Event Summary
Conference Title: Seminar on Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Central Asia and the Caucasus
Date and Time: April 16 (Tuesday) to 19 (Friday), 2024, 14:00 to 21:30 (Japan time)
Place: Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR), Almaty, Kazakhstan
Sponsored by Kazakhstan International Development Agency (KazAID) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),
Participating Organizations: Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR), National Scientific Center for Seismic Observation and Research (NSCSOR), Kazakhstan Research Institute of Construction Survey and Design (KazRICA), Ministry of Emergency Situations, Almaty City Emergency Department
Background and Objectives
In Japan, the Noto Peninsula earthquake caused major damage on January 1, 2024, and an earthquake with a seismic intensity of just below 6 on the Japanese seismic scale occurred in Ehime and Kochi prefectures on April 17, 2024.
Earthquake risks also exist in Central Asia and the Caucasus countries, with a major earthquake occurring near the border between China and Kyrgyzstan in January 2024. In addition, people’s sense of urgency about earthquake disasters and concern about disaster prevention has increased following the Turkey-Syria earthquake that occurred in February 2023 and killed approximately 56,000 people.
For more than 20 years since 2000, Japan has provided technical cooperation to Kazakhstan’s National Institute of Seismology, KazRICA (Kazakhstan Research Institute of Construction and Building Design), and the Center for Emergency and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR), a regional international organization. It is expected that these institutions will make use of the results of their cooperation and share Japan’s technology with neighboring countries in the future.
Therefore, JICA, in cooperation with these organizations, held the “Central Asia and Caucasus Wide Area Earthquake Disaster Prevention Seminar” in Almaty for four days from April 16 (Tuesday) to 19 (Friday), with the participation of 18 disaster prevention specialists from the ministries of emergency situations and seismological institutes in eight countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Up to 55 people attended and listened to the seminar at the venue for one day and up to 37 people attended and listened to the seminar online, including related parties.
In addition to introducing Japan’s latest earthquake disaster prevention knowledge and technologies, the seminar strengthened intra-regional cooperation in Central Asia and the Caucasus through dialogue among participants and promoted the establishment of a regional-level wide-area earthquake disaster prevention system.
Venue
Directors and representatives of JICA, KazAID, CESDRR
Contents
In this seminar, participants discussed three themes, including “earthquake-resistant construction,” “earthquake early warning systems and emergency response,” and “disaster education, private-sector collaboration, and gender mainstreaming in disaster management,” after receiving lectures on the latest disaster prevention technologies from experts from Japan and Kazakhstan as well as from several other countries and international organizations. The participants then discussed the topics among themselves.
The seminar was attended by lecturers from Armenia and Mongolia via online, and from Japan by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, Building Research Institute, Japan Meteorological Service Support Center, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Toyohashi University of Technology, and International Emergency Assistance Team. In addition, disaster prevention-related companies also participated with the cooperation of Niigata Prefecture, which has formed a cluster for the overseas development of disaster prevention industry due to the frequent occurrence of disasters in Japan.
Through discussions at the seminar, a proposal was made to promote regional wide-area cooperation in Central Asia and the Caucasus in the areas of earthquake resistance standards and technology, earthquake early warning systems, emergency response to disasters, and disaster education, and a document pertaining to this proposal was prepared on the last day of the seminar.
JICA will continue to promote regional cooperation in various fields in the Central Asia and Caucasus region.
© Source JICA
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