WKC Forum: Creating resilient society and community for ageing populations in disaster situations, 20 February 2015

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the WHO Kobe Centre, in collaboration with the University of Hyogo, organized an open public forum on “Creating resilient society and community for ageing populations in disaster situations” in Kobe on 20 February 2015. A diverse audience of 43 persons participated in the event from local government, universities, health professionals and the public.

In the Forum, five experts presented their knowledge, research outcomes, and suggestions from various perspectives including nursing and disaster management, social welfare for older populations, psychology, and community healthcare to explore major components of resilient society/community with ageing population. The presentations were based on the experts’ experiences and interaction with older populations.

Japan has the largest proportion of older adults in the world. As a result, aged populations were much more affected, and accounted for more than half of the victims in the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

• For more information