GADRIACTIONS
Winter 2022
Volume 18— Number 1

1

Dear Members of GADRI,

Contents

Compliments of the season from all of us at the GADRI Secretariat!
Looking back, 2022 brought forth many welcoming changes, from relaxing of
COVID-19 restrictions at home and abroad; and even with some countries evenopening borders. Many of you must have been busy with a many activities andespecially travel related activities too.

•

6th Global Summit of GADRI,
DPRI, Kyoto University, Uji
campus, Kyoto, Japan15 to
17 March 2023•

Post-disasterbusiness
recovery is susceptibility tofinancialconditions,especially for Small andMedium Enterprises•

Typhoon impacts in Japan in
2022•

Courtesy
Visit
by
the
European Commission Joint
Research Centre Director
General•Open Campus Day, DPRI,
Kyoto University•

IASS Bids Farewell to
Scientific Director Ortwin
Renn•

LESTARI-UKM,
Farewell to Prof.
Mokhtar•

3rd World Bosai Forum, IDRC
in Sendai, Japan from 10 to
12 March 2023•

6th World Landslide Forum,
Florence, Italy from 14 to 17
November 2023

GADRI Secretariat continued to work along with its agenda and would like toshare with you a few of the activities covered by the Secretariat especially in
2022:•

Continued with the quarterly meetings of the Board of Directors of GADRI.

•

Formation of the five Committees of GADRI to work specifically towards theobjectives of GADRI outlined in the Charter of GADRI•

Initiation of a database on the Collection of the World Disaster Databases –a project under GADRI Committee on Networking•

Progressing towards the 6th Global Summit of GADRI: Towards GADRI
Objectives of Achieving a Sustainable Disaster-Resilient World to be held at
DPRI, Kyoto University, Uji Campus, Kyoto, Japan from 15 to 17 March
2023. This will be an in-person meeting only. As we are going to have thismeeting after a four year, we are hoping to see many faces in Uji, Kyoto,
Japan in March 2023.

•

Under the Disaster and Risk Research: GADRI Book Series, three books
were published.

•

GADRI Secretariat was visited by the Director-General Stephen Quest,
European Commission-Joint Research Centre and his colleagues, Italy in
October 2023.

•

Secretary-General of GADRI participated at the UNDRR meeting on
Regional STAG in November 2022.

•

GADRI Actions – published the Spring, Summer and December 2022
editions of the GADRI newsletters•

Currently, inputs are called for the GADRI Annual Report 2022

We are also reaching out to you with multiple messages to get your inputs forthe 6th Global Summit of GADRI. These messages cover the GADRI survey,
calling abstracts for the Poster and the Networking with Institutes session, early
bird registrations, and excursions. Do take advantage of this opportunity which
has come after four long years, to meet with each other. The Summit cannot bea successful event without your participation and contributions. We count on
you and look forward to seeing you in March 2023.
As always, we will continue to work closely with you and keep in touch with you
too.
We send our warmest greetings for a very Happy Holiday Season. Have a
Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Hirokazu Tatano and Everyone at the GADRI Secretariat

Photos are from the articles in the newsletter. © Copyright 2022 GADRI Secretariat.
All material provided are subject to copyright permission. GADRI Actions is designed, formatted and edited by
Hirokazu Tatano and Wilma James.

2

Bids
MazlinThe prolonged worldwide pandemic and cascadingrisks have taught us that the conventional approachto disaster risk planning and management isineffective for the development of sustainable andresilient communities.
A worldwide pandemic underscores the importance ofintegrating the following key areas: •Disaster risk should not be treated in isolation but
should be integrated with health risks, climatechange, and environmental risks;•

DRR objectives and vision should be integrated
with sustainable development goals to foster aresilient world;•

Short-term DRR objectives need to be integrated

with a long-term vision and plans for a resilient
society.
Towards a sustainable and resilient society, the
GADRI's five-fold objectives need to be directed
toward the above-mentioned three key areas for
integration in research and development.
The 6th GADRI Global Summit aims to systematically
identify
theprocesses,
techniques, evidence, challenges and opportunities
for achieving the GADRI objectives for a sustainable
and resilient society against hazards and working tokeep them from becoming disasters.
Programparticipants will communicate academic science
across scientific disciplines to policymakers andpractitioners.

