GADRIACTIONS
Spring 2019
Volume 8—Number 1

Welcome to the GADRI Actions Volume 8. This edition covers the 4th Global
Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction (4th GSRIDRR
2019): Increasing the Effectiveness and Relevance of our Institutes held at
DPRI, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan from 13th to 15th March 2019.
The 4th Global Summit mandated to provide inputs for the contextualization of
the Science and Technology Roadmap for the implementation of the Sendai
Framework Agenda 2030. Over 240 participants attended the summit.
Through the informative plenary sessions, the participants engaged in group
discussion sessions, panel discussions as well as poster presentations,participants shared their inputs torevise the Roadmap.
Also covered in this issue is theannual international training course
offered by National Science andTechnology Center for Disaster
Reduction (NCDR), Chinese Taipei,
and the visit to Centre for Urban
Water (CUrW, Sri Lanka by Salford
University, UK.
We hope
Actions.

enjoy

reading

GADRI

An open door with a bouquet of lights
to brighten up the pathway for the
future of the S&T Roadmap which ismoving forward with promising major
opportunities for disaster risk reduction
agenda.

Contents• 4th Global Summit• Opening
Ceremony• Keynote
Speeches• Groupdiscussions
sessions• Plenary
Sessions• 4th Global
SummitOutcomes• GADRI
Regional
Alliances• GADRI 2ndGeneral Assembly• Side Events• NCDRInternational
Training Course

Photos were taken by the staff of DPRI during the 4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction held at
DPRI, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
GADRI Actions is designed, formatted and edited by Hirokazu Tatano and Wilma James.

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4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction
International Centre for Water Hazard
and Risk Management under the
auspices of UNESCO (ICHARM), Public
Health England, Northumbria University
Newcastle
andothers.
Keynotespeakers
referenced
theSendaiFramework for Disaster Risk Reductionand efforts taken by governments,
international,
national
andlocalorganizations.

Prof. Juichi Yamagiwa, President, Kyoto University (3rd from left) andMayor, Uji City (2nd from left) among others honoured the 4th Global
Summit with their presence

The fourth Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster
Risk Reduction (4thGSRIDRR2019) was held at the Disaster
Prevention Research Institutes (DPRI), Kyoto University, UjiCampus, Kyoto, Japan from 13th to 15th March 2019. It wassponsored by the Global Alliance of Disaster ResearchInstitutes (GADRI) and Kyoto University, and hosted by DPRI.
It was the fourth session of the Global Summit Series which
was initiated by DPRI in November 2011.
Stakeholders in both government and non-governmental
institutes, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, andyoung researchers involved in disaster risk reduction andresilience engaged in discussions, sharing and exchanging
ideas and knowledge. The conference specifically focused oncontributions to the contextualization of the 2016 Science andTechnology Roadmap for the implementation of the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.
The conference, among others, accomplished the following
goals: Engagement in dialogue on issues related to disasterprevention and contributions to Science and Technology
Roadmap adopted to support the implementation of the
Sendai Framework Agenda 2015-2030;

 Evaluatedcurrent efforts on global and national
involvements in the field of disaster prevention research inrelation to the implementation of the Priority Areas of the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030;

 Assessed the status of current research knowledge andefforts, and research results at institution level in eachcountry.
The conference program included 16 keynote speeches byprominent speakers from various fields and areas of
specializations. To name a few agencies among were theGovernment of Japan, The World Bank, UNISDR,

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The two group discussions were
followed by panel sessions, and poster
sessions attracted 52 presenters.
Among the final outcomes of theconference were the contributions to thecontextualization of the Science &Technology Roadmap which waspresented at the Global Platform forDisaster Risk Reduction to be held in
Geneva in May 2019.

Since its inception in March 2015,
GADRI has garnered global recognition
as a central hub for research institutes engaged in global
disaster risk reduction. In addition, GADRI was elected to the
Science and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) and the
Global Research Assessment Framework (GRAF) of UNDRR.
During the 4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for
Disaster Risk Reduction (4thGSRIDRR2019), discussions
and debates surrounded issues and directions for further
scientific and meaningful social contributions to disaster risk
reduction and resilience. One of the major outcomes werethe contributions and commitments from the group discussion
sessions to the contextualization of the revised Science andTechnology Roadmap. The contributions and commitmentsfrom GADRI 4th Global Summit were further communicated to
the Science and Technology Advisory Group (STAG) of
UNDRR which presented the revised Roadmap during theScience and Policy Forum organized in conjunction with the
Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019) in
Geneva in May 2019.
GADRI Secretariat proposed to rotate the Global Summit
series among its member institutes.
The European
Commission – Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), Italy; and theDisaster and Development Network (DDN), Northumbria
University, Newcastle, United Kingdom have agreed to jointly
host the next Global Summit at EC-JRC in Ispra, Italy inMarch 2021.
The 5th Global Summit will specifically address inputs,
contributions to the goals of the Science and Technology
Roadmap, and the status of measures and achievements ofdisaster prevention in relation to the implementation of thePriority Areas of the Sendai Framework Agenda.
The
conference is expected to further enhance the role of theinternational community along those lines.
The 4th Global Summit was attended by 246 participants
representing 107 institutes from 33 states.

Day 1: 13 March 2019 — Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony was Chaired by Prof. Andrew Collins, Chair of the GADRI Board of Directors; and Leader, Disaster andDevelopment Network (DDN), Northumbria University, United Kingdom.

Prof. Hajime Nakagawa, welcomed all participants to DPRI, Kyoto University, UjiCampus, and the 4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk
Reduction (4th-GSRIDRR 2019). The global summit series was initiated by DPRI in
2011 and the 2nd Global Summit established GADRI in March 2015.
Prof. Nakagawa stressed that as disasters around the globe continue to increase inintensity and complexity, that together, we can confront these challenges throughoutstanding research, sharing knowledge, insightful analysis and evidence-based
results. He stressed the importance of drawing the attention of policy makers andother stakeholders to take necessary steps forward to combat disaster risks andclimate change and advance boldly to greater disaster resilience in the world.

One of the major highlights of the Opening Ceremony was the presence of Prof. Juichi
Yamagiwa, the President of the Kyoto University. After welcoming the participants andcongratulating the organizers, GADRI and the Disaster Prevention Research Institute(DPRI), Kyoto University, Prof. Yamagiwa expressed his pleasure to host the Global
Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) at DPRI, Kyoto University Uji Campus,
to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015-2030 (SFDRR) and the work of the Science and Technology Advisory Group(STAG) of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). He further
emphasized that he is pleased to note GADRI’s pivotal role in the midst of the global
science and technology community. The goals and visions of GADRI and the Sendai
Framework Agenda 2030 were aligned to the Kyoto University vision of the WINDOW
concept – a vision for the future – to internationalize and localize - which was launchedin 2015. It is a set of guidelines and themes to highlight endeavours and resources of
the Kyoto University. Prof. Yamagiwa concluded his remarks with Kyoto University’s firm
conviction to support GADRI in its journey to enhance their efforts to strengthen the agenda on disaster risk reduction andresilience.

