INTERNATIONAL WEBINAR «ENGINEERING: DRIVER FOR THE RISK INFORMED DEVELOPMENT»

Satoru Nishikawa – Professor, Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University, Japan

Tatsuo Narafu – Technical Advisor, JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan

Key messages

Satoru Nishikawa has a long professional experience in the Japanese Gov’t, United Nations, Tokyo Metropolitan Gov’t, Asian Disaster Reduction Center and others, related to disaster reduction, humanitarian affairs and infrastructure planning. At the wake of the Indian OceanTsunami in 2004, he coordinated the Japanese Government technical assistance to the affected countries. He hosted and coordinated the 2005 UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction where HFA was adopted. He proposed the Japanese BCP guideline in 2005. He initiated the long-term regional recovery planning for Tohoku after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. He was a member of the Advisory Group to the UN SRSG for DRR on the Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Global Platform. He was the chair of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Catastrophic Risk. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Vice-president, Japan Water Agency. He holds a master’s degree in regional science and Ph.D. in risk analysis. In 2018, he joined Nagoya University. His current research interest covers institutional development for disaster reduction at local and national level, community-based disaster management & public awareness methodology, business continuity management for reducing economic damage and international cooperation for institutional development of disaster reduction capacities.

Dr. Tatsuo Narafu worked for JICA as a Senior Advisor on disaster management especially on earthquake disasters from August 2010 until March 2018. He has wide range of practical experience such as in building standard & regulation, governmental building design & construction, urban planning, urban development, and national development program, during working as an official for 32 years in the national government of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) including in local governments of Tottori Prefecture and Akita Prefecture. He also has experience working in the Government of Indonesia and Vietnam as an advisor dispatched by the Japanese Government. Dr. Tatsuo Narafu retired from the full-time job as the Senior Advisor of JICA and continues to work for JICA as technical advisor on specific projects and course advisor of JICA group training courses. He is also working with the World Bank in disaster risk reduction, building regulation, and so on. He has been joining UNESCO IPRED project since the beginning of the project and contributed the publication of “Towards Resilient Non-engineered Construction -Guide for Risk-informed Policy Making” as an editor and an author.

Soichiro Yasukawa has MS in architecture from Kyoto University and MS of public administration from Columbia University. Soichiro Yasukawa joined Natural Sciences Sector, UNESCO in 2013 as the Programme Specialist on disaster risk reduction (DRR). Mr Yasukawa is the coordinator of DRR activities in UNESCO and the focal point of UN DRR group. He manages projects on securing building safety, earthquake early warning, utilizing STI for DRR in the UNESCO Headquarters and coordinates projects in the Field Offices. Prior to UNESCO, Soichiro Yasukawa worked on building code and urban development in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of the Japanese government and disaster preparedness and response in the Japanese Cabinet Office of Disaster Risk Reduction from 1998 to 2013.