International Training Course (ITC) on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage 2014

UNESCO Chair Programme on Cultural Heritage and Risk Management

Recent disasters in North East of Japan and Christchurch in New Zealand as well as destructive earthquakes that hit Haiti and Chile in 2010 have caused enormous loss of life, property and cultural heritage. This disaster has once again shown that cultural heritage is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquake, the Tsunami, fire, floods and cyclones.

Therefore it is important to undertake proactive measures that can reduce risks to cultural heritage from these catastrophic events through adequate mitigation and preparedness. In the post disaster phase, the challenge is how to salvage heritage properties, which are at risk of demolition and to assess their damage. The long term challenge during recovery phase is how to repair and retrofit them and undertake reconstruction that respects tangible as well as intangible heritage values.

In the light of these challenges, comprehensive risk management is essential for the protection of cultural heritage from disasters. Therefore Cultural Heritage and Risk Management project of Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage, Ritsumeikan University (RitsDMUCH) aims to organize the UNESCO Chair International Training Programme to build the institutional capacity needed to formulate comprehensive risk management plans that are based on the characteristics of cultural heritage and nature of hazards in the regional context.

One of the main reasons for extensive damage to cultural heritage is due to fires resulting from natural or human induced causes. Also fires can result from earthquakes as was the case during 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake in Japan. Considering these issues, the 9th UNESCO Chair International Training Course on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage will specifically focus on ‘Protecting living cultural heritage from disaster risks due to fire’.