In her foreword, Ms. Mami Mizutori, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for
Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), stated that the 4th
Global Summit gathering is an important opportunity to take stock of the role that the advancement ofscience and technology play in reducing disaster risk and losses. It is also largely due to the efforts
made by GADRI and the broader science and research community. Ms. Mizutori strongly welcomed theSummit’s focus on how evidence-based research can be utilized to support implementation of the
Sendai Framework including the achievement of its seven targets, particularly those which seek toreduce mortality, reduce the numbers of people affected by disasters, and reduce both economic losses
and damage to critical infrastructure. She further stressed that this is a critical moment in theimplementation of the Sendai Framework which is an important pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and vital to overall efforts to eradicate poverty and strengthen action on climate change.

Prof. Hirokazu Tatano, Secretary-General, GADRI presented a brief history of the global summit
series which was initiated by DPRI, Kyoto University in 2011, and the establishment of GADRI
during the 2nd Global Summit held in March 2015, the same year the Sendai Framework was
adopted by the UN General Assembly. After presenting the outline of the 4th Global Summit, he
expressed the importance of working together as one science community and thereby enhancing
advocacy and advance in better engagement practices in the path for disaster risk reduction andresilience. He expected the 4th Global Summit will achieve its expected outcomes and contributeto the contextualization of the 2016 Science and Technology Roadmap for the implementation of
the Sendai Framework Agenda 2030.

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Day 1: 15 March 2019 — Closing of the 4th Global Summit
Closing remarks were delivered by Prof. Manabu Hashimoro, Director-Elect, DPRI,
Kyoto University. He thanked all of keynote speakers and panellists as well as all
participants for their active participation and for doing an outstanding job by sharing
their valuable knowledge, insights, expertise and experiences. He said that without
doubt and without their contributions, the 4th Global Summit could not have achieved its
set goals. He further stressed that the world continue to be affected by climate change
and disasters, and dealing with the consequences calls for commitments to widen,
deepen, and to share our knowledge and experiences by the science and technology
community. He mentioned that everyone should resolutely move forward as a team,and use this stimulus to improve disaster risk management on a regional and a global
scale. Although it is not possible to completely prevent disasters but it is possible tocontribute to disaster risk reduction and resilience to disasters.

Day 1: 13 March 2019 — Opening Reception
In his speech, Mr. Shuichi Yamauchi, Vice-Governor of Kyoto Prefecture who attended the Opening Ceremony Reception, offered hisbest wishes to the success of the 4th Global Summit. The Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) organizes
numerous international symposiums, through which it sharesinformation, knowledge, experiences and ideas with institutions acrossthe globe working on disaster research and prevention. Given the factthat large-scale disasters occur frequently around the world, he
expressed his strong belief GADRI activities are greatly contributing to
the development of the disaster countermeasures eagerly sought by
all nations. He continued to appreciate the advice provided by DPRI,
Kyoto University and the role played with contributions to existing andfuture disasters by capitalizing on the achievements brought about
with advanced research on disaster countermeasures.

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Day 1: 15 March 2019 — Closing Banquet
The Closing Banquet was opened by Prof. Kayo Inaba. After congratulating all
participants, Prof. Inaba opened her speech by expressing her delight, as the Vice
President for Gender Equality, International Affairs and Public Relations of
the Kyoto University, to see many female keynote speakers and participantstoo, contributing to the 4 t h Global Summit of Research Institutes for
Disaster Risk Reduction.
Prof. Inaba expressed her personal conviction to stay committed together towork towards the goals set out in the 4 t h Global Summit resolution
document and Sendai Framework Agenda for 2030, 2016 S&T Roadmap,
and SDGs. She reiterated to work together to achieve DRR and disaster
resilience in the world, and to ensure that the voices are being heard, andDRR is integrated and implemented by various stakeholders, especially ingovernments and industries.

Mr. Daisaku Kadokawa, Kyoto City
Mayor, Kyoto, JapanThe Mayor of Kyoto City attendedtheClosing
Banquetandcongratulated the participants andwelcomed them to the Kyoto City.
Mr. Kadokawa expressed his
support to make Kyoto more
resilient to natural or man-madedisasters and shared initiatives on
various community-based disaster preparedness activities regularly
conducted by the City. He appreciated the contributions from thescientific community, GADRI, and the DPRI, Kyoto University towarddisaster risk reduction and resilience.

During the Closing Banquet, the Members of the Board of Directors of
GADRI took the opportunity to thank Prof. Andrew Collins, the Chair of theBoard, for his dedication and support to GADRI. Prof. Collins was a stalwart
figure during the early-years of shaping GADRI and its activities. He has
actively promoted and represented GADRI in the UN and conferences andsymposia. He Co-Chairs the United Kingdom Alliance of Disaster Research(UKADR). Prof. Collins term of office as the Chair of the Board of Directorsof GADRI will end on 31 March 2020.

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Day 1: 13 March 2019— Plenary Session I: Listening to Advice and Management of
Science Knowledge by Various Stakeholders
This session helped orientate the summit discussion sessions to exchange ideas on disaster risk reduction activities and provide
inputs to the Sendai Framework Agenda for 2030, the 2016 Science and Technology Roadmap and the SDGs. The Chair wasProf. Kaoru Takara, Dean, Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (Shishu-kan), Kyoto
University, Japan.
MadameSetsukoSeya,
Director, Disaster Management
Bureau,CabinetOffice,Government
of
Japan
on
“Communication
betweenScience and Technology, andcivil societies- Japan’s
experience regarding the Nankai
Trough Earthquake”. She discussed the role of scienceand technology in disaster risk reduction and therelationship between the Government of Japan andthe science and technology community which has
been very successful since the establishment of thebasic act of disaster management in 1963, almost 60
years ago. The presentation highlighted effectivenessof exchange of science and technology community
contributions to the policy making processes of theJapanese government and how the inputs are always
indispensable. Ms. Saya also shared examples of thelessons learned from recent experiences and how theGovernment of Japan perceives the importance ofsuch communications. Communication is a very
important tool in the process of managing disasterrisk and contribution from the science and technology
community to the local citizens.

Mr.
Soichiro
Yasukawa,
Coordinator, Natural Sciences
Sector,
UNESCO,Francerepresented
Prof.
Shabhaz
Khan, the Director of UNESCO
OfficeinJakarta.
His
presentation
wason“UNESCO’s Priorities on DRR Activities with ScientificPartners”. His presentation focused on UNESCO
programmes and projects and the multi -stakeholder
engagement for disaster risk reduction. Examples
highlighted how to engage in programmes andprojects; how to engage with different stakeholders
on DRR such as academics, scientists, civilsocieties, or multiple stakeholders at the sametime. UNESCO with a UN mandate for education,science, social science, culture and communication
information, actively contributes to DRR. He shareda few examples on how education is promoting
DRR curriculum in the school curriculum or sciencein the local earthquakes DRR, flood management
DRR, tsunami DRR, or culture sector famous forthe world heritage sector. These activities aretargeted towards prevalence of catastrophes ofnatural hazards.