Sub-themes:
1. COVID 19
resiliency

research institutes) for SRSAD
recoveryandbuilding

disaster

9. GADRI Objective- IV
information and engaging
research) for SRSAD

2. Disaster risk governance(mutual sharing
in collaborative

10. GADRI Objective - V (serve as an advocacy
organization ) for SRSAD

3. GADRI for realizing the SENDAI Framework
4. Inclusive and equitable DRR(Note: Sub-themes 6 to 10 will identify the gaps,
discuss what we can do/what should be done andsuggest recommendations towards realizing GADRI
objectives)

5. Sustainable DRR: Integrating climate action,
SDGs and DRR
6. GADRI Objective - I (global research network)
for Sustainable and Resilient Society Against
Disasters (SRSAD)

Pre-conference survey:•

7. GADRI Objective II (developing researchroadmaps and plans) for SRSAD

Related to the five committees - contributions –Website of the 6th Global Summit of GADRI—https://gadri.net/summit/

8. GADRI Objective - III (building the capacities ofImportant Dates:•

21 January to 28 February 2023—Regular Rate••

1 January 2023 to 28 February 2023—Completionof Accommodation

15 to 17 March 2023—6th Global Summit of
GADRI at DPRI, Kyoto University, Uji Campus,
Kyoto, Japan

Posters and Presentations

Registrations and Accommodations••

1 October 2022 to 20 January 2023—Early Bird
Registrations

20 January 2023

Pre-conference Survey•
3

31 January 2023

Post-disaster business recovery is susceptibility tofinancial conditions, especially for Small andMedium Enterprises
By Dr. Huan Liu
Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Japan
Report written for the GADRI ACTIONS
1. Introduction
Businesses play an important role in local
economies, but they are highly vulnerable todisasters and face significant challenges in
mitigating them. At the same time, businesses facesignificant constraints regarding access to finance inthe aftermath of disasters, exacerbating theirfinancial vulnerability. Therefore, understanding,managing, and reducing the financial and fiscal
impacts of natural disasters on businesses caneffectively enhance post-disaster response andachieve “building back better” in recovery,
rehabilitation, and reconstruction. However, due tothe complexity of the post-disaster recovery process
and data limitations, little evidence has been
provided on how business financial status affects
the post-disaster recovery from the individual firm
perspective, especially the effect on different size
firms. In this regard, this paper discusses the role offinancial status in post-disaster recovery andprovides empirical evidence of how financial statusinfluences business recovery using 2052 firms’ postdisaster recovery data after the 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake. It is worth mentioning that thispaper is an extension of the discussion of the journal

paper “Modeling Post-disaster Business Recovery
under Partially Observed States: A Case Study ofthe 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake” publishedby Huan Liu, Hirokazu Tatano, Yoshio Kajitani, andYongsheng Yang in the Journal of Cleaner
Production in 2022 [1]. This paper provides uniqueinsight into the challenges of financing vulnerable
industrial sectors, including the unique challenges of
how governments use capital markets to financebuilding back better and sustainable developments.
In Section 2, the case study and post-disaster data
description are presented, as well as the reasonsthat caused financial difficulties in firms. In Section
3, the recovery curves under different financial
statuses in industrial sectors are presented andcompared using the case study data. Specifically, toinvestigate the heterogeneity of business size forfinancial difficulties, we further compared therecovery curves in Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) and large businesses under different
financial difficulties. The conclusions and potential
policy implications are discussed in Section 4.

2. Business recovery after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake
2.1 Data description and study area

Yamagata, Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba
prefectures by the Disaster Prevention ResearchInstitute and the International Institute of Disaster
Science (IRIDeS) from November 7 to December 7,2012 (Furuhashi et al., 2014). The details of thequestionnaire are shown in Appendix A. To reduce
the sample selection bias, it was made sure thatfirm damages were caused by the earthquake only,
and firms suffering from both earthquake andtsunami damage were excluded from the samples.

