Kochi University conducted Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management JICA international training session from Tuesday, August 11 through Wednesday, September 2.

For this training course, 15 government officials were invited from eight countries facing the risk of the tsunami disaster, and the training was conducted mainly in Kochi Prefecture, and areas damaged by a tsunami or earthquake in Tohoku and Kobe City with a focus on the disaster measures against the Nankai Trough Earthquake, etc.

At the beginning of the training course, the representatives of respective countries gave a presentation on the current situation of their country’s disaster management in the form of a country report and then learned about the disaster countermeasures in Japan and the community-based disaster prevention in Kobe. After moving to the devastated areas in Tohoku, they gained knowledge and insight on the reconstruction efforts and future risk management measures from the perspectives of both government and the public.

In Kochi, the participants learned about the triple defensive measures against tsunamis and disaster countermeasures against various disasters, including the Nankai Trough Earthquake, storm and flood damage, and ground liquefaction. They gained a deep understanding of risk management through actual observation of disaster prevention facilities, including the Tanezaki Tsunami Evacuation Tower. In addition to the hard aspects of disaster prevention measures, they learned about the soft aspects of measures, such as community-based disaster prevention, disaster prevention games, and operation of evacuation shelters through lectures, observation of evacuation shelters and participation in an evacuation drill. Moreover, the students organized a city tour, tea ceremony and Kendo club practice observation to encourage participants to experience the broad array of lifestyles in Kochi.

At the end of the training, the participants prepared the action plans to be implemented in their respective home countries, and a broad range of proposals were made, including reinforcement of the earthquake-resistance strength of public facilities, development of tsunami alert systems, and preparation of disaster prevention maps.

Here are some of the comments by the participants of the course: “I realized that comprehensive disaster prevention can be realized only by combining the hard measures such as evacuation tower and with the soft measures such as routine evacuation drills. I want to apply what I have experienced in Japan in my home country,” “I think that the community-based disaster prevention efforts to raise awareness of self-help and cooperation in Kochi are truly wonderful. I want to take a role in raising public awareness on disaster prevention in my home country.”

This training course was conducted by Kochi University on consignment from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as part of the development assistance of the government. Kochi University intends to conduct the international training programs by making use of the regional resources for the year ahead.