Mr. Masato Miyazaki,
Special Representative
Japan, The World BankTokyo Office, Japan on“Partnerships
forMainstreaming DRM in
Developing Countries ”.
Hehighlighted
theimportance of strong leadership and commitment fromthe global leaders and experts to partner withstakeholders around the world to strengthen
resilience against natural disasters. In order tosupport developing countries and cities to become
resilient, The World Bank and the Tokyo DRM Hubcontinue to support initiatives that advance disaster
resilience and keep fostering collaborations withinternational research communities to tackle disasterrisk by incorporating elements of science andtechnology in The World Bank investments. He
concluded by stating that collaboration have shown
major advances in technology information andresearch which can provide opportunities to policy
makersanddevelopment
practitioners,
andcommunities to understand disaster risk and keep
themselves with information on how best to prepare
for hazards in order to save lives and others.

Prof.
ToshioKoike,
Director,
International
Centre for Water Hazard
andRisk
Management(ICHARM),Japan
on:Nation’s
Synthesisconcept
designandimplementation”.
Throughfollow-up discussions for realizing the activity,
carefulconsideration
wasplacedontherelationship between the national platforms and thescience and technology synthesis for DRR as eachcountry is expected to lead the implementation of
the nation’s synthesis. The national platform is
expected to develop a mechanism that allows all
stakeholders to share information of science andtechnology for DRR in its own language. How can
the science and technology community contributeto these activities? The science and technology
community need to provide science and technology
knowledge to national governments as well as the
local governments, and civil society and local
community and people working as facilitators. For
providing effective and usual public support,
people should take action to proactively plan andtake action for their self -help and mutual supportand instead of sole dependent on national, andlocal government efforts.

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Day 2: 14 March 2019— Plenary Session II: Fostering Uptake of Science inGovernments and Industries
The session was based on the assertion that it is vital for governments, industries and the science community to be innovative
and act fast in providing scientific information with evidence-based results. Session was Chaired by Prof. Hirokazu Tatano,
Secretary-General, GADRI, and Professor, DPRI, Kyoto University, Japan and Prof. Ortwin Renn, Scientific Director, Institute forAdvanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Germany.
Ms. Shoko Arakaki, Chief ofBranch, Partnerships, Intergovernmental Process and Inter-agency Cooperation, UNISDR,
Switzerland on “The Role of
Science and Technology to
EnhanceRisk-informed
Development for a Resilient and Sustainable Future”.
Ms. Arakaki started by welcoming GADRI ’s focusof the meeting to further promote the Sendai
Framework and specifically the coherent approachto disaster risk reduction and resilience. As statedin the Sendai Framework, it is the role of thescience community to help understand the risks
and assist the decision making and policy making
processes. Yet adequate financing for DRR
strategy as well as for sustainable development
agenda is really a problem. Discussions must go
beyond traditional short -term ‘risk financing’ to themore long-term integration of risks into investment
decisions. Building political will to invest in a morerisk-sensitive manner needs to be supported byclear science evidence. Now it is more importantfor science and technology to play a key role tobetter understanding and addressing of risks.
Prof. Virginia Murray, Head, Global
Disaster Risk Reduction, Public
Health England, UK on “The Sendai
Framework and Science Advice toGovernments
toSupport
Implementation – Suggestions on
What Works”. Prof. Murray statedthat science has been absolutely critical in thedelivery of the Sendai Framework and how it should
be useful, usable and used. The Sendai Framework
reflects science throughout the framework, and thechallengeforthescienceandtechnology
community is that there is a job to do but much
more to the point, to deliver it. The Sendai
Framework Monitor contributing to Target E of the
Sendai Framework is due by 2020. With various
examples, Prof. Murray showed the difference madeby Sendai Framework in government scienceadvise, and science advise for global goals. She
also shared information about the work done by
What Works network and how it can be used as amechanism to take knowledge synthesis toknowledge brokering and how to try and informscience and policy. While supporting the concept of
the national synthesis, Prof. Murray stressed that
there is a need for partnership synthesis to get thebest evidence and make it accessible to us all.

Dr. Jörgen Sparf, Associate
Professor Mid Sweden University,
Sweden on “Navigating theEuropean Landscape of DRR –
The
Case
of
Data
and
Socioeconomic Factors”. Prof.
Sparf represented E -STAGand discussed on two target
areas the group is working on: Data for resilienceandproblems
associated
with
that,
and
socioeconomical disaster risk reduction covering
the European landscape. He shared backgroundinformation on the studies conducted to date andsome of the challenges and dynamics. Three study
areas, in particular shared were the population andpopulation density covering prognosis of differencein population densities and changes; culture andethnicities and how people perceive their identify toplaces; and corruption which is increasing partly
related to cultures but most heavily due toeconomics. The analysis of the empirical data andthe report will be presented at the forthcoming
Global Platform 2019 in Geneva in May 2019.

Prof. Andrew Collins, Leader,Disaster and Development
Network (DDN), Northumbria
University, UK on “Global Risk
Assessment
Framework(GRAF),UNISDR:
Emphasising the Relevance ofDisaster Research Institutes”.
Prof. Collins transmitted information on the work
done by the expert group of GRAF which is aframework for assessing risks. There is a vision,
the objectives, principles and process of GRAF and
it is based around the fascinating theory of change.
The draft framework is already in place with abasic and a governance structure. It is expected to
be presented and launched at the Global Platform2019 in Geneva in May 2019. Sciences andmultidisciplinarity are fundamental bases for GRAF.
It is science with a voice and impact and GRAF willbring about change and actually achieving thepriorities of action for Sendai Framework. The key
point at the end is that is the vision for sustainable
societies and systems to increase resilience torisks. GRAF has been organized extremely well by
UNDRR and it has been put together by thedisaster management community.

9Day 2: 14 March 2019— Plenary Session III: Bridging
Making through Sharing of Knowledge

ScienceandDecision

This session presented various tools and analyses that address gaps in science and technology capacities and how to bridge
science and evidence-based decision making through sharing of knowledge and lessons learned. Session was Chaired by Prof.
Tomoharu Hori, Vice-Director, DPRI, Kyoto University, Japan and Prof. Paul Kovacs, Executive Director, ICLR, Western University,
Canada.
Prof. Eiichi Nakakita, DPRI,
Kyoto University, Japan on“Perspectiveson
ClimateChange Impact Assessment
and Adaptation”. As the global
warming progress, Japan has
some increase in disasters dueto heavy rainfall. Enhancementof improving the scientific knowledge of global warming affectis very important now more than before. This emphasizes theimportance of collaboration among the climatologist and themeteorologist and the academia for disaster related climatechange impact assessment and adaptation and as well as
the implementation authorities which has responsibilities tothe public directly. In conclusion, Prof. Nakakita stressed thatrisk management will be a phenomenon of the risk hazards.
It is very important to take into account the result from theworse case classes as one of the forces. Another important
point is for climate change adaptation to discriminate
between the planning with the uncertain development andrisk managements in the worst case hazard itself.

