Outline of Center for Disaster Prevention Promotion, Kochi University

 Kochi Prefecture is situated within an extremely harsh environment for natural disasters, in particular earthquakes and tsunami originating in the Nankai Trough, typhoons and other severe storms and flooding, and landslides from the steep, surrounding mountains. The annual frequency of such storms, landslides and other disasters has made addressing such threats an increasingly pressing issue in recent years. Towards this end, Kochi University has assembled disaster prevention-related researchers from all fields, including science and engineering, education, the humanities and medicine, with the aim of contributing to the development of towns and regions which are more resilient in the face of disasters, as well as cultivating highly skilled human resources capable of responding swiftly and effectively to frequent, large-scale disasters.

 In 2006, Kochi University established a Section of Disaster Prevention within its Science Research Center to handle the implementation of disaster prevention-related training and seminars as well as to collaborate on disaster prevention with the government, companies and various organizations. However, in order to better facilitate these tasks and to augment them with more multidisciplinary, systematic "disaster prevention and mitigation-related" awareness-raising aimed at teaching faculty, as well as to make a greater contribution regionally, the Center for Disaster Prevention Promotion was launched on February 1, 2016 to both replace and expand upon the work of the Section of Disaster Prevention. The Center for Disaster Prevention Promotion focuses on four areas: disaster prevention/mitigation science and technology (i.e., performing research into disaster prevention/mitigation and finding practical applications for the community), disaster medicine (i.e., performing research into medical responses, public health, etc., during disasters and finding practical applications for the community), crisis management (i.e., research into crisis management during disasters and finding practical crisis management applications for the university and community), and local/international community contributions (providing support for local and international disaster prevention/mitigation-related projects). By fostering productive synergy amongst all of these areas, the Center seeks to find solutions to problems which can then be applied for the benefit of both the local and international communities.