Announcement
Tsukuba Conference 2025 – NIED Organized Session "Scaling Up Urban Disaster Risk Reduction in Emerging Megacities in the Asia-Pacific Region: Research, Policy, and Business Perspectives"
The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) hosted a public session titled "Scaling Up Urban Disaster Risk Reduction in Emerging Megacities in the Asia-Pacific Region: Research, Policy, and Business Perspectives" on October 2, 2025, as part of Tsukuba Conference 2025 held in Tsukuba City in Ibaraki Prefecture from October 1 to 3.
This session focused on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) in rapidly developing megacities across the Asia-Pacific region. Experts from the fields of research, policy, and business engaged in multifaceted discussions on urban vulnerability, data-driven countermeasures, evidence-based policy frameworks, and case studies of private-sector technologies. The session served as a platform for international knowledge exchange aimed at scaling up urban disaster resilience.
Presenters included Dr. Ryota NISHI (Department of Urban Disaster Resilience Engineering) and Dr. Aya TSUJIOKA (Department of Transdisciplinary Research in Disaster Risk Reduction) from NIED, alongside researchers, government officials, and technical experts including: Dr. Faizah Binti Che Ros from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Malaysia), Dir. Mark Edmon C. Navarro I from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (Philippines), Dr. Paitoon Ngammuk from the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department (Thailand), and Dr. Huseyin Tirtom from Nippon Koei Research & Development Center (Japan).

In the first half of the session, speakers introduced both research and policy-based approaches to enhancing urban disaster resilience, including flood risk assessment and national-level DRRM initiatives. The latter half featured a panel discussion on the unique challenges in building urban resilience in their respective cities, such as strategies to strengthen responses to extreme weather events driven by climate change.
This session contributed to building a foundation for continued exchange of knowledge and best practices in urban DRRM in the Asia-Pacific region.


Related links:
Tsukuba Conference 2025 NIED-hosted Session (P-02)