After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, we
conducted two postal mail questionnaire surveys tocollect business recovery data in the earthquakeaffected areas (excluding tsunami-affected areas).
The first survey was conducted in Miyagi and Iwate
prefectures by the Central Research Institute ofElectric Power Industry from November 15 to
December 5, 2011 (Nakano et al., 2012). The
second survey was conducted in Aomori, Akita,4

In this research,
we use the percentages of
production capacity rate (PCR) to quantitively
describe and measure business recovery, and thepre-disaster PCR is defined as a baseline of 100%.
A detailed description of the dataset used issummarized in Table 1, and the spatial distributionof the samples is presented in Figure 1. As shown in
the figure, the surveyed firms were located in the
Tohoku region (Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Miyagi,

and Iwate prefectures) and Kanto region (e.g.,
Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba prefectures) in Japan.
Firm size is defined as small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises, andcategorized under the Small and Medium-sizedEnterprise Basic Act in Japan (The Small andMedium Enterprise Agency Japan, 1999) [2].

Table.1 Sample descriptions and number of firms in each category
SectorFinancial condition

Suffered from financial difficulties
Without suffering from financial difficulties

Firm size

Manufacturing sector

Nonmanufacturingsector

SMEs

150

249

Large enterprises

5

15

498

965

67

103

720

1332

Total

419
SMEs

1633
Large enterprises

Total

Figure 1. The spatial distribution of samples in this research

5

2052

2.2 The reasons for faced with financial difficulties infirms in the aftermath of disasters

because of insufficient compensation to cover thedamages accounted for 10.24% in manufacturing
and 16.27% in non-manufacturing sectors; financial
difficulties due to complicated application processes
accounted for 10.84% in both manufacturing andnon-manufacturing sectors. Meanwhile, unlike large
enterprises, SMEs’ financial difficulties were also
caused by reasons such as rejection of recovery
funding applications, not receiving insurance claims
or recovery grants, or late payment of loans,insurance claims, and grants.

Reasons for SMEs and large enterprises
facing with financial resources shortage after the2011 Great East Japan Earthquake are describedand compared in this section. Among collected
samples, 419 out of the 2052 firms have sufferedfrom recovery funding shortages or difficulties inraising such funding. The reasons for the financial
difficulties that occurred in these firms are
summarized in Figure 2. As shown in the figure, inboth large firms and SMEs, the main reason forfirms facing difficulties in obtaining recovery funds
was the amount of insurance claims or subsidies
were less than the actual amount incurred bydamages or losses. The second reason was that theprocedures for applying the recovery funding were
too complicated. In SMEs, financial difficulties

Figure 2. Reasons for faced with financial difficulties in firms

63. Insights into the recovery curves under different financial conditions
3.1 Recovery curves underconditions

different financial

financial difficulties. Meanwhile, the recovery rate
differences are significant among firms with andwithout difficulties. After the catastrophic 2011 Great
East Japan earthquake, almost all firms without
financial difficulties could achieve full recovery after
120 days, while only 20% achieved full recovery in
the group of firms with financial difficulties. These
results shed light on the importance of financial
support in the post-disaster recovery process,especially for firms suffering from more severe
damage. Since the more severely affected firms
tend to face more severe financial pressure, thecondition of the financial assistance for these firms
cannot be solved; their recovery process will be
slower, which will lead to a vicious cycle. Hence,developing a sustainable financial system is criticalfor building resilience in industrial sectors towarddisaster, among which establishing the catastrophe
insurance system is an effective way to diffuse therisk of huge catastrophes.

The state distribution parameters can be
estimated by dividing the samples into different
financial condition groups, that is, firms that havesuffered from financial difficulties and have notsuffered from financial difficulties during recovery inthe manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors,
respectively. The recovery curves in thecorresponding group were estimated and arepresented in Figure 3. The results indicate that firms
suffering from financial difficulties have experienced
a longer and slower recovery as compared to firms
without financial difficulties, which highlights theimportance of financial support in post-disaster
restoration. For example, in the manufacturingsector, 60 days after the earthquake, 85.82% offirms starting from initial state 1 achieved 100% fullrecovery if there were no financial difficulties, while
only 1.29% of firms that started from initial state 1(0%) achieved 100% full recovery if there were

