Prof. Satoru Mimura, guest speaker organized by JCC2015, speaking on cascading disaster risk in Asia, particularly nuclear risk, in technical session 2 of AMCDRR. Photo: JCC-2015
“We want to inform the world about the cascading consequences of the Great Eastern Japan Disasters, especially the nuclear disaster, by telling the truth between the positive political speeches and negative media coverage. It is our responsibility to the world and our duty to make sure that such nuclear accident will never happen again.”
Yamazaki Nobuyoshi, general secretary of the Fukushima Cooperative Reconstruction Center, was speaking at the June 26 27 Sixth Asian Ministers Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in Bangkok. The conference was held in conjunction with the Japan CSO Coalition for 2015 World Conference on DRR (JCC-2015). Yamazaki participated with the support of CWS-Japan.
As a native of Fukushima, Yamazaki is especially concerned by the 2011 nuclear disaster and the importance of using the Japan experience as a catalyst to advocate for better preparedness and concrete inclusion of nuclear disaster risks into international frameworks.
As Simon Rogers, a JCC-2015 secretariat member, described it, “the coalition is a network of like-minded civil society organizations working together, beyond their own agendas, to participate actively in the establishment of the Post-2015 Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (HFA2), to build strong and resilient communities, and to share Japanese civil societies’ experiences and lessons learned with the international community”.
For the coalition, the Sixth AMCDRR was a critical milestone to advocate for inclusion of nuclear and technological risks within the next Hyogo Framework Protocol for Action (HFA2), which will be endorsed by all governments during next year’s World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai.
JCC-2015’s presence in Bangkok took different forms: a booth at the Market zone, a session on lessons learned from Fukushima and technical sessions directly related to enhancing resilience and giving the civil society perspective on disaster risk reduction. These sessions gave JCC-2015 an opportunity to advance both the nuclear disaster agenda and the desire to ensure the involvement of civil societies as equal stakeholders in the process of policy making and disaster management processes.
The conference also was an opportunity for Yamazaki, Simon and other coalition members to meet different people, to express their gratitude for the support received and to ensure that the tragic event will never be forgotten.
Fukushima Solidarity Night organized by Chula University in Bangkok with main guest speakers from JCC2015. Photo: JCC-2015
They all came with a message to AMCDRR participants and to the world. The message is summarized by Motooka Yuta, program officer at the Cooperative Reconstruction Center, who said, “We are optimistic but we want to keep spreading the voice of Fukushima with the belief that future generations should be able to live without the threat of a nuclear disaster”.