On 9 March 2024, the 10th Sendai Bosai Mirai Forum was held in Sendai, Japan, to share lessons learnt from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. The annual forum serves as a platform for stakeholders from diverse backgrounds—including government agencies, corporations, civil society organizations, academic institutions, students and citizens—to come together to share insights for a safer, more resilient future.

This year, the forum was based on the theme “Sendai Framework’s Turning Point—Disaster Prevention That We All Can Do Together.” It gathered more than 4,000 participants and 139 groups—the largest number of participating groups ever—who organized sessions, workshops and exhibitions.

During the forum, the Soka Gakkai organization in Tohoku hosted a session titled “Peace as the Foundation of Disaster Risk Reduction.” Tetsuo Kondo, former Director of the UN Development Programme Representation Office in Japan, was the main speaker and highlighted the significance of a human security perspective in disaster risk reduction (DRR). Hirotaka Koike, Senior Political and External Affairs Officer at Greenpeace Japan, then illustrated the direct correlation between climate change and the increasing frequency and severity of disasters. He emphasized that all actors must take all possible action to mitigate these risks with urgency.

Finally, Hiroko Ogushi, co-representative of SGI Youth, introduced Soka Gakkai’s initiatives in disaster-affected areas, including responses to the January 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. She also shed light on the significance of a gender perspective in DRR.

Additionally, the Japan CSO Coalition for Disaster Risk Reduction (JCC-DRR), a network of 55 organizations with expertise in DRR, including SGI, organized a session titled “The Significance of Early Warning and Early Action.”

The session delved into the dissemination and effective application of early warning systems (EWS), emphasizing the role of community engagement in enhancing disaster preparedness.

Hitomi Nago from Date fm, a radio station based in Sendai, presented the station’s community initiatives aimed at strengthening disaster resilience, such as the “Saba Meshi (survival meals) Disaster Prevention Handbook” and educational programs for elementary school students. Kiyomi Nakamura from Japan Conservation Engineers also shared their contribution to enhancing preventative action on the part of local communities and individuals by providing educational materials and tools.

Nobuyuki Asai of SGI contributed a civil society perspective and shared recommendations based on voices from disaster-affected communities in Japan. Takeshi Komino, General Secretary of Church World Service (CWS) Japan, then presented good practices to involve local communities in DRR in other disaster-prone countries, such as Afghanistan.

Finally, Shosuke Sato, Associate Professor at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science at Tohoku University, shared the story of a local response to flooding that resulted in no casualties to demonstrate how self-help and mutual aid can successfully reduce the impact of disasters. He also proposed to mainstream the idea of “Early Warnings by All” in addition to “Early Warnings for All,” an initiative launched by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2022.