Sendai Symposium for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Future
It is the event where citizens can learn disaster prevention and demonstrate daily activities through sessions, booth displays, experience-based activities, and other programs in order to pass on their experiences and lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake to future DRR.
Description
In a forum opened to the public which took place alongside the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai City, many citizens demonstrated their efforts towards reconstruction and disaster prevention to participants from home and abroad. In order to make the demonstration not just a passing event, but allow successive opportunities for disseminating and learning of disaster prevention, the first Sendai Symposium for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Future was held in March 2016, which marked the first anniversary of the world conference held in Sendai. This forum has been annually held after 2016 as well, and March, 2021 marked its seventh opening. The track record of visitor numbers are over 16,000 so far. The forum has participation by citizen groups, academic institutions, businesses, and municipal governments, and features various programs such as activity introductions with presentations, panel discussions, booth and poster displays, and experience-based workshops and stage performances which enable participants to learn about disaster prevention. The City of Sendai promotes the building of local communities that all of stakeholders from children to the elderly, regardless of age, gender, nationality or physical abilities take up their roles for self-help and mutual-aid. Moreover, the city aims for these stakeholders to introduce, share and pass down their efforts during opportunities at the forum, with these actions leading to the production of new networks or interactions and contributing to the future disaster prevention.
Did the Sendai Framework change or contribute to changes in your activities/organization? If so, how?
The targets, priorities for actions, and the role of stakeholders set up in the framework have been having an impact on building both an Environment-Friendly City which is energy independent and a Disaster-Resilient City which promotes schemes from the perspective of disaster prevention and environmentalism in each civic field including efforts to pass down memories or experiences of earthquake disasters to the future or disseminate them to the world, and formulating disaster prevention mechanisms which use multiple defenses and evacuations.
What led you to make this commitment/initiative?
What was your position before making this Voluntary Commitment / prior to the Sendai Framework?
Taking an opportunity one year after the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Sendai City, private sectors, municipality government, and research institutes in Sendai gathered their knowledge and efforts, and this forum was held as a first anniversary event after the conference which would contribute towards the global disaster prevention culture from Sendai, through thinking together how to substantiate future disaster prevention and risk reductions, and what direction to take when disseminating these ideas both at home and abroad. Since then, the event has been continually held for grassroots learning and dissemination of disaster prevention ideas.
Deliverables and Progress report
Deliverables
Deliverables are the end-products of the initiative/commitment, which can include issuance of publications or knowledge products, outcomes of workshops, training programs, videos, links, photographs, etc.
These reports summarize the event in 2016. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2017. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2018. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in March 2019. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in November 2019. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2020. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2021. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2022. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2023. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2024. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
These reports summarize the event in 2025. The numbers of groups who displayed their booth or participated, number of visitors, excerpts from survey results, and photos of the event record are covered. This is created for every forum and will be published on the web page of the event.
Porgress report
We have entered the second half of the "Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030", which is why “Mid-point of the Sendai Framework – Acting now, acting together” was chosen as the theme for this year’s symposium. This theme was chosen with the aim of creating an opportunity to raise people’s awareness of the role of stakeholders.
Throughout the day, presentations on various themes were held, such as on reconstruction and conveying experiences, stockpiling for women in times of disaster, and “multicultural disaster prevention”. There were also workshops where participants could learn about disaster risk reduction (DRR) in a fun way, along with lively booths run by students, and more.
The symposium has been held annually since 2016. March 2024 marked the 10th iteration. We have a track record of approximately 27,000 (*) visitors so far.
（*）①2016: 2,500, ②2017: 1,600, ③2018: 127, ④2019 Mar.: 3,500,
⑤2019. Nov.: 3,700, ⑥2020: 437, ⑦2021: 4,300, ⑧2022: 3,000
➈2023：3,900 ⑩2024: 4,100【Total:27,164】
Organizations and focal points
Implementing Organization(s)
Focal points
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