UNESCO Chair Programme on Cultural Heritage and Risk Management

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE (ITC) on DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT of CULTURAL HERITAGE 2014, 9th year, Ritsumeikan University

from 6th to 22nd September 2014, at Kyoto, Kobe, Minami Sanriku-Cho, Japan

Organized by Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage,
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
In Cooperation with UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ICCROM, ICOMOS/ICORP
Supported by Toyota Foundation “Initiative Program”

The 9th UNESCO Chair Programme on Cultural Heritage and Risk Management – INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE (ITC) on DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT of CULTURAL HERITAGE 2014 was successfully held for two weeks from 6 to 22 September 2014 with 14 participants from Albania, Australia, Croatia, Ecuador, Egypt, The Fiji Islands, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, New Zealand, Pakistan, Syria, Thailand who were selected through rigorous selection process out of more 135 applicants from all over the world.

During the course, the trainees leant about various aspects of disaster risk management of cultural heritage in Japan and other parts of the world through lectures, site visits and workshops in Kyoto, and also leant about long-term recovery process in Kobe following the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake in 1995. Also, they could identify the potential role of cultural heritage in the three and half years of rehabilitation process following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 through practical workshops and field works in Minami-Sanriku Cho, Miyagi Prefecture.

The training course is organized from the beginning in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ICCROM, ICOMOS and relevant institutions of the government of Japan. In 2014, the Toyota Foundation “Initiative Program” has proposed to support our training course by providing the budget for three years. Participants will include managers of cultural heritage, disaster risk management experts, decision makers and government officials involved in cultural properties or disaster management. We will continue outreach activities and dissemination of our research outcomes to the international society.