Faith-based organizations’ contribution to Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
World Bosai Forum, November 26, 2017
Hosted by: Organizing Committee of the Symposium on Faith and DRR
Sponsored by: Sendai Masjid, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, the Soka Gakkai International
On behalf of JLI, Nobuyuki Asai shared recent international discussions on how FBOs and LFCs contribute to relief and recovery activity. He shared an update from the Localisation of Humanitarian Response Forum (at lrf2017.org). The evidence brief on resilience was distributed to the audience.
Noboru Sato, Representative of Sendai Islamic Culture Center, explained about Muslim groups’ relief activity at the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Beyond his anticipation so many relief supplies were shipped to his mosque from throughout Japan. He and his colleagues visited many shelters and distributed them. They did outside cooking several times as well.
Akinori Takase, Buddhist monk and associate researcher in Taisho Univ., reflected young monks’ relief and recovery activity after the earthquake. The group built a good relationship with a local community in Iwaki City in Fukushima prefecture and created a venue for local affected people’s chatting which made sense for their mental recovery.
Mitsuaki Niinuma, Program Coordinator of Tohoku Soka Gakkai, firstly shared his own experience of running shelter in Soka Gakkai’s culture center in Sendai. Then he introduced a new exhibition which was produced aimed at succeeding the experiences and lessons as well as encouraging visitors through showcasing the affected peoples’ tenacious recovery process.
Prof. Susumu Shimazono, Representative of Japan Religion Coordinating Project for Disaster Relief, made a keynote speech. Through presenting several religious organizations’ activities, he emphasized that such entities’ works were better recognized by the general society when compared to previous disasters. He shared that FBOs and people with faith often show their strength particularly in times of difficulties.