Partnerships for Effective Disaster Management (Summary) – 2014 Annual Conference

The following is a summary of the breakout session “Partnerships for Effective Disaster Management” at the 2014 U.S.-Japan Council Annual Conference on October 10, 2014.

Discussants:

  • Ms. Jainey K. Bavishi, Executive Director, R3ADY Asia-Pacific (Moderator)
  • Mr. Michael Cummings, Private Sector Liaison, Office of the Regional Administrator, External Affairs, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Mr. Flozell Daniels, President and CEO, Foundation for Louisiana
  • Mr. Hideaki Domichi, Senior Vice President, Japan International Cooperation Agency
  • Dr. Fumihiko Imamura, International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University
  • Mr. Koichi Kaneda, Senior Director, CSR, Corporate Communications Department, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.
  • Dr. Denise Konan, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Professor of Economics, University of Hawaii
  • Mr. Tim Manning, Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Mr. Randy Martin, Director for Partnership Development- East Asia, Mercy Corps
  • Mr. James McGowan, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD)
  • Ms. Amya Miller, Director of Global Public Relations, City of Rikuzentakata
  • Mr. Masahiko Murata, Director of Research and Development, Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute (DRI)
  • Mr. Tetsuya Myojo, Manager of Domestic Program Division and Head of Tohoku Office, Japan Platform
  • Ms. Kaori Neki, Executive Director, Civic Force & COO, Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management
  • Mr. Jeff Partin, Senior Manager Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Corporate Security, The Home Depot
  • Ms. Allison Plyer, Executive Director, The Data Center
  • Dr. Mayumi Sakamoto, Associate Professor of the Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University
  • Mr. Bill Thomas, Director, NOAA Pacific Services Center
  • Mr. Hitoshi Tojima, Special Assistant, Office of the President, Japan International Cooperation Agency
  • Ms. Natalia Tostovrsnik, Associate Expert, UNISDR
  • Mr. Takashi Yamamoto, President, Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Center

Ms. Jainey Bavishi, R3ADY Asia-Pacific, moderated this panel. Co-Facilitating the conversation with Mr. Randy Martin, Mercy Corps, she opened the floor to discuss any additional best practices that enhanced the outcomes from a group workshop held the day before.

TOMODACHI Emerging Leader Ms. Mio Yamamoto shared her experience in overcoming challenges of emergency relief coordination after the Great East Japan Earthquake. In particular, she identified the need for a universal understanding and criteria to measure resilience in the development of disaster risk management policy, something the roundtable panelists agreed is an ongoing challenge in this field.

Prior to the USJC Annual Conference, R3ADY Asia-Pacific convened 25 practitioners and researchers addressing disaster risk reduction, including a diverse representation from Japan and the United States. The pre-conference workshop involved discussions on the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) taking place in Sendai, Japan; the post-2015 framework; coordinating multiple sectors for emergency response; the role of partnerships; and building resilience through multi-sector collaboration.

Mr. Hideaki Domichi, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Mr. Tim Manning, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), were special guests at the USJC Annual Conference. They shared their respective agencies’ and government’s collaboration with each other, emphasizing the importance of learning and developing effective solutions together. At the recommendation of the group, a website featuring various urban design projects incorporating disaster risk reduction frameworks was launched, where practitioners and researchers alike can share their projects and ideas: http://www.starthi.com.

A full summary of the discussion outcomes and list of representatives may be found here: http://r3ady.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Summary-Partnerships-for-Effective-Disaster-Management.pdf

Click here to learn more about the 2014 Annual Conference.