Dr. Elisabeth Krausmann,
Principal Scientist, European
Commission-Joint ResearchCentre (EC-JRC), Italy on“Disaster Risk Management
Knowledge
Centre:A
Collaborative Approach to
FosterResilience”.
Dr.
Kraussman, in particular introduced the DRM-KC which was
initiated four years ago at the 2nd Global Summit, and conceptof the disaster risk management Knowledge Center andshared a few concrete outcomes and achievements. The JRC
is part of the European Commission and the European
Commission's science and knowledge service. JRC’s role asscientists is to provide scientific support to the whole policy
cycle, including policy, design, development and up to theimplementation. A few of the problems facing Europe ismostly due to climate change. For example, in August 2018,
the temperatures in Spain and Portugal predicted to exceed
48°, and wildfires and Natech accidents are among them.
Another example was in the critical infrastructure sectors
looking forward to 2020s and 2050s and 2080s in terms of
economic damage due to climate change. There are otherthreats and vulnerabilities. JRC try to address all of theseissues, and produce knowledge on disaster risk management
scientists. The Knowledge Center, DRM-KC for short, has
three pillars, i.e. partnership, knowledge, and innovation. The
Joint Research Centre is scientific arm and work on
knowledge and technology transfer.

10Dr. Jean-Paul Pinelli, Head, Civil
EngineeringandConstruction,
Florida Institute of Technology(FIT), USA on “DesignSafe: aCyberinfrastructure Available toDisaster Research Institutes”. The
designsafe infrastructure is a toolfor disaster research institutes
throughout the world. When dealing with natural hazards,
whether it is for hazard assessment itself or the assessment of
the community response or for the assessment of theinfrastructure response, or in any kind of analysis, it will be
generating or dealing with very large datasets which are going
to come in very different shapes and forms. How do we deal
with these very important and large datasets? Designsafe is aplatform on the cloud that could accompany the researchers’
effort from inception of the research to the final stage of theresearch including publication. Designsafe changes the way ofcontribution to the resilience of a given community. It basicallyshortens the time to post-process and analyze the data and thedata can be available within half-a-year or between half-a-year
and two years so that it will accelerate the rate of learning fromnatural disaster. The data will be available to the people thatneed the data much sooner than before.
Dr. Craig Davis, founding
Executive
Committee
Chairperson,
Infrastructure
Resilience, American Society of
Civil Engineering (ASCE), USA
on “Infrastructure Resilience: A
Framework for Assessment,
Governance and Management”.
Dr.
Davis
presented
thedevelopment framework for assessment, governance andmanagement by ASCE and JSCE. The partnership between
ASCE and JSCE started in 2017 with the purpose of creating a
global infrastructure resilience framework to improve global
understanding of resilient infrastructure systems and aid
institutions in focusing toward common goals for research,development, and implementation, and to fill existing gaps. The
framework is divided to assessment, and governance andmanagement, and it is broken down to eight elements ofprocess supported by data needs, sources and expert
opinions. It supports the Sendai framework targets in manydifferent ways. Most substantially, by considerably reducing thedisaster damage to critical infrastructure, and disruptions tobasic services, helps to reduce the direct disaster economic
loss; reduce global disaster mortality; and significantly reduce
number of affected people globally.

Day 3: 15 March 2019— Plenary Session IV: New Scientific Challenges to DRR
and DRM
The session addressed new scientific challenges in relation to gaps in DRR and DRM. Session was chaired by Prof. Norio
Maki, Vice-Director, DPRI, Kyoto University, Japan and Prof. Mahua Mukherjee, Head and Professor, CoEDMM, IIT, Roorkee,
India.
Prof. Ortwin Renn, ScientificDirector, Institute for Advanced
Sustainability
Studies(IASS),
Germany on “Scientific Challenges
forDisasterand
Risk
Governance”. Prof. Renn shared
his thoughts about the challenges
for science. Either coming from apractical background or from an academic background, it isvery important to understand what are the major contributionsof science and technology development, and assessment fordisaster research, even more, for disaster management andgovernance. There are three major types of transformation
experienced which are global in nature. Globalization: It has all
its imperfections and also its conflicts that go along with it, ispart of what have been experiencing for the last three decadesthat have tried to globalize. Digitalization which is a part of thattechnical modernization development that is facing. The last
one though doesn't exist but it fits well with the other two –which is sustainabilization - and that is our acknowledgmentthat there are limited resources. Not only natural resources,
social and economic resources. A new role for science is, first,
need to provide calls on the functional knowledge. There is aneed to be goal-oriented, strategic, instrumental concepts, andneed a process-oriented catalytic concept. All of that need tobe synthesized in an integrated governance approach,specifically when talking about systemic risk that can provide
an outstanding orientation, good strategies, co-production ofknowledge and actions.

Prof. Mohsen Ghafory-Ashtiany,
Earthquake Engineering and Risk
Management, International Instituteof Earthquake Engineering andSeismology (IIEES), I. R. Iran on“Closing Gaps Between Scientists
and Decision Makers by Creating
Demand for Safety as a Basic Human Right”. There weredifferent types of frameworks – they all have one message in
different languages which says saving of human lives andresources. Why change the platforms? When one systemappears to fail, another framework or a different language isbrought forward. But all have the same one objective - savehuman lives and resources. But you have to change yourlanguage throughout the past 30 some years. Even though wehave changed our language, the fact remain, that considering
the existing knowledge that has been created especially aftermid 60s and 70s, technologies, standards, guidelines,
strategies, policies, always international levels, one would
expect to see change with these policies, and all these
initiatives, and it would make our built environment safer. We
expect our built environment would be, or would have at least
meet the minimum safety and quality standards. It is not. All of
the global, national reports these days, show that we are still
living in a vulnerable environment with high risk. Disaster
reduction strategies and plan have not yet effectively
implemented around the world. And the proof of this statement
is the casualties and losses that we see and hear after each
event.

Prof.
DesmondManatsa,
Full
Professor, Geography Department,
BinduraUniversityof
Science,
Zimbabwe on “Taming New Scientific
Challenges to Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) and Disaster Risk Management(DRM) in Africa”. When faced with the
new scientific challenges all over theworld, and by the way these are affecting the world is quite
different. In a developed world, the effect is more positive but inAfrica, it is more of a challenge. Prof. Manatsa articulated, how
as a global village, to term these challenges in Africa to become
positive. Africa is the only continent whose share of reported
disasters in the world total has increased over the past decades.
Whilst disasters in other parts of the world are decreasing,disasters in Africa, they are increasing. The new global scientificknowledge has become increasingly complex. Now, with just aclick of a mouse, people are exposed to unlimited amount ofscientific knowledge more than any other time in history. Prof.
Manatsa resonated that scientific community should thrive tocapacitate the institutions from Africa to enable them to be more
systematic in knowledge management. Africa lacks financial
resources but in need of the knowledge in order to be hand-inglove with the rest of the world to combat to reduce the risks andmanage disasters.

Prof. Rajib Shaw, Keio University,
Japan; and Chair, STAG, UNDRR on“Advances and potentials of scienceand technology in implementation of
Sendai Framework”. Prof. Shaw sharedsome examples of the work that isunderway at the global level with more
focus on the regional levels, and gaps or issues, especially on
the science technology in DRR which are more regional
specific, to Asia. In 2016, UNDRR’s, Asia Science andTechnology Advisory Group, conducted an analysis of elevendifferent countries to study how science and technology
influence or contribute to different levels of decision-making in
DRR. This particular research, focused on the issue of gaps tolearn which type of research studies were undertaken on
disaster risk reduction, irrespective of the language. Yet,science in national decision making or science investment do
not necessarily link to the people’s needs. That is the major
challenge possibly recognized and thought earlier, as a strong
existing gap in what is done and what is required. There aredifferent regional frameworks, and global frameworks, but themost important thing is the national, and national and local
linkages. The governance system, or the legal framework, isvery also important for science policy direction. However, it isnecessary to possibly go beyond, as scientists’ approach andbring other stakeholders into the process.

