School-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan

School-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Japan

Thursday, 25 March
14.30 – 16.00 (GMT +7)

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Approximately 1.2 billion students are enrolled in primary and secondary school around the world. At least 875 million school children live in high seismic risk zones and million others face regular floods, landslides, extreme winds and fire hazards.

Spending up to 50% of their time in school facilities that are often neither constructed nor maintained to be disaster resilient, children will be increasingly vulnerable to disasters as the frequency and intensity of natural hazards rise. Over the last decade, Asia has suffered the greatest number of natural disasters with 80% of the global death toll. Yet, children’s education is often one of the first activities to be abandoned when disasters occur.

Join this webinar to exchange experiences and good practices with disaster risk reduction (DRR) practitioners from Japan – one of the countries that is most prone to major disasters.

	Dr. Aiko Sakurai Professor International Research Institute of Disaster Sciences (IRIDeS), Tohoku UniversityAiko Sakurai is Professor, Toyo Eiwa University and International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University. She got her Ph.D. from Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), Kobe University. Her recent research focuses on comprehensive and sustainable school disaster safety in Japan and the Asian Countries, including Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Vietnam and Myanmar. She is a co-editor of a book, “Disaster Resilience of Education Systems: Experiences from Japan”. She is also a board member of SEEDS Asia, a Japan-based NGO focusing on DRR education.
	Professor Seiji Suwa University of Hyogo Specially Appointed ProfessorBorn in Hyogo Pref., Japan in 1960.  Graduated from Okayama Univ. in 1982 and became a high school teacher.  Five years after Kobe Earthquake (1995), a unique disaster course started at Maiko High School in Kobe in 2002.  Had been the head of the course for 12 years. After retirement in 2017, became a lecturer and a specially appointed professor at universities. Now challenging to expand “disaster education” domestically and nationally.
	Hirokazu Nagata Chairperson NPO Plus ArtsA planner and producer, Hirokazu Nagata founded the iop City Culture Creation Research Institute in 2001. He also established NPO Plus Arts in 2006. Since August 2012, he has been working as the Vice Director of the Design and Creative Center Kobe. His major planning and production achievements include Iza! Kaeru Caravan! (2005~), Earthquake Expo (2006), and Chibikkobe (2012~).

Mizan Bisri, PhD Founder and Principal CARI!Dr. Mizan Bisri is the founder and principal of CARI! a research start-up providing end-to-end disaster-related knowledge management and services. CARI is the Indonesian word for “search”, fittingly CARI provides a Search Engine for Risk-Resilience Research and Action Hub (SEARCH). Dr. Bisri has 10 years of research and professional experience in disaster risk management, disaster education, humanitarian operations, urban planning, and climate change adaptation, specifically in Southeast Asian countries. From April 2021, Dr. Bisri will start working at Kobe University as an assistant professor.