UMass Boston Hosts International Conference on Rebuilding China, Japan after Disasters

The Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston and the China Program Center, University College, University of Massachusetts Boston are hosting “Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters in China: Best Practices and Lessons Learned,” an international conference, on November 15-16, 2012.

The conference examines best practices and lessons learned in reducing the socio-economic impact of disasters on vulnerable communities in China, a country that faced more disasters than any other in 2010. That year more than 230 million people in China were affected by severe droughts, dust storms, earthquakes, landslides, and flooding. 

Presenters will discuss the specific post-disaster actions that worked for China while rebuilding from devastation. Through these presentations, conference planner Adenrele Awotona, director of the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters, hopes to improve these methods for post-disaster reconstruction so that they can be applied in communities around the world. Awotona explains that “recommendations from the conference provide policy advice and practical assistance, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of reconstruction policies and the monitoring of implementation processes and outcomes everywhere.”

This UMass Boston conference is co-sponsored by Shanghai Jiaotong University, China; Dalian University of Technology, China; and Ritsumeikan Research Center for Sustainability Science, Japan.  While the event focuses on China, it also examines case studies from Japan after the March 2011 earthquake, Haiti after its 2010 earthquake, and the Zeytinburnu, Istanbul earthquake mitigation planning project in Turkey.

The United States Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will present its role in international events, like the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan, as well as examine best practices in federal emergency management. Presenters will speak on mitigation practices and policies for managing floods and flood plains, the role of public and private partnerships, voluntary agencies working on disasters, and the roles of children and the elderly in preparedness and post--disaster reconstruction.

UMass Boston encourages scholars, researchers, public policy makers, governmental representatives, and non-governmental organizations from China and other countries to attend. The registration fee is $300.