The innovation showcase and policy dialogue explored practical technologies that help people understand tsunami risk, receive warnings and act in time, in line with this year’s theme, “Be Tsunami Ready: Resilience Starts with You”.
Ambassador Oike Atsuyuki, Permanent Representative of Japan to the International Organizations in Geneva, opened the event, followed by Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR. Japan’s long experience with tsunamis has made it a leader in early warning, public action and building back better.
Three speakers presented technology-driven innovative solutions for tsunami early warning and preparedness:
- Haruki Oka of Weathernews Inc. spoke about how public-private partnerships can deliver tsunami warnings via Japan's most popular mobile weather app.
- Satoko Shibuya of Sendai City shared the city’s approach to urban resilience, disaster risk reduction and environmental sustainability, which supports its internationally recognised vision of a disaster-resilient city.
- Tiziana Rossetto of Delft University of Technology demonstrated how a scale model of tsunami dynamics can be used to explore and test engineering and nature-based solutions for coastal resilience.
The policy dialogue panel discussed how governments, international organisations and the private sector can make tsunami solutions accessible and adaptable to different national and local contexts. The panellists were Ambassador Geraldo Saranga, Permanent Representative of Mozambique; Ambassador Achsanul Habib, Deputy Permanent Representative of Indonesia; Kamal Kishore, Head of UNDRR; and Maria Ana Baptista, UNESCO-IOC.
Explore the innovations