From March 10th (Friday) to 12th (Sunday), 2023, the World BOSAI Forum, the third time it has been held in four years, took place in Sendai. PACIFIC CONSULTANTS endorsed the forum and became a corporate supporter, hosting sessions and exhibiting a booth.
The World BOSAI Forum is an international citizens' forum that originated in Japan and collaborates with the Swiss World BOSAI Forum to bring together disaster risk reduction experts from Japan and overseas. Based on the four priority actions defined by Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: (1) understanding disaster risk, (2) strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk, (3) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and (4) improving preparedness for effective disaster response and "building back better" in the recovery and reconstruction process, the project aims to disseminate disaster risk reduction into policies, societies, and cultures around the world (mainstreaming disaster risk reduction).
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- Our mission is to contribute to the development of social infrastructure through our technical expertise and human resources.
- PACIFIC CONSULTANTS will contribute to the SDGs through BOSAI.
- Considering inclusive disaster prevention from the perspectives of pre-disaster recovery urban planning and disaster case management.
- BOSAI from Tohoku to the World: Our employees also contributed as part of the forum secretariat.
Our mission is to contribute to the development of social infrastructure through our technical expertise and human resources.
At the opening, our President Osamu OMOTO, took the stage and delivered a speech in which he addressed the event. Following greetings from the heads of the public sector, he introduced our company's track record of contributions to disaster prevention and reconstruction as a private company and construction consulting firm. He also shared his own experience of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the contributions of our employees, including those at our Tohoku branch, to Great East Japan Earthquake. Finally, he expressed his determination, stating, "Our mission is to contribute to the development of social infrastructure with our technical and human capabilities in order to protect everyone's safe, secure, and comfortable lives from natural disasters."
Opening Speakers List
| Mayor of Sendai City | Kazuko Kori |
| President of Tohoku University | Mr. Hideo Ohno |
| Governor of Miyagi Prefecture | Yoshihiro Murai (VTR) |
| Cabinet Office, Director-General for Policy Planning (Disaster Management), Counselor (Public Awareness and Coordination) | Mr. Takeo Murakami |
| JICA Special Advisor on Disaster Prevention | Mr. Kimio Takeya |
| Executive Manager Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) | Kazuhito Hashimoto (VTR) |
| Pacific Rim University Union (APRU) Chief Executive | Mr. Thomas Schneider |
| PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO., LTD. President and Representative Director | Osamu OMOTO |
PACIFIC CONSULTANTS will contribute to the SDGs through BOSAI.
At the forum venue, an EXPO was held over three days, showcasing the activities and products of companies related to disaster prevention, as well as the activities of non-profit organizations and groups. Our company also presented our business and technologies that contribute to Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Reduction (*1). At our booth, we presented our technologies as part of four initiatives that contribute to the SDGs through BOSAI, and we also featured a small-scale hydraulic model (micro-model) that allowed visitors to actually run water to see how river flooding would occur, as well as videos of reconstruction and development plans for disaster-stricken areas. Many people visited our booth, and we were pleased to see the large turnout.
PACIFIC CONSULTANTS' efforts to contribute to the SDGs through BOSAI
We aim to contribute to the implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and create a society where no one is left behind.
| Priority of Action 1 | Understand the disaster risks and comprehend the dangers. ―Even in sudden rain, you can rest assured. Doshaburu®』 ―When you still don't understand even after looking at a hazard map... ShiraBel™』 |
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| Priority of Action 2 | Strengthen disaster response agencies and incorporate the perspective of BOSAI (Disaster Prevention and Safety) into countermeasures. ―Disaster Prevention DX (Streamlining and enhancing disaster prevention operations with digital technology) |
| Priority of Action 3 | We will promote investment in disaster prevention and mitigation to enhance resilience. ―Smart cities utilizing advanced technologies will achieve urban sustainability and decarbonization! |
| Priority of Action 4 | Preparing for emergency response during disasters and achieving buildback better ―Tohoku reconstruction efforts |
Considering inclusive disaster prevention from the perspectives of pre-disaster recovery urban planning and disaster case management.