11Day 2: 14 March 2019— Panel Session I—Outcomes from Group
Discussion Session I
The panel session highlighted group discussion session summaries. After the presentations by the group rapporteur, it was
opened for interaction with participants. Important and useful suggestions were provided by the audience.
The Sendai Framework Agenda for 2030 is requesting the science and technology community to step-up in realizing its
goals which will be implemented based on the inputs from the 2016 Science and Technology Roadmap. The group
discussion sessions worked specifically to meet these challenges by providing inputs on how to respond to disaster risk
reduction in a consistent and a harmonized manner with a timeframe as follows:- A plan for 3-years – what is planned toaccomplish within this period; and- Long-term plans until 2030
Panel I—Group Discussion Session I consisted of
the following groups:
I-A: Water and Weather Related
I-B: Earthquake and Volcano Disaster Related
I-C: Geohazard Related
I-D: NaTech and Cross-Cutting Issues Related
I-E: Social and Human Sciences including Health
RelatedPanel I Chair Prof. Srikantha Herath and Prof. Yuichi Ono
Panel II—Group Discussion Session II included following sessions:
II-A: GADRI Contributions to the 2016 Science & Technology Roadmap how best could GADRI promote the SFDRR 2030 agenda?
II-B: SDGs, climate change and adaptation - what engagement
mechanisms and research linkages are needed to influence
research directions among policy makers, governments, localities,
media and other groups?
II-C: Nation’s Synthesis: Concept Design and Implementation, and the
SFDRR Agenda 2030 – what systemic synthesis can be built?
II-D: Research Funding - where is the funding for disaster risk reduction activities coming from and is this invested to theright causes and the areas that are most needing support?
II-E: Data Working Group - what are the real strengths and weaknesses of data and risk management?
Expected outcomes:• Provide inputs to the 2016 Science & Technology
Roadmap and submit the outcomes through the Global
Platform 2019.

• Learn from the accumulated research knowledge of eachresearch institute.

• Share information on ongoing project activities andachievements.

• Explore opportunities for collaborative and empiricalresearch activities.
GADRI will contribute to the contextualization of the 2016
Science and Technology Roadmap which will be presented
at the Global Platform for DRR 2019 in Geneva, May 2019.
Panel II Chair Ms. Shoko Arakaki and Prof. Charles
Scawthorn

12Day 2: 14 March 2019— Panel I—Discussion Session I
Deliberations of each group discussion were presented within 10 minutes by the rapporteur. At the end, each presenter was
given an opportunity to appeal to the audience with one most important element of the discussion session that was theconcern of the group. Panel 1 was chaired by Prof. Srikantha Herath and Prof. Yuichi Ono.
I-A: Water and Weather Related - Rapporteur Dr. Tetsuya Takemi
The Session focused water and weather-rated disasters from the scientific, engineering andimplementation perspectives with emphasis on state-of-the-art concepts, methodologies, andapproaches and interaction between natural events and human actions. Members also shared
information on past experiences, implementation, evidence-based best practices andapproaches. Discussion also focused on understanding risks and dealing with emerging risks ineach region. When it concerned scientific, engineering knowledge and human society,more cooperation between designers, protected infrastructure, and analysis on
behaviour responses in crisis situations by understanding cultural diversity
around the world are needed. As an important element, Dr. Takemi emphasised on the importance of communication
with technical development organizations as well as with local agencies and local governmental officials or otherstakeholders for weather forecasting and other water related warnings.

I-B: Earthquake and Volcano Disaster Related—Rapporteur Dr. Craig A.
Davis
Although the session title included earthquake and volcano disasters, the groupspecifically focused on earthquake disaster related issues with specific focus on:understanding disaster risks; strengthening governance; investing in risk reduction andenhancing disaster preparedness. Using a matrix for each of the above-mentioned
topics, discussions focused on short-term which meant 1 to 3 years and long-term up
to 2030 earthquake disasters. Some difficulties were encountered defining whether the
event is short-term, long-term, or continuous. As an important element, Dr. Craig
mentioned, if we were to get one thing accomplished, he would strongly encourage tohave all of the universities within GADRI and beyond to create courses and educational materials for students, for politiciansand others. If we were to take that to a second-level, it would be to have that warranted culturally specific, and culturally
meaning, and to a broader perspectives. If that could be accomplished, we would change the world in a significant way.

I-C: Geohazard Related—Rappoteur Prof. Michel Jaboyedoff
Although landslide related loss of lives are high, it is, yet the most underestimatedhazard among natural disasters. Statistically landslide related hazards areunderestimated. Another important point is geohazards, especially landslides, theperception of it is localized by people. Unlike earthquakes, landslide occurrences are
fairly evident. Discussion focused on improvement and assessment of vulnerabilities
of geohazard and the need to push for global coordination of projects. One importantelement will be establishing early warning systems and flexible solutions by finding
ways to improve community participatory tools. This could be a way to manage to go
through early warning systems and monitoring and inform people that they have todevelop these tools and systems together with the help of the scientific community.

I-D: NaTech and Cross-Cutting Issues Related - Ms. Maria Suarez
Natech, natural and technological accidents, entails huge consequences and impacts
on losses of human lives and economic losses. Although, learning from past accidents
and lessons are possible, further research is needed to support and development of
Natech accident modeling and simulations for risk assessment, addressing cascading
events and considering risk reduction issues. Social impact of Natech is a topic to befurther developed.
One important element of the discussion would be to raise awareness througheducation, training and engaging all stakeholders in discussions on Natech risk
factors.

13

Day 2: 14 March 2019— Panel I—Discussion Session I

I-E: Social and Human Sciences including Health Related—Rapporteurs—Ms. Robin Eve Miller
RamSateesh Paspuleti

and Dr.

