GRIPS and University of the Philippines Los Ba?os (UPLB) co-hosted a webinar on the disaster management on February 7, 2023 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. The International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHARM) also collaborated in organizing this webinar.

First, GRIPS Prof. Masaru Sugahara gave a lecture entitled, “Disasters in the world and Japan,” in which he discussed disasters around the world, such as earthquake and cyclone, as well as natural disasters and measures against inundation in Japan. Following Prof. Sugahara’s lecture, Professor Toshio Koike, Executive Director of ICHARM, gave a presentation entitled, “Flood Disasters Resilience and Sustainability under Climate Change,” in which he explained Japan’s “River Basin Disaster Resilience and Sustainability by All” policy and the 4th Asia Pacific Water Summit held in Kumamoto in April 2022. The webinar, which attracted about 140 participants, was moderated by Dr. Thaddeus P. Lawas of UPLB.

During the discussion session, participants raised various questions such as relocation for disaster recovery and Japan’s river management.