China, Japan, South Korea to Cooperate on Disaster Management
China, Japan and South Korea recently announced an agreement to enhance cooperation on disaster management issues. According to a joint statement, the three countries are subject to natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods, sediment-related disasters and tsunamis. The risk is expected to rise with water-related disasters such as typhoons, floods and sediment-related disasters. This is due to changes in the environment from climate change and rapid urbanization.
The leaders of the three countries agreed on the importance of sharing information on projects, initiatives, good practices, lessons learned and science and technologies to strengthen their disaster management capabilities. This will involve enhanced cooperation in developing a comprehensive disaster management framework, working out measures to reduce vulnerability to disaster while minimizing the damage, and strengthening effective disaster management at the national, local and community levels.
To facilitate the agreed-upon cooperation, the three countries agreed to hold trilateral meetings at each country’s government agencies that address disaster management.