Social Dimension of Risk - Risk itself is a social construct and due to this, there is anunequal distribution of resources, skills, and abilities. When talking about the social
Dimension, first, even before coming into the society, it starts with the concept of “I”. “I”,
are accountable for we, you, ours, and theirs. It continues to grow in this manner. This iswhere the accountability begins and therefore, “I” is very important in the context of how
one actually looks at the risk; how it is not only one’s own context but holistic. In termsof local knowledge system, how risk is perceived by local person and the experts aredifferent and not many researches are done in this area. By creating a culture to
introduce DRR at school curriculum, and exploring ways to integrate that in an earlylearning stage, would help disseminate the knowledge and producing evidence-based knowledge as well.
As an important element—The concept of “I” although it is discussed within the social dimension, it is taking the inner spiritual
dimension of the social dimension. It would be good to see stakeholders considering the spiritual dimension of that social
dimension as part of DRR.
Robin – what first came to mind is the trust between the communities and on all levels of government. Because it is easily lost
during disasters.
Health and Risk Related Disasters – It is very difficult to isolate health related risks from the disaster as it will come immediately
after a disaster. Because health and safety are an integral part of DRR, there is no upper limit of the health. But there is a lower
limit which is the fact that we are just alive. Therefore, the lower limit is to be safe in DRR. There are direct and indirect risks
associated. There are certain risks, and also uncertainty in some known risks, and unknown risks. Advocacy has to go into thebottom level and build partnerships across various stakeholders.
As one important point to take home, the trust between communities and on all levels of governments should be established. It iseasy to lose the trust during disasters. Once the people lose their trust among the those who are giving directions, it is hard toregain that trust.
Comments by the Panel Chairpersons—Prof Herath and Prof. Ono
To bring forward sharing accumulated research knowledge, one way would be: publications through Disaster and Risk Research: GADRI Book Series; and to create an exchange platform.
By creating an exchange platform would be a dynamic system, bringing together various new developments on communications,collecting data from different sources, and a portal to have a dialogue. It would not be one time reporting.
Once common recommendation from all five discussion session was the proposal to exchange data or sharing data andknowledge, exchanges of practices, good and bad practices, and education. If GADRI could initiate at least some or part of therecommendations, it would benefit various players in the science community as well as help students reshaping their thesis andresearch questions.

14Day 2: 14 March 2019— Panel II—Discussion Session II
Each group presented the deliberations of the discussion session within 10 minutes. At the end, each presenter was given an
opportunity to appeal to the audience with one most important element of the discussion session that was the concern of thegroup. Panel II was chaired by Ms. Shoko Arakaki and Prof. Charles Scawthorn

II-A GADRI Contributions to the 2016 Science and Technology Roadmap – how best could GADRI promote SFDRR
2030 Agenda? —Rapporteur Ms. Annisa Triyanti
The role of the roadmap itself is to promote the role of Science and Technology activities and to realize the Sendai Framework fordisaster risk reduction goals and targets. The roadmap is a guideline, and a checklist and behind that, the importance of decisionmaking and evidence-based policies are highlighted. In order to expand beyond assessing and trying to look into a directive fordissemination, communication, capacity-building, monitoring and evaluation, it is important to realize to consolidate scientificefforts for collective impact. The group emphasised the importance to open up to communicate, learn from each other, and othersectors as well be transdisciplined to ensure transformation.

II-B – SDGs, Climate Change and Adaptation – what engagement mechanisms and research linkages are needed toinfluence research directions among policy makers, governments, localities, media and other groups?— RapporteurProf. Yuichi Ono
Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction are related and inseparable - they are on the same line. The group
identified communication as one of the keywords to understanding mechanisms through which policy on climate change isenacted; sharing experiences to develop mechanisms in individual countries or regions or in facilitating to adjust the mechanisms
in individual contexts. There should be a guideline linking SFDRR, SDGs and CCA at the country level. To help at the regionaland national level to identify/prioritize the most significant indicators – by focusing or prioritizing some of the significant indicators
accounting (present and future in terms of SDGs) that account for risks, so that policy makers could focus on the implementation
more practically and effectively.

11-C – Knowledge Management and Science Synthesis Nation’s Synthesis: Online Synthesis System and PreSynthesis— Rapporteur Dr. Rodrigo Cienfuegos and Dr. Indrajit Pal

The group discussion kicked-off by sharing different experiences from different countries regarding gaps for data issues, gaps forscience and policy coordination, and also for interdisciplinary research, and how the nations in a concept of synthesis could help toreach those gaps. Stakeholders need to work together for disaster risk reduction through the national platform for disaster risk
reduction, the government, business, industry and civil society and the social science and technology community. There is a role toplay in building the system but also as a facilitator for working and thereby helping coordination between different stakeholders.
Need a bridge as a framework to fostering establishment of science and policy coordination framework at the local and national
level to community level.

15

Day 2: 14 March 2019— Panel II—Discussion Session II
II-D – Research Funding – where is the funding for disaster risk reduction activities coming from and is this invested
to the right causes and the areas that are most needing support? Rapporteur Dr. Subhajyoti Samaddar
The group discussion focus was on research funding sources, nature of funding, research areas in need of funding, current
sources of funding, and the priority areas that receive funding. Discussion also focused on provision and distribution of funding bysector or by region; and appropriate usages of funding. Funders or donors are apt to fund soon after an catastrophic event togarner media attention. However, funding for DRR component is ignored or not considered by most policymakers or funders. As
a result, most of the funding target short-term response and relief operations. Less funding are available to prevention andpreparedness. There is a need to advocate for DRR funding, to encourage governments to allocate a certain percentage of GDP
for DRR research activities; and perhaps show costs and benefits for funders in the DRR sectors. Another possibility toencourage donors would be to promote their awareness on priority areas of DRR.

II-E – Data Working Group – what are the real strengths and weaknesses of data and risk management?
Rapporteur Dr. Sameh Kantoush
The data group discussed the real strengths and weaknesses of data and risk management. There are different types of data,
and the concept relating to the data is – data types - raw data, treated data, synthesized knowledge or structured/semi-structured-unstructured, or data beyond scope. There are large volumes of data and storage varieties. At the storing stage, data is saved
as tables, counting numbers, or statistics of mortality or other numbers, names, graphs, documents locally distributed orconcentrated, or hard or soft data which are in hard disks. Also discussed were variability, speed and accessibility of the data,
flow rate of data and the changes in time, and real time or refresh rate of the data formats and protocols. The Science andTechnology Advisory Group (STAG), UNDRR are conducting qualitative survey to get more data. The discussion summarized theIssues and gaps in data, risks associated with ‘big data’ as well as challenges.

Comments from the Chairpersons—Ms. Arakaki and Prof. Scawthorn
Two cross-cutting themes were picked-up from the group
discussion presentations:

 data - the need, and the usefulness, the utility, and how
to process the data; and research funding - how to pay for it?
Each group rapporteur responded as follows:
II-A—It is important to see data is not just a numeric thing
but also qualitative data which includes important casestudies. It is important to understand the mapping of theinventory and how to use that to maximize the utilization.
II-B—Before data, it is important to work on the terminologyof data. There are hazards terminology, adaptations in thedisaster world, and the risk world. The mitigation world isquite different too. It is equally important to have sometranslation of those terminologies.
II-C—It is also necessary to talk about the data policy of the individual institutions. It would be feasible to establish a common
platform among GADRI member institutions to share data.
II-D—If a platform for data sharing and to share information flow is established within GADRI, it may provide a chance to sharecase studies, reports, pre-and post-event report information, etc., which will be interactive and useful to all alliance members andcounterparts.
II-E—What is impact of your data? How is your data contributing? How to incentive people sharing the data? How to improve thequality of data? Is it related to the end product? Probably we are moving towards an idea or framework where you work from theend result, and backwards to identify, which data and what type of data, from where and whose data is actually affecting thischange the Sendai Framework is looking for. From the science basis, this is different. They want data for many other purposes
than just impact. This is the bridge with the help of UNDRR and GADRI could play a role to fill the space.
The Chair drew precaution that there has to be balance between the demand for results. And the opportunity is for pure researchthat will lead in directions that cannot be foreseen for which, once gone down that road, we may discover our great value. It is
important to be balance in between. Of course, while we want to spend our money wisely, we do not want to suppress the humangenius.

