PEER actively participated in the 3rd Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR): “Expanding the Platform for Bridging Science and Policy Making.” The summit was held at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University Uji Campus, March 19-21, 2017. It was preceded by a Board of Directors meeting of the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI). GADRI was formerly established to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR). Currently, GADRI has over 130 member institutions and PEER is serving as one of 11 member institutes on the Board of Directors.
An important part of the summit was the group discussions to share information on current and future research activities by GADRI’s member institutes and to share common agendas to align academic activities related to four priority areas of action of SFDRR: 1) deepening the understanding of disaster risk, 2) enhancing governance of science to better manage disaster risks, 3) encompassing a better knowledge of DRR for resilience, and 4) stimulating effective and collaborative response to disaster recovery, to be able to “build-back better”.
PEER Director Prof. Khalid Mosalam, University of California, Berkeley, together with Prof. Fumihiko Imamura, IRIDeS, Tohoku University, and Prof. Jim Mori, DPRI, Kyoto University, chaired discussion “Session I-b: Deepening the Understanding of Disaster Risk of Earthquake, Volcano and Related Compound Disasters” by considering a multi-dimensional and people-centered approach. Dr. Charles Scawthorn of PEER and Dr. Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, chaired discussion “Session II-b: Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience” focused on encompassing a better knowledge of and investing in DRR for resilience.
GADRI plans to publish a series of volumes on Disaster Risk Management over the next two years.