Figure 3. Recovery curves under different financial conditions

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3.2 Comparison of the impact of post-disaster
financial conditions in different size’s firms
This section illustrates the recovery process of
SMEs and large enterprises under different financial
statuses. In particular, the recovery curves of SMEs
and large enterprises are estimated and compared.
Figures 4 and 5 present the recovery curves of firmsof different sizes with and without financial
difficulties, respectively. The recovery curve of large
enterprises in the manufacturing sector, whichsuffered from financial difficulties, was not estimatedbecause the observed number of samples was only
five. To highlight the impact of financial condition interms of firms of different sizes, all recovery curvespresented in Figures 4 and 5 start from the initial
FPCR at state 1 (PCR= 0%), until full recovery(PCR=100%).
When facing financial difficulties, larger enterprises
are expected to achieve quicker recovery comparedto SMEs. Without suffering from financial difficulties,

the expected recovery rate in large firms is slightly
slower than in the SMEs in both the manufacturing
and non-manufacturing sectors. Besides, it isnoticed that when there are no post-disaster
financial difficulties, large firms experience a slower
and longer recovery process compared to SMEs;
however, in the case of financial difficulties, large
firms can expect a quicker recovery than SMEs. For
instance, 50 days after the earthquake, 2.97% oflarge firms without suffered financial difficulties are
expected to achieve full recovery while it is only
0.7% in SMEs regardless of sector type; 4 months
after the earthquake, 17.23% of large firms are
expected to achieve 100% recovery compared with
8.81% in the manufacturing sector and 8.56% in the
non-manufacturing sector in SMEs. One possible
reason for this phenomenon is that large firms are
more likely to borrow money from banks because
they have larger expected cash flows as comparedto SMEs.

Figure 4. Recovery curves for firms of different sizes that suffered from financial difficulties

Figure 5. Recovery curves for firms of different sizes without financial difficulties84. Discussion and conclusion
Understanding how financial status influences theprocess of business can effectively enhance therecovery process, thereby investing in andestablishing more resilient industries. Using therecovery after the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake as a case study, results indicate thatdisaster recovery is positively associated withbusiness financial capacities. Specifically, firms thathave suffered from financial difficulties are expected
to experience a much longer recovery timecompared to firms without financial difficulties; thisleads to greater production capacity loss. As for theheterogeneity of firm size in terms of financial status,
results indicate that: in the absence of financial
difficulties, SMEs were expected to achieve a fasterrecovery compared to large businesses; while whenfinancial difficulties are encountered, the estimatedrecovery process is opposite, that SMEs were
expected to experience a slower recovery compared
to large businesses. Findings are critical in providing
empirical evidence for government decision-makers
in the short-term government response and longterm disaster risk financing. According to ourestimation results, the following discussions on
potential policy implementation are proposed tobuild back better and build resilient industries.
(1) Building shock-responsive systems that linkfinancial and business preparedness to ensure
effective recovery and reconstruction. In theaftermath of a disaster, businesses can easily face avariety of challenges, including difficulty extending
credit lines, lack of co-signers and collateral, anddifficulty borrowing enough money to achieve longterm financial stability. Meanwhile, adequate
financial resources can have a significant positiveeffect on facilitating the recovery process. Therefore,

securing adequate disaster recovery funding can
improve and ensure rapid recovery from disasters.
Governments can use capital markets to finance thebuilding of better and sustainable development.
(2) Establishing financial assistance policies for
SMEs to borrow funds for rehabilitation andreconstruction. Currently, under the Credit
Guarantee Corporation Act (1953), credit guarantee
companies have been established in eachprefecture to ensure that SMEs can easily borrowmoney from banks. Normally, credit guarantee
companies can use their networks to provide
financial services to local SMEs (Japan Federationof Credit Guarantee Companies 2018) [3]. However,according to the cases of financial difficulties
presented in Figure 2, the results show that 19.28%
of SMEs experienced financial difficulties during therecovery process because their loan applications
were rejected under disaster scenarios. In contrast,
there were no large enterprises in the sample thatexperienced financial difficulties due to the rejectionof loan applications. This phenomenon is due to thevarious difficulties SMEs face when applying for
credit from financial institutions, mainly caused bytheir relatively weak creditworthiness. When adisaster strikes, credit difficulties are exacerbated,and even SMEs with high credit ratings facechallenges in borrowing funds for post-disasterreconstruction. Therefore, establishing financial
assistance policies are critical to helping SMEs
overcome the difficulties of borrowing funds after adisaster.

