The 15th meeting of the Subcommittee on Disaster Prevention was held from March 7-8 in Kobe and Miki, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The meeting was attended by representatives from 17 regional governments and organizations in five countries. At the subcommittee meeting, there were presentations on the disaster prevention measures of the Hyogo Prefecture, and information on disaster prevention systems was shared by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) and the International Revival Platform (IRP), along with other participating regional governments.

The subcommittee was deemed successful and effective, as well as helpful for regional governments. Secretary-General Jun said, “I was impressed by the practice-based disaster prevention manual and administration system of Hyogo Prefecture. The subcommittee may provide an example to other regional governments in the area of effective disaster prevention.”

NEAR has held meetings for the Subcommittee on Disaster Prevention annually since 2002  with an aim to strengthen the disaster prevention capacities of member organization to reduce damage from natural disasters in Northeast Asia.