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Event: Top Seminar on Promotion of Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction
Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2023 from 10:00 a.m.
Place: Committee Room 1, 8F, Sendai City Hall Main Building
Main Participants
Kazuko Kori (Mayor of Sendai City), Akira Fujimoto (Deputy Mayor of Sendai City), Shinetsu Takahashi (Deputy Mayor of Sendai City), about 50 Sendai City officials and staff of related departments, Shinichi Kuriyama (Director of International Research Institute for Disaster Science, Tohoku University), Kimio Takeya (JICA Special Advisor for Disaster Prevention)
Background and Objectives
Sendai Mayor Kazuko County gave a report to Sendai City officials as a training session when she participated in the High-Level Meeting for the Interim Evaluation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction 2015-2030 held at UN Headquarters in New York from May 18 to 19, 2023. Mayor Guo provided feedback on the significance of the presentation on Sendai City’s efforts, achievements, and future challenges. Taking advantage of this opportunity, JICA’s Special Advisor to the Disaster Reduction Sector, Mr. Takeya, was asked to give a lecture on the importance of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction and the direction that Sendai City should take in the future with a view to 2030.
Contents
At the beginning of his speech, Mayor Gun explained the significance of releasing the interim evaluation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction, which summarized the city’s efforts and progress toward the goals of the Framework in the mid-term year of the Framework. He also emphasized that Sendai City has a high mission in terms of disaster reduction efforts and their global dissemination, and that we must accelerate our efforts for disaster reduction. He emphasized that Sendai City has a high mission in terms of disaster reduction efforts and their communication to the world, and that we must accelerate our efforts for disaster reduction.
Dr. Shinichi Kuriyama, Director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, who presented the interim evaluation together with the City of Sendai, noted that looking back at the current situation in Japan, including preparations for the Nankai Trough, it will take time before the government and local governments’ efforts to reduce disaster risks lead to changes in individual residents’ behavior. He pointed out the importance of further efforts for disaster reduction.
Mr. Kimio Takeya, JICA Special Advisor for Disaster Management, who led the negotiations with other countries as a member of the Japanese government negotiating team when the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction was formulated, began his presentation with a detailed explanation of what was happening behind the international scene, including what philosophy he put into the Sendai Framework, how he incorporated Japanese disaster management ideas into it, the negotiation process, and how the agreement was reached. He explained in detail what was happening behind the scenes at the international arena.
In particular, the Sendai Framework clarifies the primary responsibility of each country for disasters as a development issue, not a humanitarian issue; it also emphasizes the importance of preventing the creation of new risks through social activities, and that disaster reduction should be implemented as an investment in the future, since preventing economic damage can lead to saving human lives. The importance of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction, which is a global standard based on the Japanese concept of disaster reduction, was explained in detail, including the importance of building back better to prevent similar damage should the same hazard occur again.
He also explained that the March 2015 agreement on a framework for disaster reduction under the name of “Sendai” was groundbreaking in that it established the basis for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which were agreed to the same year.
Advisor Takeya reiterated that one of the key targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction is the formulation of local disaster reduction plans, which is an important responsibility of local governments. He then noted that the fact that Sendai was the first city in the world to present the interim evaluation of the Sendai Framework at the UN Headquarters is very significant, not only as the host of the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction and the city that left its name on the framework of the UN document, but also as a local government that focuses on disaster reduction and protects the lives of its citizens, both in name and in reality, and has expressed its responsibility and resolve to the world. The city’s announcement is very significant not only as a city that hosted the UN Conference on Disaster Reduction and was named in the framework of the UN document.
He concluded by emphasizing JICA’s commitment to further contribute to effective disaster risk reduction in each country toward 2030, and to make further efforts to achieve the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction.
Kimio Takeya, JICA Special Advisor for Disaster Prevention, speaks with Kazuko Kori, Mayor of Sendai City
© Source JICA
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