The University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University, and JICA Research Institute Joint Workshop "Disasters, Poverty, and Development"

In the recent decades, a number of high-profile natural and man-made disasters have hit both developed and developing countries alike. To compound issues, there is a seemingly increasing trend of natural disasters over the years. So many lives were lost by the Tohoku earthquake, Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the earthquakes in central Chile, Haiti, Sichuan province of China, northern Pakistan, and the Hanshin area of Japan. In addition to natural disasters, man-made disasters also generate the most serious consequences ever known particularly on the poor. Man-made disasters include technology related disasters such as nuclear radiation leaks and transportation accidents. Countries also face a specter of other man-made disasters including “economic disasters,” i.e., financial crises and food crisis, and “violence-related disasters” such as terrorist attacks, civil conflicts, and wars. It is therefore indispensable to design and implement comprehensive “mitigation” and “coping” mechanisms against the risks of a variety of disasters.

This workshop is co-organized by the University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University, and JICA Research Institute. The theme is "Disasters, Poverty, and Development," and the workshop aims at bridging the gap in the existing literature by carefully comparing the relative impacts of macro and micro damages arising from a wide variety of disasters. More specifically, we discuss impacts of new emerging issues, i.e., increase of natural disasters and manmade disasters such as earthquakes, food crisis, and financial crisis on people's welfare and new innovations such as index-type micro-insurance and the role of public policies to mitigate and cope with these emerging issues, with the attendance of Mr. François Bourguignon, Director, Paris School of Economics/a former Chief Economist, World Bank, and other leading scholars in the field.

To apply the seminar, please click the button below. (Registration deadline: September 28

Ms. Saito / Ms. OkE-Mail: ditas-rsunit@jica.go.jpTel: +81-(0)3-3269-2959Fax: +81-(0)3-3269-2054