The UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction kicked off in the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai on Saturday to discuss international strategy on disaster risk reduction.
Some 5,000 representatives from about 200 countries, including Kuwait, and international organizations gathered for the five-day conference in Sendai that was hit hard by the earthquake-tsunami disaster four years ago. Discussions focus on the formulation of the post-2015 international framework for disaster risk reduction, which will be adopted on the final day.
UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon vowed in his opening speech that the world body will make this the highest level meeting on disaster risk reduction in history. "This is the first step of our future to put our people a sustainable development. Ambitious outcome of this meeting will put us on a path through a new sustainable development agenda with a set of sustainable development goals," said Ban. "What we discuss today is for millions of people around the world. We must keep a sharp focus on the agreement. Our thoughts are with all disaster victims," he said.
Japan on March 11 marked the fourth anniversary of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake-tsunami disaster that left more than 18,000 people dead or missing and triggered meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.
Referring to the 2011 disaster, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in his speech that the reconstruction is progress based on the assistance and establishment of efforts. "It is important to share our lessons from disasters in this conference. We will share current and past experiences and listen from every part of the world." Tokyo hopes that the conference will promote mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction in international cooperation as well as domestic policies of the member states, such as prioritizing disaster risk reduction in the policies of each national government and enhancing investment in disaster risk reduction. Japan also plans to disseminate and share worldwide its knowledge about and expertise in disaster risk reduction and recovery acquired through the 2011 disaster. The Kuwaiti delegation led by Ambassador to Japan Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi includes Deputy Director-General for Central Operations at the Interior Ministry Jamal Al-Sayegh, Deputy Director-General at the Fire Service Directorate Khaled Al-Mekrad, Vice-President of the Board of Directors at Red Crescent Society Anwar Al-Hasawi, President of Alshuabia Center at the Environment Public Authority Dr. Abdullah Al-Zaidan, Director of Civil Prevention at the Interior Ministry Meshaal Al-Mutairi, First Secretary at the Embassy here Nael Al-Hayan and Head of Planning and Information Section at the Fire Service Directorate, Meshari Al-Faras.
Japan hosts the third conference following the first conference in 1994 and the second in 2005.