with us on this field trip and those who
participated in ACDR2022.
● Participation in International Conferences
Participation in the 4th Conference of the Society for Disaster Education

At the panel discussion “Towards Recovery from the Turkey-Syria Earthquake” held in the 4th Conferenceof the Society for Disaster Education on 10 June 2023 from 13:00 to 15:00, ADRC presented the current
status of disaster education in Turkish schools and ADRC’s activities relevant to earthquake and DRR
education in Turkey along with an overview of the Turkey-Syria earthquake. Under the coordination of Mr
SUWA Seiji, President of the Society for Disaster Education, the role of disaster education in recovery fromthe Turkey-Syria earthquake was discussed with Mr Emin Ozdamar, Vice-President of the Turkish JapaneseFoundation, and Mr YOSHITSUBAKI Masamichi, Secretary General of Citizens towards Overseas DisasterEmergency (CODE).

Ms KODAMA Miki, Deputy Director of the ADRC Research Department joined the panel discussion.

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