16

4th Global Summit Resolution and Outcomes
GADRI Session on Regional AlliancesThis
sessioncoveredactivitiesandfunctionsof
GADRI regional
alliances.
Prof.
Kaoru
Takara,Associate
Memberof
SCJ, Professor
Prof. Kaoru Takara
and
Dean,
Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in
Human Survivability, Kyoto University presented theScience Council of Japan (SCJ) which was established in
January 1949 under the jurisdiction of the prime ministeryet operating independently of the government. It
represents Japan's scientists both domestically andinternationally with the firm belief that science is thefoundation upon which a civilized nation is built.
Background of The North American Alliance for Hazards
and Disaster Research Institutes (The North American
Alliance—NAAHDRI) was presented by Ms. Jennifer Tobinon behalf of Prof. Lori Peek, Director, Natural Hazards
Center, University of Colorado-Boulder, USA. The North
American Alliance was initiated in July 2017 and the firstmeeting of the Board of Directors will take place in July
2019.

On the African Alliance for Disaster Research Institutes(AADRI), Prof. Desmond Manatsa, Chairman of AADRI
presented an Introduction to “Regional AlliancesShowcasing Collaboration & Research: Workflow &Opportunities” and current status of the network.
Prof. Andrew Collins shared information on the United
Kingdom Alliance for Disaster Research (UKADR), a
research community to facilitate collaboration andpartnerships among others, and its activities on “creating
opportunities for civilsociety,
particularly
youth, to be employed
in shaping a future forphysicalandeconomic and social
environmental quality
and safety”.
Prof. Kyoji Sassa,
Chair of the 5th World
Landslide Forum andSecretary-General of
Ms. Jennifer Tobin (center)
ICL, introduced the
5th World Landslide Forum; and Prof. Wei-Sen Li shared
information about the capacity development activities
offered by National Science and Technology Center for
Disaster Reduction (NCDR) and forthcoming internationalcourses in May and June 2019.

4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction—Outcomes
GADRI will actively contribute to the actions of the 2016 Science and Technology Roadmap by providing a common voice andidentifying priorities on important issues, such as;● Syntheses for all types of risks on a country or regional level, including

examples of successes and contributions of local knowledge, to expand
sponsor and user groups (e.g. DRRKC, Nations Synthesis Framework).
● Effective education programs about disaster risk reduction for scientists,

government and community officials, media and the public● Improved research and practice on

Prof. Jim Mori

communication and interactions among
and between technical experts, policy
makers, implementation groups, andstakeholders● Development of new methodologies
and technologies for data analyses, promotion of action data and encouragement ofopen data sharing, for research and risk reduction applications● Dissemination of research achievements and reports through GADRI Book Series● Voluntary evaluation and reporting of achievements at the biennial GADRI Global Summits

The wrap-up session was chaired by Prof. Hiroshi Kawase and presented by Prof. Jim Mori, both from DPRI, Kyoto University.

17

GADRI General Assembly—15 March 2019

2nd GADRI General Assembly
The members of GADRI participated at the 2nd General Assembly of GADRI which is conducted once every biennium jointlywith the global summit series. The Second GADRI General Assembly was held at the Granvia Hotel Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan on
15th March 2019. This session was limited to members of GADRI. Over 60 members from 26 states attended the session.
Unanimous approval was obtained on a number of important issues such as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the newmembers of the GADRI Board of Directors, and the members of the newly formed Advisory Board who joined in April 2018.
In particular, the meeting clarified the short-term and long-term issues to be tackled in each research field through group discussions, and agreement to provide contributions and commitment by each institute to submit recommendations to the Science andTechnology Roadmap.
The participants unanimously agreed to report and review achievements and information at GADRI biennial summits and otheropportunities. GADRI Secretariat also used the opportunity to encourage members to further disseminate their research
reports, conferences, capacity development activities through GADRI website, GADRI Actions, and to be engaged in GADRI
activities to the extent possible.
On the topic of the GADRI Global Summit series initiated by the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto
University, the participants observed that the title of the Global Summit series is too long and it should be shortened. The
shorter version of the title would be Global Summit of the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) with a colon.
A subtitle will be attached to it at each session which will clearly describe theme of the conference.

18

Side Events on 12 March 2019
Future Leaders for Risk,
Development Management

Crisis,Disasterandtitled: Future Leaders for Risk, Crisis, Disaster andDevelopment Management.
The ADN is a diverse, dynamic, inclusive and innovative
global membership network of experts, practitioners andresearchers interested in avoiding human deaths fromnatural hazards, NATEC, human-made disasters in lowand middle-income countries.

Side Event on Future Leaders for Risk, Crisis, Disasterand Development Management joint event organized by
Kansai, Leicester and Sheffield Universities. It was the
final dissemination event of the research project for ‘Risk,
Crisis, Disaster and Development Management: Future
Leader Programme’ funded by Kansai University's
Improvement in Research & Education Fund. The
research project intends to identify a future programme toimprove students’ learning skills and improve teachingexperiences for the effective management of risk, crisis,
disaster and development.

Dr Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett from the University ofLeicester and Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita from Kansai
University jointly established ADN in February 2019. It was
officially launched at the 4th Summit of Global Alliance ofDisaster Research Institutes (GADRI) at Kyoto University
on 12th March 2019. This was done during the side event,Since the launch, ADN has been focused on expanding its
global and diverse network. This has included hiring an
administrator, a number of volunteers and affiliates, 5Interns, and 14 organisational partners. The editorial board
is currently working on the first newsletter. AND’s
networking is aided by social media and online activity ­including Facebook, Twitter and website (http://
www.avoidable-deaths.net/partners/ ). To join ADN please
follow this weblink : http://www.avoidable-deaths.net/join/

Funded by Leicester’s Institute of Advanced Studies
Rutherford Fellowship, Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett hosted thefirst Research Fellow of ADN, Dr Edris Alam from
Chittagong University. Dr Alam’s research focused on‘Disaster Risk Governance of Local Administration in
Bangladesh’.

The ADN has been invited to present on the IGNITE stage
at the Global Platform for DRR in Geneva on 17th May
2019 at 2.0 pm. If you are attending the Global Platform,
please do attend the ADN’s session.