References[1] H. Liu, H. Tatano, Y. Kajitani, Y. Yang, Modeling post-disaster business recovery under partially observed
states: A case study of the 2011 great East Japan earthquake, J. Clean. Prod. 374 (2022) 133870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133870.
[2] Japan Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, Small and medium-sized enterprise basic act, 1999.
Available at: https://www.chusho.meti.go.jp/sme_english/outline/08/01.html (accessed November 8,2022).
[3] Japan Federation of Credit Guarantee Corporations. 2018. “Credit Guarantee System in Japan.” Japan
Federation of Credit Guarantee Corporations, Tokyo. Available at: http://www.zenshinhoren.or.jp/english/
document/anual2018.pdf. (accessed November 8, 2022).

9

Typhoon impacts in Japan in 2022
By Prof. Tetsuya Takemi
Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Japan

Typhoons, tropical cyclones in the western North
Pacific, are significant meteorological hazards inEast and Southeast Asia including Japan.
In this article, we report the impacts of typhoons inJapan in 2022. The figures below show the
temporal changes of the number of typhoon
occurrences (upper panel) and the strongest
typhoons (lower panel). The strongest typhoons arethose having the lifetime minimum surface pressureof 920 hPa or lower. Both numbers indicate that the
typhoon activity in 2022 (as of December 13th,2022) is nearly normal. The number of thelandfalling typhoons in Japan in 2022 is 3, which
also indicates that the 2022 condition is quite
normal.
One of the strongest typhoons in 2022, Hinnamnor,
the 11th typhoon which occurred in late August to
early September, was anticipated to spawn
significant impacts in western Japan.

10

Owing to an early warning and preparedness of the
public as well as the typhoon track shifted off thecoast of western Japan, the number of confirmed
deaths was 0. Also, Hinnamnor rapidly weakened
than expected, as it approached the Japaneseislands and moved northward. Well-preparedness
to this extreme typhoon is considered to work
positively.
In September, there were two typhoons that hadsignificant impacts: Typhoon Nanmadol, the 14th
typhoon, and Talas, the 15th typhoon. Nanmadol
reached its maximum intensity of the minimum
surface central pressure being 910 hPa nad the
maximum surface wind being 54 m/s, which is thestrongest typhoon in this season, and caused
heavy rainfalls and strong winds on the Pacific sideof the Japanese islands. Five people were dead,and more than 100 were injured.

It should be emphasized that the number ofcasualties and the damages to daily lives and social-economic activity were not so disastrous ascompared with the impacts due to the recent
strongest typhoons such as Jebi (2018), Faxai(2019), and Hagibis (2019). On the other hand,Talas did not reach a tropical cyclone intensity, butcaused heavy rainfalls mainly, with record-breaking
daily rainfall at several places, in the central part ofJapan.
Fortunately, the number of the casualties waslimited to 12. Considering that the recent extreme
typhoons and resulting heavy rainfalls/strong winds
have caused disastrous damages, the typhoon
impacts in 2022 seem to be not so damaging. Thismay be partly due to the improvement of weather

11

forecasting and information dissemination. Also
important is the adequate responses of the publicagencies and local governments to the weather
forecasting and information. Another important
point is that general public becomes more prepared
to and aware of the impacts of extreme weather
and typhoons based on the recent experiences of
the recent heavy rainfalls and damaging typhoons.

Courtesy Visit by the European Commission Joint
Research Centre Director General
Mr. Stephen Quest, the Director-General of the
Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European
Commission and his colleagues made a courtesy
visit to the Disaster Prevention Research Institute(DPRI) of the Kyoto University, Uji Campus. They
received a warm welcome from Prof. Eiichi
Nakakita, Director, DPRI; Prof. Ryosuke Uzuoka,
Vice-Director, DPRI; and Prof. Hirokazu Tatano,
Secretary‑General, Global Alliance of Disaster
Research Institutes (GADRI) and Professor,
DPRI. EC-JRC has an Agreement of Cooperation

with DPRI, Kyoto University since 2011.
They had fruitful discussions on future collaborative
activities especially on disaster risk reduction. The
Director-General Stephen Quest assured Prof.
Tatano that EC-JRC will be represented at theplanned 6th Global Summit of GADRI to be held at
DPRI from 15 to 17 March 2023.

