Disaster risk management is a national priority in Japan, and its importance is increasing worldwide due to natural hazards and climate change effects. With the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake (GHAE) in 2025, the World Bank hosted the 8th Understanding Risk Forum in Himeji, Japan which was substantially damaged by the 1995 earthquake.
The WHO Centre for Development (WHO Kobe Centre – WKC) coordinates major projects on Health Emergencies and Disaster Risk Management (Health EDRM). As an international expert in this field, WKC’s technical lead, Dr Ryoma Kayano, was invited to participate in the Forum and presented a session on “Generating the evidence base for DRM in the health sector: tools and approaches”. Most countries are likely to experience health emergencies which can increase death and disease, disrupt essential health services and damage infrastructure.
“Conducting research on Health EDRM generates data and evidence for learning lessons and making evidence-based decisions. This helps countries to become proactive rather than reactive. It means understanding and managing risks pre-emptively, adapting and aligning core capabilities to protect health from specific threats to manage all-hazards, and building resilient communities through leadership, capacity and collaboration,” said Dr Kayano.
“For instance, from data and evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, we learnt the health consequences of evacuation include indirect death from deep vein thrombosis, and living in temporary accommodation can increase worsen noncommunicable diseases and cognitive impairment. From this, research studies pointed to measures such as encouraging community participation in exercise or hobbies to reduce depression and mitigate cognitive disability after the disaster,” he said.
The WHO Kobe Centre is the secretariat of the WHO Health EDRM Research Network of over 380 experts from 58 countries, and facilitates global and regional collaborative research and activities. The Centre also produced a research method guidance for health research before, during and after emergencies and disasters. A hands-on guidance is being developed for policy-makers, implementers and scientists to promote research for evidence-based decision-making.
The WHO Kobe Centre conducts Health EDRM research and promotes its uptake to ensure that more people will be better protected from the health impact of emergencies and disasters. This is one of the three major priorities of WHO’s 13th and 14th global programmes of work - to protect one billion more people from health emergencies.