19

Side Events—GADRI Workshop on Efforts and Responses to Major
Disasters Around the World
Side Event on Efforts and Responses to Major
Disasters Around the World: Narratives andCommunications held at Disaster Prevention
Research Institutes (DPRI), Kyoto University, UjiCampus, Obaku Plaza, Kyoto, Japan on 12th March
2019 from 13:00-17:00 hours.
GADRI organized the side event on the Efforts andResponses to Major Disasters Around the World:
Narratives and Communications at the Obaku
Plaza on 12th March 2019 from 13:00-17:00 hours.
The event was participated by nearly 100
participants.
The session was divided to two Panel sessions.
Panel 1 on Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcano
Eruptions and Recovery Related; and the Panel II
on Water Related issues.
Panel One consisted of five presentation by Prof. Jim Mori,
DPRI, Kyoto University; Prof. Yuichi Ono, International
Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku

The event in the region - nature of the event and thedamage it caused (structures destroyed, killed, dollar loss
etc.)
The Recovery - given the damage, how recovery is
occurring – the plan, its status, problems
Knowledge gaps: what gaps exist, what research is needed,
how DRIs can contribute
The participants and the panellists of the event endorsed to
publish a compendium of the papers as a book under theDisaster and Risk Research: GADRI Book Series. It will be
titled as Global Disasters of 2017-2018 and edited by Prof.
Charles Scawthorn and Prof. Mohsen Ghafory-Ashtiany.
Wrap-up was chaired by Prof. Andrew Collins, DDN,
Northumbria University, UK and delivered the closing
remarks.

University, Japan; Dr. Craig Davis, American Society of Civil
Engineering (ASCE), USE, Dr. Irwan Meilano, Institut
Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia, and Dr. Rodrigo
Cienfuegos, Centro de Investigación para la Gestión
Integrada del Riesgo de Desastres (CIGIDEN), Chile.
Panel Two was covered by Prof. Toshio Koike Prof. Toshio
Koike, Director, International Centre for Water Hazard and
Risk Management under the auspices of UNESCO(ICHARM), Japan; Prof. Srikantha Herath, Director, CUrW,and Senior Advisor, Ministry of Megapolis and Western
Development, Sri Lanka; Prof. Bijay Anand Misra, SPA,
Kerala, India; Prof. Charles Scawthorn, PEER, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, USA; Prof. Paul Kovacs, ICLR,
Western University, Canada; Dr. Jennifer Tobin on behalf ofProf. Lori Peek, Director, NHC, University of Colorado,
Boulder, USA; Prof. Mahua Mukherjee, Head, CoE in
Disaster Mitigation and Management, IIT, Roorkee, India;
and Prof. Jean Paul Pinelli, Florida Institute of Technology,
USA.
Within the allocated 10 minutes, each presenter described
the natural disaster as follows.

20

Activities at GADRI Member Institutes
2019 International Training Workshop on Natural Disaster Reduction-Disaster Big Data Analysis andApplications, National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Chinese Taipei

Group photo of all delegates
By: Ms. Kiri Chen, Research Assistant, NCDR
Taiwan is a highly disaster-prone country and how to mitigate disaster risk is an essential issue catching attention from bothgovernment and the general public. The analysis of big data provides an in-depth view about how people reacted to shakings andwarnings. Before, during and after disasters, data and information are two key
elements to keep citizens and government prepared for it and also help
emergency responders through providing situation awareness. By applying big
data as open data, it will enhance societal preparedness and resilience.
The Workshop took place from 30 April to 2 May in Taipei City, and focuses onwhat kinds of big data sets are possibly
applied; how to use big data to create indepth views for better policy on disastermanagement; and why user-oriented
applications of big dada could enhance
information coverage among the general
Prof. Wei-Sen Li
public. There are 30 delegates from 10
countries, including Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan, Switzerland, Malaysia,
Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, The United States, and Viet Nam, also included one fromGADRI. Besides lectures and practice courses, the delegates visited the Emergency
Visit to Centre for Urban Water (CUrW), Sri Lanka by THINKLab, University of Salford, UK—by Mr. Muditha Dantanarayana
Representatives from University of Salford and THINKlab at University ofSalford which is a center for Leading Research in advanced technology
platforms for smart city applications visited the Center for Urban Water,
Sri Lanka (CUrW) which is established to manage urban water in
Colombo at the invitation of team leader Prof. Srikantha Herath on 25th ofApril, 2019. Prof. Terrance Fernando (Director at THINKlab), Prof.
Bingunath Indrige and Dr. Kaushal Keraminiya were present for the
meeting along with the CUrW staff. Prof. Srikantha Herath introduced thestructure, objectives and the current operations at CUrW including thestaff, major study areas working on and the progress made so far.
Discussions were made on CUrW’s new facility which will accommodate
with state-of-the-art interactive digital infrastructure to be used in both
operational and research based studies and the similar facilities currently
available at THINKlab. Prof. Bingunath Indrige discussed the importanceof social aspects in disaster resilience operations which lead to express
the experience CUrW gained from the survey on economic loss on floods conducted recently in the flood prone areas in Colombo.
Visitors were delighted to see similar focus areas pursued by CUrW and THINKLab and agred to further extend the relations withcollaborative studies and support in future development. Two focus areas will be use of augmented reality in communicating floodrisk and the dissemination of flood risk to communities through interactive platforms. Ms. Wilma James, from GADRI who wasvisiting Colombo also joined the meeting and shared information on GADRI and its current activities.

21

Group Discussion Sessions

22

Calligraphy Club members of Todoh High School
In the middle;「じしょうそくりつ」
This old Chinese word means that preparation is importantin everything. We wanted to show that it’s important to
prepare for disasters to reduce the damages. And finally, inthe words at the lower right, we express our ideas about
disaster reduction, which means we need to correctly
understand how to reduce disaster risks and find out apractical solution. And the most important thing is ourstrong bonds and cooperation. We hope that fewer andfewer people will suffer from damages caused by natural
disasters.

At the upper left, we drew;「京に彩づく文化の風

繋げよう

未

来へ」
Kyoto is a very cultural city. We’d liketo learn about disaster risk reduction
and preserve this peaceful society for
future generations.
Actually, our school was hit andheavily damaged by a local heavy rain
several years ago. We think weshould tell the next generations about
our experience.

5th Global Summit of GADRI:
The Fifth Global Summit of GADRI: will take place in Ispra, Italy in March 2021
and will be sponsored bytheEuropeanCommission-Joint
Research Centre, Italy
and the Disaster andDevelopment
Network(DDN),
Northumbria
University, UK.
It is first time for the global summit series to move out of Japan.
Mark your calendars and we look forward to seeing you in Italy in March
2021!

23

Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI)
At the recommendation of the Second Global Summit of
Research Institutes held at the Kyoto University Disaster
Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto, Japan, in March 2015,
the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI)
was established to support the implementation of the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR)
and the work of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of
the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction(UNISDR). One of the recommendations was to form a
research roadmap for the next decade.
To further realize these goals, GADRI join hands with research
institutes around the world. Since March 2015, GADRI’s
membership has been steadily expanding to include institutions
around the world engaged in disaster risk reduction andresilience research.
GADRI Secretariat is currently hosted by the Disaster
Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, UjiCampus, Kyoto, Japan.

To Join GADRI:
Contact GADRI Secretariat (secretariat-gadri@dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Membership is free; and completely voluntary and non-binding.

Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) Secretariat
Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI)
Kyoto University, Uji Campus, Gokasho, Uji-shi
Kyoto 611-0011, JAPAN
Tel: +81-774-38-4621
Fax: +81-774-38-4254
E-mail: secretariat-gadri@dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Web: http://www.gadri.net

All rights reserved. GADRI ACTIONS is the property of GADRI and protected by theinternational copyright laws. GADRI ACTIONS contents may not be reprinted, copied,and distributed without the copyright holder's prior written permission.