Group Discussion Summary – “Technology”

Group Discussion Summary – “Technology”
Group Facilitator:
Dr. Kenji Harada
Research Scientist
Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution
• “Education” and “Governance” should be based on “Technology”. “Technology” should
produce the evidence to put them into practice. Technologies to evaluate the targeted area,
the disaster risk and the needs for environment-friendliness before introducing them are
important. Also, monitoring and forecasting technologies for evaluation are necessary. The
implications of the discussions indicate that the meaning of ‘technology’ needs to be
broadened, incorporating not only the actual/specific technology, but also the skills,
management systems and decision-making processes needed to identify, select, use, and
maintain/dispose the technology. This has to be fully integrated into the disaster
management cycle as a whole.
• Technology for disasters should be broad covering different issues and topics. Technologies
should be looked at as a ‘way of doing things’. The implications of the discussions indicate
that a portfolio of information need to be collected for technology ideas that includes
techniques, skills, management systems, policies/strategies, etc. that will enable local
stakeholders to take appropriate decisions to select and use the technologies.
• Technologies for environmentally-friendly disaster management is different depending on
the targeted area and it should be carried out based on a thorough evaluation that is also
sensitive to the local culture, lifestyles and society. The implications of the discussions
indicate that technologies for disaster management will broadly play three key roles – to
reduce loss to human lives, to preserve the environment and to promote sustainable
development.
• Technologies that address the causes and impacts of disasters need to be identified for each
stage of the disaster cycle. The implications of the discussions indicate that each stage of
the disaster cycle has causes and effects/impacts that are both human and environmental in
nature. Understanding this, and incorporating it into technology decision-making will help
in integrating disaster and environmental issues. Technologies can be both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’,
covering pre-disaster and post-disaster stages.
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• We need to educate people (citizen and government) about the importance of the
technologies in various opportunities. The implications of the discussions indicate that
technologies for disaster management, for example, for urban infrastructure (flood control,
building retrofitting), information management (early warning, research), damage
assessment, preparedness etc. need to be properly packaged and integrated into the overall
processes of disaster management – including education, evacuation drills,
policy/programme development etc.
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