[S-VC27] Mitigation of volcanic disasters - basic and applied researches

[SVC27-04] Activities and Needs of the Returnees who participated in JICA Training Program "Volcanic Disaster Risk Reduction and Management for Central and South American Countries."

*Hikaru Yokoyama¹, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto², Kenji Niihori³ (1.Hokusho University, 2.Mount Fuji Research Institute Yamanashi Prefectural Government, 3.Organization of Volcanic Disaster Mitigation, NPO.)

Keywords:JICA, international contribution, Volcano Disaster Prevention, Education and outreach

JICA Hokkaido is conducting a training course on the subject "Volcanic Disaster Risk Reduction and Management for Central and South American Countries.”. This course has been held since 2009 for researchers from institutions, disaster prevention officials from local governments, university faculty members, and others involved in volcanic disaster prevention in Central and South America. Its purpose of this course is to promote collaboration and improve knowledge and skills among experts on volcano disaster prevention in their respective countries. So far, a total of 116 trainees from nine countries have visited Japan, from the north: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. Initially, Hiromu Okada and Tadahide Ui, formerly of Hokkaido University, served as course leaders. From 2018, presenter Yokoyama joining as course leader, and Yokoyama and Yoshimoto serving as course leaders from 2021. From2021, after the pandemic of the COVID19, we have renewed the program to most of the classroom lectures provided on-demand in advance and on-site training in Japan, mainly at Mt.Usu and Mt. Fuji. Specific program content have include education and dissemination activities related to volcanoes and disaster mitigation communication using the Geopark around Mt. Usu, the current status and issues of volcanic disaster prevention in Japan, actual observation systems and cooperation between government and research institutions, etc. around Mt.Fuji.

"Cities on Volcano" (COV12) the International Conference was held in Antigua, Guatemala, in February 2024. Many people from various professions involved in volcanic disaster management in various countries have attended COV12. The conference organizers include returned trainees, and several of returned trainees participated as presenters. Therefore, we decided to conduct on-site interviews with the returned trainees who participate in COV12. We also asked them about the impact of the training on their own volcano disaster prevention work, and what kind of programs they would like to see in future training programs for volcano disaster prevention in their countries. In this presentation, we will report the results of this training program and the needs of the Latin American countries as revealed by the interviews, and the future of this training program.