From L: Ruosuke Uzuoka, PASENIC Liliana, Sabine Henzler, Stephen Quest, Eiichi Nakakita, andHirokazu Tatano

12

Open Campus Day at DPRI, Uji Campus,
Kyoto University
October 2022
Three days prior to event, three working hours
in the afternoon are allocated when everyone isrequired to go out, and clean the surroundingarea, pick up all sort of garbage, remove
weeds, sweep up the pavements, and make itspick-and-span prior to opening the doors to the
public in the preceding weekend.
This year, there was added attention andhustle and bustle as the President of the Kyoto
University will visit DPRI and interested inlearning about the work carried out by ourtalented researchers, especially the young
professionals.
The President, Prof. Nagahiro Minato, took his
term of office as the President of the Kyoto
University in October 2020. This was his firsttime to visit the DPRI facilities.

It is Open Campus Day at the Disaster
Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), UjiCampus, Kyoto University, Japan, 22 and 23
October 2022. This time, after three years of
online session, it is opened to the public.
Days leading up to the event were days of springcleaning. A touch of aesthetics to laboratories tothe exteriors of the building to the landscaping.
On Saturday, 22 October 2022, Prof. Minato was
welcomed to the DPRI and received by the DPRI
Director Prof. Eiichi Nakakita, and Prof. Hirokazu
Tatano, Secretary-General, the Global Allianceof Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI); andHead, Social Systems for Disaster Risk
Governance, DPRI; and other faculty membersof DPRI.
Prof. Minato delivered a keynote speech at the
Kihad Hall, Oubaku Plaza.

13

His speech was followed by a presentation by
Prof. Hirokazu Tatano on the “Economic analysis
of disasters: what we learned from past
research”.

Abstract of Prof.
Tatano’s address:
Since the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake in 2004,
we have continued to investigate the impact ofmajor disasters on corporate production activities.
With regard to the economic damage to the east
Japan earthquake in 2011, we successfully madea model to be replicated the impact. In addition to
the discussion on the challenges towards
reducing disaster risks, I would like to share myknowledge gained during this research.

Prof. Minato moved on to site visit the Wood Working
Shop, Xylarium, Research Institute for Sustainable
Humanoshere (RISH) which was founded in 1980
where there are collections of wood samples whichare“botanicallyauthenticated,andsomecorresponding to herbarium specimens”.

14

Public members participated in various games and exercises organised by the faculty of DPRI.

Prof. Minato attended presentations by DPRI faculty at the Wood Composite Hall (RISH). The
presentations were paraded by young and upcoming researchers which included many females too.

15

Prof. Minato proceeded to visit the DPRI Ujigawa Open Laboratory.

16

Institute for Advanced Sustainability
Studies (IASS), Potsdam, Germany
Bids Farewell to Scientific Director
Prof. Ortwin Renn
Congratulations on your retirement Prof. Ortwin Renn.
Browsing through the webpages of IASS, we
discovered the following article on the retirement
celebration party held for Prof. Ortwin Renn,
Scientific Director, Institute for Advanced
Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, Germany.
He was a very much valued former member of theBoard of Directors of GADRI who actively anddedicatedly contributed to GADRI activities during
its initial years of formation. GADRI Secretariat
was in constant touch with Prof. Ortwin. He is avery humble, and approachable person. He
continues his humble services to GADRI even to
date.

GADRI Secretariat and its members wish Prof.
Ortwin Renn a very happy and a well-deserved
retirement.

The following article by Dr. Bianca Schröder,Press and Communications Officer, IASS,
Potsdam, appeared on the IASS webpage on
19 December 2022. Bianca kindly permitted
GADRI to use the excerpts from the article andshared the photos too.

preparations for the evaluation described Renn asa “unshakable bastion of patience and resolve”.
He was “always responsive to everyone” and“proposed compromises without watering down
the issues at stake”.

