Friday 29th March
2:30pm
Japan Foundation, London
The Japan Foundation is pleased to present this special public seminar to mark the two year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Dr Simon Avenell (Australian National University) will examine the role played by volunteers following the triple disaster. In particular, he will trace the evolution of disaster volunteering since the Kobe Earthquake of 1995, looking closely at the ways state and civic organizations have helped to build a robust and responsive disaster volunteer infrastructure. Avenell will explain how, despite the substantial differences in scale and logistical complexity of the 2011 disaster compared to other recent natural calamities in Japan, evidence suggests that the volunteering experience of Kobe, coupled with intervening disaster preparation, proved crucial for government officials and civic activists who cooperated to organize a swift and efficient volunteering response after 3.11.
Following this, architect Dr Osamu Tsukihashi (Kobe University) will introduce his Lost Homes Project – an initiative through which local communities in the affected areas collected and recorded memories of places lost to the tsunami so that they may be passed on to the next generation. Tsukihashi will explain how people’s memories give towns a special sense of place, and that it is this sense of place living on through memory that has become a source of psychological support to those in the affected areas. Tsukihashi will show how the act of recording and passing on memories of places destroyed by the tsunami is an indispensable part of the process of creating new living environments in the disaster area.
This event will be chaired by Dr Geoff O’Brien from the Disaster and Development Centre, Northumbria University.
Following the formal proceedings, refreshments will be served including two varieties of Urakasumi – a famous Japanese sake from the Tohoku region.
Booking Information
This event is free but prior booking is essential. To reserve a place, please contact event@jpf.org.uk with your name, details and those of any guests.
