Special Issue on Selected Papers from TIEMS Annual Conference in Niigata

Abstract

TIEMS – The International Emergency Society founded in 1993 – is a global forum for education, training, certification and policy in emergency and disaster management. TIEMS is dedicated to developing a safer world by bringing the benefits of modern emergency management tools, techniques and good industry practice. The Japan Chapter of TIEMS was established in 2011 when Japan members agreed on the great worth of the Society’s mission. The Japan Chapter organized the Oct. 20-23, 2014, TIEMS Annual Conference in Niigata. Niigata was chosen because the year 2014 had a special meaning in the history of disasters in Japan. That is, the memorials of four major disasters had memorial anniversaries in that year – the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Niigata Earthquake, the 40th anniversary of the 1974 Niigata Yakeyama Volcano eruption, and the 10th anniversaries of the 2004 Niigata-Fukushima flood and Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake. The event brought over 1,000 domestic and international participants together to discuss risk management and resilience against disasters. The event also provided many opportunities for participants to share their scientific knowledge learn about the lessons from past experience of practitioners in the disaster management field and view the industry exhibition emerging to a wide variety of experience in disaster response. With so many experts and practitioners willing to make presentations at the Conference, the JDR has brought together selected 17 papers and other output from them. My colleagues and I am honored to make these TIEMS 2014 achievements known to the broadest possible audience, and we are assured that this will create many fruitful outcomes for our reading audience.