“As 2022 draws to a close, the IASS bids farewellto Ortwin Renn, one of the Institute’s two scientificdirectors, who will retire at the end of the year. At a
joyful and moving celebration, staff at the IASS
paid tribute to Renn’s achievements as an
outstanding researcher and leader.
Ortwin Renn joined the IASS in February 2016
after a long and successful career as a scientist
and university lecturer.
Six of the Institute’s research group leaders also
lauded Renn’s contribution to the IASS in theirspeeches. In their view, Ortwin Renn was “anenabler, a leader, and a very decent humanbeing,” “one of the few people in science who isincredibly successful and yet so nice,” “an insanely
great director,” and “a gifted leader who allowed us
great creative freedom and always helped us
when we needed it.” The team that led

17Prof. Renn will be one of the keynote speakers at
the forthcoming 6th Global Summit of GADRI:
Towards GADRI Objectives of Achieving a
Sustainable Disaster-Resilient World to be held at
the Disaster Prevention Research Institute(DPRI), Kyoto University, Uji Campus, Kyoto,
Japan from 15 to 17 March 2023.
GADRI is delighted to note that Prof. Ortwin Renn
will maintain his affiliation with the IASS in his
retirement.

For his part, Ortwin Renn had warm words ofgratitude for the staff of the IASS. He expressed
his sentiments by reciting the opening lines from
Hermann Hesse's poem
“As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.”(Translated by Richard and Clara Winston in: The
Glass Bead Game) And while Renn may beretiring, he will continue to actively cooperate with
the IASS - operating under its new name“Research Institute For Sustainability – Helmholtz
Centre Potsdam” (RIFS).
Full article:
https://www.rifs-potsdam.de/en/news/iass-bidsfarewell-scientific-director-ortwin-rennMark Lawrence *left) preparedhis own version of Billy Joel’s“Piano Man” which he sang
and accompanied on theguitar and piano.

18

Institute for Environment andDevelopment (LESTARI)., Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Bids Farewell to Prof. Mazlin Mokhtar
By: Dr. Lubna Alam, Senior Lecturer

Congratulations to Professor Dato’ ChM Dr,
Mazlin Mokhtar on his retirement of. On May
25, 2022, a ceremony took place at the
Putrajaya Palm Garden Hotel organized by theInstitute for Environment and Development(LESTARI). All LESTARI employees, former
LESTARI Directors, and former LESTARI
Deputy Directors were present for thecelebration.
The
ceremony
featured
performances
by
LESTARI
employees,
multimedia screenings, and lucky draws.
Prof. Dr. Mazlin Mokhtar served UKM for 37
years including as Director of LESTARI 20052013 & 2019-2022; Deputy Vice Chancellor for
Research and Innovation Affairs 2014-2017;
Founding Director of Centre for Public &International Relations (PUSPA) 2001-2004;
and Lecturer at UKM Sabah Campus in Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah 1988-1996.

19

He was the Chairman of Malaysia’s
Environmental Quality Council 2015-2018,
Chairman of government appointed committee
reviewing the Lynas Rare Earth operations
2018; Chair of Task Force 2019-2021 on
Advocacy, Awareness & Capacity Building(AACB)
of
Malaysia's
Water
SectorTransformation 2040 under Economic Planning
Unit of Prime Minister's Department; andDeputy Chairman of National Committee for
SOP on Bauxite Mining and Exportation 2019;& International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Research Fellow at the Marine Environment
Laboratory in Monte Carlo, Monaco in 1993. He
was the longest serving member of Malaysia's
UNDP(UnitedNations
Development
Programme) GEF (Global Environment Facility)
SGP (Small Grants' Programme) National
Steering Committee.

Director and Former
Director of LESTARI UKM
welcomed Prof. Mazlin

Prof. Mazlin was the winner of the LangkawiAward 2018; and recipient of 2010 best social
science FRGS award by Ministry of Higher
Education for his research on national chemicals
management. He was a member of the Advisory
Committee of National River Care Fund 20142022; and WWF Malaysia's Board of Trustees
2014-2018. He had also been entrusted to leadseveralmultidisciplinary
research
projects
sponsored by numerous national and international
entities via integrated and holistic approaches forsustainable development, including in important
geographical areas such as Langkawi the Jewel of

Kedah
cum
UNESCO's
GlobalGeopark; UNESCO's APFAST & MUCP, andHELP IHP Programs in Langkawi, Langat River
Basin; and Putrajaya Lakes.

