Responding to Disaster: Lessons Learned from the Haiti and Great East Japan Earthquakes A Symposium at the Embassy of Canada to Japan

What is the role of the international community in the face of a natural disaster?

What do past experiences teach us to be the most important aspects of disaster response?

How should countries providing post-disaster assistance coordinate their activities with the affected states and among themselves?

How do disaster response operations differ depending on whether they are carried out in a developed country or a developing country?

The experiences of the Haiti Earthquake of January 12, 2010, and the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, help to provide answers to these and other questions regarding disaster response operations.
Although the two events happened in very different circumstances, they teach us complementary lessons about the importance of speed, planning and coordination in the face of major natural disasters.
The Embassy of Canada to Japan is pleased to present a distinguished panel of experts who will provide their views about the response to these earthquakes and the insights that we can draw from them.

Participants:

Prof. Makoto Iokibe, President of the National Defense Academy of Japan and Chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council.

Col. Jacques Morneau, Defence Attaché, Embassy of Canada to the Republic of Korea; former Chief of Staff for MINUSTAH; former Special Assistant to the Ambassador of Canada to Haiti

Amb. Sadaaki Numata, former Ambassador of Japan to Canada

Prof. Andrew S. Thompson, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo; Program Officer, Global Governance Programs, The Balsillie School of International Affairs

Prof. David A. Welch, Chair of Global Security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation; Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs; Professor of Political Science, University of Waterloo

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Noboru Yamaguchi, Director, Center for National Security and Crisis Management; former Special Adviser to the Cabinet; former Commanding General, Research and Development Command, Japan Ground Self Defense Force

Date & Time: 19:00-21:00, Monday, December 5, 2011

Location: Oscar Peterson Theatre, Embassy of Canada,
7-3-38 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo (We regret that parking is not available)

Language: English / Japanese, with simultaneous interpretation

To attend, please confirm by e-mail
(junko.hosogoe[at]international.gc.ca) by 17: 30 on Thursday , December 1 , 2011. In your message, please provide the following information:

Name:
Organisation:
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:
Address:

Seats will be available on a first come-first served basis.

Please note that, for security reasons, we cannot allow people who have not registered in advance to enter the Embassy. If you would like to bring additional people with you to the symposium, please ensure that they have registered themselves with the Embassy.

In addition, in order to simplify the distribution and recovery of audio headsets, we would be grateful if you could provide us with a business card upon your arrival.