On the second day of the forum, a session hosted by our company (co-hosted by the Tokushima University Environmental Disaster Prevention Research Center) was held. The session focused on Tokushima Prefecture's preparations for the Nankai Trough earthquake, and explored solutions by sharing the actual efforts and challenges faced by Tokushima Prefecture and its municipalities regarding "pre-earthquake reconstruction" that contributes to minimizing damage from a massive earthquake.
session
[From Tokushima] Considering inclusive disaster prevention from pre-disaster recovery town planning and disaster case management.
program- Opening remarks and overview- Masanori Ishikawa (Executive Officer Director General of Land Infrastructure Div. our company)
- Lecture 1: On the Tokushima Prefecture Reconstruction Guidelines- Jun Bando (Director, Southern Tokushima Prefectural Government)
Lecture 2: Pre-disaster recovery efforts in Minami Town- Kazuhisa Iwakawa (Academic Researcher Center for Human and Regional Co-creation, Tokushima University) - Panel Discussion: Considering Inclusive Disaster Prevention from Preemptive Reconstruction Town Development and Disaster Case Management
Moderator: Yasunori Kozuki (Director, Environmental Disaster Prevention Research Center, Tokushima University)
Panelists: Kazuhisa Iwaka (mentioned above) / Jun Bando (mentioned above) / Susumu Iida (Resilience Promotion General Manager of Section at our company's Digital Service Div. Disaster Prevention Dept.) / Koko Okano (Executive Officer Internal Audit Office Manager at our company, Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town Director (at the time))
The lecture introduced the "Tokushima Prefecture Reconstruction Guidelines" as an example of "pre-disaster reconstruction" to achieve recovery from large-scale disasters. It also presented actual pre-disaster reconstruction efforts in Minami Town, Tokushima Prefecture, including examples of housing development on high ground that anticipates post-disaster town planning, and pre-disaster reconstruction dioramas created by elementary school students. Following these examples from Tokushima Prefecture, Shinji Iida (Head of Resilience Promotion Office, Disaster Prevention Digital Service Div. Disaster Prevention Dept. General Manager of Section and Koko Okano (Executive Officer, Internal Audit Office / Director (at the time), Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town Co., Ltd.) took the stage for the panel discussion.
In response to the moderator's question, "How should we consider the SDGs' concepts of 'leaving no one behind' and 'inclusivity' in the context of disaster prevention and recovery?", it was stated that lessons learned from Great East Japan Earthquake, such as the prolonged recovery due to delays in consensus building after the disaster and the resulting population decline, highlight the importance of "showing the desired state of recovery and the target recovery level and timeframe for the region before a disaster strikes."
Furthermore, there was lively discussion on the direction of proactive disaster prevention and inclusive disaster prevention, including the necessity of aiming for zero people facing difficulties in rebuilding their lives through "Disaster Case Management (DCM) (*2)," which focuses on the reconstruction of individual lives. This session served as a case study to widely disseminate to the world how our company and Tokushima Prefecture's joint efforts in disaster prevention and proactive recovery can contribute to achieving the SDGs.
(From left: Mr. Iida, General Manager of Section of our company; Mr. Iwakawa, Researcher at Tokushima University; Mr. Bando, Director of Tokushima Prefecture; Mr. Ishikawa, Executive Officer of our company; Mr. Kozuki, Center Director at Tokushima University; and Mr. Okano, Executive Officer of our company)
BOSAI from Tohoku to the World: Our employees also contributed as part of the forum secretariat.
The unsung hero who supported this three-day forum was So Sakamoto, who was seconded from our company's Disaster Prevention Dept. to Tohoku University (his secondment ended in March 2023). Regarding the forum's main message, "From Tohoku to the world of disaster prevention," he said, "It's been 10 years since the earthquake, but I put into it the feeling that we must never forget the disaster." From fiscal year 2023, Tenya Ono will be seconded from our company's Land Infrastructure Div. to Tohoku University, and will continue to work in cooperation with Tohoku University to contribute to the realization of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
What he's holding is "THE TSUNAMI WALK," a storybook about the earthquake and tsunami, co-produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World BOSAI Forum Reduction. The story of the "World BOSAI Walk Tohoku +10" (an event where participants walked 800 kilometers along the Tohoku coast to spread the message of recovery to the world), which Sakamoto and others conducted in the spring of 2022, has been turned into a picture book by the UN and distributed at the venue.
◆Our efforts at World BOSAI Forum are also described below.
"Leaving No One Behind in Disaster Prevention -PACIFIC CONSULTANTS x World BOSAI Forum 2023"
*1: Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: An international guideline for disaster risk reduction until 2030, adopted by UN member states at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai in March 2015. It was approved by the UN General General Meeting in June 2015.
*2: Disaster case management: An initiative that supports the "recovery of lives" by providing individualized support, such as information provision and human resources assistance tailored to the specific challenges faced by each disaster victim, while working closely with them. It is characterized by coordinating support through collaboration among multiple organizations and obtaining cooperation from professionals and specialized fields to help disaster victims recover their lives. In Japan, it was first fully implemented after Great East Japan Earthquake.
