Jakarta, 18 April 2018: Mainstreaming disaster risk management into ASEAN societies is an ongoing task shared by all stakeholders in the region and beyond. Given that most of ASEAN and East Asian countries are among the most disaster-prone countries, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) is keen on making contributions through various avenues, including by holding a special lecture on disaster management.

The special lecture was delivered by Dr Yoshimi Nishi, an Associate Professor of Kyoto University, entitled Bridging Gaps between Local Experience and Global Science in Disaster Management: Toward Building a Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Management in Asia. ERIA Economist Dr Masahito Ambashi moderated the lecture, which was held on 18 April 2018 and also attended by ERIA President Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura.

The hour-long presentation highlighted the importance of learning and understanding the experience of disaster management gathered from the neighbouring East Asian country, especially by learning from Japan’s experience. Dr Nishi also laid a special emphasis on how disaster management could contribute to resolve other social problems such as conflicts and disparity, for example in the post-tsunami Aceh in Indonesia.

Participants of the lecture came from the Embassy of Japan, Universitas Indonesia, JICA, Jiji Press, Institut Deliverologi Indonesia, and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. In the question and answer session, they raised several interesting questions including building resilience in the face of an ageing population and the need to increase individual resilience, while also improving community- and nation-wide resilience through education.