On November 2, 2014, IIGR Director of Training, Education, and Research, Leo Bosner, gave the keynote speech at a disaster conference at Kobe Gakuin University in Kobe, Japan.
The conference was entitled, “For the Future from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake”.
( http://www.kobegakuin.ac.jp/~gakusai/mirai/)
Leo spoke on the role of volunteers and non-government organizations in disasters, and how this role can be supported and strengthened. The conference, including a portion of Leo’s lecture, was covered by NHK-TV news in Japan.
Then on November 4, Leo spoke at the Osaka City University Disaster Reduction Research Project (ODRP) symposium in Osaka, Japan. At this symposium, Leo spoke about community involvement in emergency management and how governments at all levels can reach out to involve the whole community in all phases of emergency management.
Both the Kobe lecture and the Osaka lecture were very well-received, and we hope that IIGR’s participation in these two events will help to strengthen emergency management in Japan.