Special performances honouring Prof. Mazlin by LESTARI members

20Speech of Appreciation by Professor Mazlin
Prof. Mazlin was one of the founding professors of
the United Nations University (UNU)'s 2010-2015
international training course titled "Building
Resilience to Climate and Ecosystem's Change(BRCC)" led by Professor Tekeuchi and Dr
Srikantha Herath, based at UNU Tokyo andconducted via partnership with several renowned
universities including University of Tokyo, Kyoto
University, Ritsumeikan University, Universiti
Kebangsaan
Malaysia,
VietnamNational
University, Universitas Gadja Mada of Indonesia,
Yeungnam National University of Korea,
Perediniya University of Sri Lanka, University of
The Philippines, and Asian Institute of Technology.
Mazlin was also Leader of the Environmental Risk
Management group of the JSPS VCC's and JSPS
Asian Core Programs 2000-2015; and Leader for

UKM in the Global Alliance of Disaster ResearchInstitutes (GADRI) network for Disaster Risk
Reduction (DRR) headquartered at DPRI of Kyoto
University since 2015."
Currently, Prof. Mazlin Mokhtar, is serving as the
Deputy Head (Research), United Nations
Sustainable Development Solutions Network Asia Headquarters (UN SDSN-Asia) at Sunway
University, Malaysia. Prof. Mazlin is also the
Chairman of the Environment Committee ofAcademy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM); Member of
Malaysia's Environmental Quality Act's Appeal
Board; and Nomination Committee of the Merdeka
Awards (Environment Category); and Advisory
Council Member of Society of Certified
Professionals (SCRP) Malaysia.

Group Photo LESTARIans

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The World Bosai Forum will be held to discuss,learn and spread disaster reduction throughout theworld. The 3rd World Bosai Forum will take place at
the Sendai International Center, Tohoku University,
Kawauchi Hagi Hall, Sendai, Japan from 10 to 12
March 2023.

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Click here to visit the website.
•

https://worldbosaiforum.com/2023/en/

WELCOME ADDRESS OF THE CHAIR
I would like to cordially invite you to be actively involved into the 6th World Landslide
Forum “Landslides Science for sustanaible development” that will be held in
Florence at the Palazzo dei Congressi from 14 to 17 November 2023.
The event is jointly organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (Kyoto,
Japan), the International Programme on Landslides (IPL) and the UNESCO Chair on
Prevention and Sustanaible Management of Geohydrological Hazards at the
University of Florence.
The Forum is focused on Landslide Science for Sustainable Development, as acontribution to the Kyoto 2020 Commitment for global promotion of understanding andreducing landslide disaster risk (KLC2020).
Scientists, stakeholders and policy makers working in the area of landslide analysis,
landslide disaster investigation and risk reduction are encouraged to share their workwith the global community by submitting abstracts and presenting their work at the
WLF6.
Sincerely Yours,
Nicola Casagli,
WLF6 Forum Chair
Visit Website: https://wlf6.org/

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GADRI Members
Established in March 2015, the Global Alliance ofDisaster
Research
Institutes
supporttheimplementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR) and the work of
the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of theUnited Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction(UNDRR).
In line with its vision, GADRI strives to deepen theunderstanding of disasters and find implementable
solutions to achieve disaster resilience; i.e. human,
technical system and infrastructure resilience,survivability and well-being, by integrating knowledge
and technologies from around the world. Over 200
institutions have joined GADRI.GADRI membershipis free; and completely voluntary and non-binding.
GADRI Secretariat is currently headquartered andhosted by the Disaster Prevention Research Institute(DPRI), Kyoto University, Japan.
To join GADRI, please contact the GADRISecretariat: secretariat-gadri@dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Geographical Distribution of GADRI as of 31 December 2022
Area

Members

Economies

Africa12

7

Americas

37

8

Asia
(Excluding Japan)

83

23

Europe

37

13

Japan

33

1

Oceania

10

2

Total

212

54

54 economies

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: www.gadri.net

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

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