Having experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, Sendai City realized once again that cities are exposed to a variety of disaster threats. Based on the lessons learned from this disaster, Sendai City is proceeding to build a “Disaster-Resilient and Environmentally-Friendly City,” which will be prepared for threats from future disasters and climate changes.
With the affluent environment of Sendai – the City of Trees as their base, they are promoting “urban development” by improving the resilience of infrastructure and energy supplies as well as promoting “human capacity building” that will help support disaster prevention activities in local communities. They focus on “mainstreaming disaster risk reduction” while incorporating disaster prevention and environmental considerations into every policy, and maintaining a high level of security and safety in the lives of residents and in economic activities, in addition to maintaining the city’s comfortable living environment.
While passing on their experiences and lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake to future generations and nurturing their residents’ disaster prevention culture, they will continue to share information on various efforts. They will communicate efforts carried out by local communities, NPOs, businesses and research institutions by making use of the domestic and international networks that were created through hosting the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai in March of 2015.
They are focusing on contributing to the world’s disaster prevention culture and establishing a city brand for a comfortable living environment and a high level of disaster preparedness. Sendai City is implementing disaster prevention and disaster risk reduction measures for a variety of urban utility systems, both in terms of knowledge and know-how, and in terms of equipment and facilities. These projects include restoration of the wastewater treatment facilities that suffered damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake and providing support for improving the earthquake resistance of detached houses and condominiums.
Along with making urban utilities resilient, they are promoting programs for energy-saving measures and wider use of renewable energy. From both the aspects of disaster prevention and environment protection, they aim to establish a sustainable, resilient society.