Project News

Tropical Cyclone Idai landed in areas near Beira City, Sofala Province in central Mozambique on the night of March 14 to 15, 2019 and brought torrential rains and strong winds to Sofala, Zambezia, Manica and Inhambane Provinces. It devastated the areas with more than 2,200 deaths and injuries and approximately 240,000 houses were damaged (as of May 31st, 2019). Especially, Beira City, Sofala Province was one of the most devastated regions with many public facilities, such as schools, being damaged. JICA commenced recovery project to strengthen its resilience against disasters.

In this context, the project conducted the Invitation Program to Japan from November 8th to 13th, 2019, with the purpose of contributing to developing the specific action plan for recovery and reconstruction in Mozambique. During the program, participants from Mozambique identified the cases that could be applied to form a resilient society in Mozambique based on successful examples and lessons learned from reconstruction projects and concrete efforts to create a resilient society in Japan and the third countries (the Philippines and Indonesia).

Lecture by the Cabinet Officers

Lecture on understanding Japan's disaster prevention policy:

The participants from Mozambique paid a courtesy visit to the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, and deepened understanding of the disaster prevention system in Japan and municipal disaster prevention plans. Specifically, the participants from Mozambique used the following as their reference; 1) how to share experiences of disasters and disaster risk reduction activities, 2) how to implement recovery and reconstruction policies in Mozambique through the explanation of the role of the Cabinet Office, the Reconstruction Agency, and each Ministry in charge.

Group photo of participants

Lecture and site visit to Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture

As recovery and reconstruction measures from Cyclone Idai, the project not only considers structural measures such as the construction of seawalls and improvement of the drainage network but also supports creating a timeline for cyclone and an evacuation plan. For this reason, participants from Mozambique visited Joso City to see the example of these initiatives in Japan.

Lecture by Joso City Officers

Site visit to a stone monument installed immediately after dike break at the broken point of the embankment of Kinu-River

Site visit to flood countermeasures (Prevention of flooding of backup power supply) at Joso City Office

Site visit to the facility of disaster risk reduction education and transmission of the lesson learned from the earthquake:

Disaster risk reduction education, which aims to improve awareness of disaster risk reduction and knowledge on disasters, is expected to be incorporated into emergency drills. Thus, in order to learn the concept and presentation of disaster risk reduction education, the participants visited Arahama district in Sendai City and looked at facilities established for disaster risk reduction education and transmission of lessons learned from the earthquake.

Explanation of the outline of the earthquake

Site visit to the disaster site (Ruins of the Great East Japan Earthquake: Sendai Arahama Elementary School)

Site visit to the facility of transmission of the lesson learned from the earthquake

Participation in the World BOSAI Forum session in Sendai City

In this project, JICA will support creating specific action plans from the reconstruction plan. As a step for this, the participants took part in the World BOSAI in Sendai City from November 11th to 12th. In this forum, the participants attended the JICA-organized session and discussed countermeasures necessary for specific disaster risk reduction plans developed by each country. Furthermore, the participants exchanged opinions with other attendees involved in the JICA Central Sulawesi Reconstruction Plan Formulation and Implementation Support Project. Through these sessions, the participants deeply understood the concrete efforts required to create a specific action plan.

Secretary Mr. Pereira speaking as a panelist (the first person from the left)

Get-together with participants from other countries

Lecture and site visit to Higashi-Matsushima City in Miyagi Prefecture

In Higashi-Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture, the participants had lectures on disaster risk reduction education and the inheritance of lessons learned after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 3, 2011. The participants also conducted a site visit to see the status of multi-layered defenses, the post-earthquake town reconstruction under the land use regulations, the resettlement site of victims and support for livelihood recovery.

Lecture and discussion in Higashi-Matsushima City

Site visit to see the seawall development at Tsukihama

Site visit to the resettlement site

Courtesy call to JICA HQs

Courtesy visit to JICA

The participants paid a courtesy visit to JICA headquarters to report the Invitation Program to Japan and exchange opinions for future projects. Following the greetings of Mr. Kayashima, Senior Vice President of JICA, Mr. Pereira, Chairman of Cabinet for Reconstruction Post-Cyclones Idai and Kenneth, expressed his gratitude for visiting Japan. Mr. Pereira mentioned that through the Program, he understood the importance of creating hazard maps, structural and non-structural measures utilizing hazard maps as well as capacity building of administrative staff members. Mr. Adachi, Director General of the Department of Social Infrastructure and Peacebuilding of JICA, stated that Mozambique is JICA's first initiative of post-disaster recovery and resilience in Africa, and he hopes that Mozambique will lead the field of disaster prevention in Africa. Mr. Morais, Ambassador of the Embassy of Mozambique in Japan, also expressed his gratitude for Japan's support for reconstruction in Mozambique.

Group photo of the courtesy visit to JICA HQs