About the Forum

World Bosai Forum/ International Disaster Risk Conference 2019 in Sendai

The World Bosai Forum started with the wish that we would not want to increase the number of people suffering from disasters any more in the Tohoku area where we experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

At the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai in 2015, The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted, which is a guideline for global disaster reduction efforts and people around the world discussed future disaster reduction.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction incorporates many ideas such as the importance of disaster risk management investment, better recovery, promoting the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is an important mission for Japan, since Japan has led the world in the field of disaster management. In addition, the activities of Japan and Tohoku in the process of recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 has attracted strong interest from all over the world.

So far, international conferences on disaster prevention have been held around the United Nations to academic conferences etc., although there was no international venue where we can make discussions focused on concrete solutions to reduce disaster damage with sharing information.

For that reason, The World Bosai Forum proposes solutions from various points of view to enable disaster risk reduction in Japan and overseas, and aims to promote the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 while learning from each other and creating new values.

The 1st World Disaster Reduction Forum (2017) was led by Tohoku University and Sendai City, with a diverse group of stakeholders (United Nations, international organizations, governments, private sectors, media, NGOs, citizens, universities and research institutes). We have brought in concrete solutions to reduce disasters, sharing information, discussed, and promoted the creation of a field to generate new collaborations.

And, in the second World Bosai Forum (November 9-12, 2019) will address the Global Target E” in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 that aims to achieve significant increase in the number of countries by 2020 with holding national and regional disaster management strategies. We will share many detailed contents to seek for better reconstruction which contains structural (hard), non-structural (soft) and human-oriented (heart) measures. We will also share how to deal with climate change which is getting more serious in recent years, how to apply advanced technologies such as AI or IoT technology in disaster risk reduction.

Furthermore, in the Second World Bosai Forum, the main meeting consisting of about 50⁺ sessions and associated events such as "Sendai Bosai Future Forum" and "The 10th Earthquake Technology Expo TOHOKU" will be held simultaneously, make synergy effects are expected. And the World Bosai Forum also aims to be a platform as a birth-place of new ideas through interactions among multi-stakeholders.

Overview

The official Name of the Conference
World Bosai Forum/ International Disaster Risk Conference 2019 in Sendai
(hereafter called WBF)
Scheduled Date
November 9 to 12, 2019
Venue
Sendai International Center/Hagi Hall at Tohoku University
Organizer
World Bosai Forum Local Organizing Committee/World Bosai Forum International Steering Committee
Sponsorship
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Toursism, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Aomori prefecture, Iwate Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Sendai Broadcasting station, Sendai Television Incorpolated,TOHOKU BROADCASTING CO LTD., Miyagi Television Broadcasting Co.,Ltd., HIGASHI NIPPON BROADCASTING Co.,Ltd., Sendai FM BROADCASTING, INC., The Asahi Shimbun CompanySendai general office, The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. Sendai branch office, SANKEI SHIMBUN CO.,LTD. Tohoku general office, THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN Tohoku general office)
Media Partner
remotesensing
Expected Participants
A total of 1,000 specialists and citizen participants from various sectors including research institutions, international organizations, government organizations, private sector, non-governmental organizations, media, etc.

2019 World Bosai Forum Structure

2019 World Bosai Forum Structure

World Bosai Forum Steering Committee

  • Mr. Kimio Takeya
    Japan
    Distinguished Technical Advisor to the President JICA

  • Mr. Satoru Nishikawa
    Japan
    Professor, Nagoya University

  • Mr. Walter Ammann
    Switzerland
    Founder and CEO, Global Risk Forum

  • Mr. Andrew Maskrey
    United Kingdom
    Risk Nexus Initiative

  • Ms. Denise Konan
    United States of America
    Dean of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa

  • Ms. Mabel Marulanda Fraume
    Columbia
    Universidad de Santiago de Chile

  • Ms. Jihyeon Park
    Republic of Korea

  • Mr. Reid Basher
    New Zealand
    Tohoku University, Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University.

  • Ms. Gretchen Kalonji
    United States of America
    Sichuan University

Founder and CEO

  • Yuichi Ono(Japan), Founder and CEO, World Bosai Forum Foundation

Observers

  • Mr. Fumihiko Imamura(Japan), Tohoku University
  • FUJITSU LIMITED
  • PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO, LTD
  • Mr. Yoshiki Hiruma (Japan), Vice President, Director, Enterprise Resilience Rated Loan Program (BCM rating), Sustainability Planning & Support Department, Development Bank of Japan Inc.
  • Japan Tobacco Inc.
  • OPTAGE Inc.

Flyer

flyer

Catch Phrase

Sharing Bosai Wisdom globally
-Contributing to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and achievement of the Sendai Targets, in particular Target E-

Ono-kun

Ono-kun appears casually in the World Bosai Forum.

Ono-kun is a cute stuffed toy knitted with stuffing socks, but the origin of Ono-kun can be traced back to the Great Depression that began in the United States in the 1930s.

It is said that "Sox-monkey" started when a mother stuffed used socks with rags and sewed them together, while many people were in poverty and could not buy toys for their children.

The idea caught the hearts of housewives in Rikuzen-Ono, Higashimatsushima, who were in shelters after the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, and led to the birth of a Japanese-made sock monkey called Ono-kun.

In temporary housing, there is nothing but what is given.

I heard that the housewives who suffered from the disaster had a strong desire to do something by themselves.

Mr. Ono, who runs the World Bosai Forum, visited these housewives and appointed by them as a goodwill ambassador of Ono-kun.

In the World Bosai Forum, Ono-kun will appear casually, not in the shape of a yuru-chara, in consideration of Ono-kun, who has a habit of mumbling, "IT'S SUCH A PAIN!" Thank you.

おのくん