2. Breakout Session

• Under the overall coordination by Mr. Shingo NAGAMATSU, Professor, Faculty of Social Safety Science, Kansai University, the Session Chairs of the Break-out sessions listed below initiate the whole process of planning respective sessions, facilitating discussions, following-up as required, and collectively compiling a publication on the respective subjects (see below).
• In each session, the Session Chair and Co-Chair facilitate expert discussion on the following subjects respectively along with 3 panelists invited from different countries. The sessions are also joined by some 25 experts (panelists of other sessions, participants of the Poster Session (see below) and other participants), who are invited to actively contribute to the discussion from the floor.
• The discussions in the Breakout sessions will be valuable inputs toward the planned publication, which will be compiled separately after the Forum.

a Role of Museums in Telling Live Lessons (0945 – 1200, 2nd floor hall)

Museums related to disasters exist all over the world. There are various kinds of museums, such as those specializing in disasters, those that are part of the museum in the form of permanent exhibitions or temporary planned exhibitions, or those that can be called field museums. This session invites representatives of museums that are developing “narration” activities both in Japan and abroad, clarifies the roles, similarities, differences, and challenges that “narration” has played in these museums and neighboring communities, shares solutions to overcome these challenges, and considers the relationship between better “narration” and sustainable operation of the museums.

b Disaster Tourism (0945 – 1200, 3rd floor multi-purpose room)

Tourism helps the community sustain the memories of disaster and pass on live lessons. Vice versa, the memories and experiences of disaster and reconstruction thereafter constitute an important part of local resources for tourism that contribute to the development of local economies. In Taiwan and Indonesia, such tourism is even associated with ecological conservation and arts. In a particular type of tourism characteristic with locally organized program which exploits the indigenous resources and contacts with local residents, telling live lessons plays a pivotal role in linking pre and post devastation, local residents and visitors, and areas with disaster experiences and those without. This session aims at examining the significance of tourism as a forum of learning from and connecting with areas hit by disasters.

c Telling Live Lessons and Local Community (1300 – 1515, 2nd floor hall)

Local community is the main resource for producing, supporting and connecting the activities of preserving and passing on the live lessons from disaster experience over generations. Such activities generate a new network, and it expands its activities to community revitalization, city planning, community disaster management and education. This session discusses how the community creates the activities of telling live lessons, how the community supports such activities, and what was the effect brought to the community, through sharing and comparing some cases with different lengths of time elapsed: 5 years, 15 years and 95 years. (Session Chair: Ms. Mayumi SAKAMOTO, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Disaster Resilience and Governance, University of Hyogo)

d Geopark and Telling Live Lessons (1300 – 1515, 3rd floor multi-purpose room)

Mt. Rokko, located near the epicenter of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake, grew higher through the earthquakes which occurred repeatedly. The numerous historically accumulated traces of earthquakes such as the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake that had been left behind there were already familiar to scientists, but remained unknown to local residents. The faults of Mt. Rokko provided abundant spring water, but this fortune was not shared with the local community. Geoparks promoted by UNESCO through one of its science programs are activities for local communities to understand the dynamism of geological transformation of the earth, conserve its traces and utilize them to develop sustainable societies through education and tourism. These activities include education for disaster risk reduction. This session intends to discuss from broader points of view how to interpret the geological significance of sites and landscapes, and how to communicate it to local communities.

e Disaster Remains and Passing-on of Memories (1545 – 1800, 2nd floor hall)

Some group of people in areas hit by gigantic disasters move to suggest that remains of disasters be preserved and made open to the public. They begin to suggest that those remains be used for telling live lessons of disaster experiences and public education on disaster risks. Some others on the other hand oppose this or keep distance from such initiatives and insist that such activities only relive the pain and sadness of disasters. Moreover, as buildings deteriorate and story tellers become older, challenges of funding and handing-over of story-telling activities shall be faced over times. This session discusses ways of making effective use of disaster remains and addressing challenges.

f Interregional Disaster Cooperation: Keeping Memories Alive (1545 – 1800, 3rd floor multi-purpose room)

What makes it difficult for the next generations to inherit live lessons from disaster is a lapse of time. Any severe experience of disaster cannot avoid, as time passes, fading away. The difficulty of inheriting live lessons becomes more invincible through the change of generations, particularly when the generation holding personal experiences of disaster has gone away. To sustain the memories of disaster over generations needs some impulse which from time to time refreshes them. This impulse may also be found in the activities for a region of former disaster to share their experiences and live lessons with a newly affected or a region without disaster experience. This session consists of practitioners of domestic and international disaster support or disaster risk reduction activities and aims to examine possible effects of those activities on the sustainability of disaster memories and to discuss effective forms of cooperation that enhance inheriting live lessons over generations.