The symposium

On March 5, 2022, IRIDeS held a symposium called “The Great East Japan Earthquake Memorial Symposium 2022: Development of the Research on Subduction Earthquakes and Preparation for the Future” at the Sendai International Center in Sendai, Japan, in a hybrid fashion, combining face-to-face and online methods. The symposium aimed at deepening our understanding of the latest research on subduction earthquakes and of future risks of major earthquakes and tsunamis. It also provided an overview of regional disaster risk reduction efforts based on lessons learned from the 2011 disaster, seeking for ways to enhance regional disaster preparedness.

In the first half of the symposium, Professor Hiroaki Takahashi of Hokkaido University and Professor Toru Matsuzawa of Tohoku University, who are both leading experts in earthquake research, gave keynote speeches. Their talks discussed the risk of future massive earthquakes along the Kuril Trench, the causes of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and its influence on the risk in the adjacent areas, including the difficulty of extra alert upon preceding seismic events in these regions. In the latter half, IRIDeS researchers discussed regional disaster mitigation based on perspectives of preparedness, emergency response, and recovery reconstruction, pointing out the importance of a holistic approach and coordination. More than 120 people participated in the symposium either face-to-face or online.

IRIDeS has held a symposium on the Great East Japan Earthquake every March since 2012. The origin of this symposium is the series of “Tohoku University’s Great East Japan Earthquake Debriefing Session,”1) which were regularly held to the public since one month after the 2011 disaster.

This year, the symposium was coordinated as a part of the “Sendai Bosai Future Forum” organized by the City of Sendai at the Sendai International Center (as it was last year also). Although the Forum was held with precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a diverse group of citizens who were interested in disaster risk reduction visited the venue.

During the Sendai Bosai Future Forum, in addition to the above symposium, IRIDeS held another event titled “Creating a Resilient Community: Activities of the AEON Disaster-Resilient and Environmentally-Friendly City Creation Joint Research Lab.” We set up an exhibition booth to introduce IRIDeS activities. It was also announced that the third World BOSAI Forum, supported by IRIDeS, would be held in March 2023.

　1) Until March 2012, the event was held by the Research Group on Disaster Prevention and Management, which was the predecessor of IRIDeS.