Description of 2007 awarded achievements

The Jury for the Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction 2007 has unanimously decided to select two Laureates, Prof. Yoshiaki Kawata and Mr. Tony Gibbs, and to select 4 organizations for the award of Certificates.

Following careful, thorough deliberation and its evaluation of the submitted material, the Jury for the Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction has unanimously decided to select two Laureates for the year 2007 and to select 4 organizations for the award of Certificates (one for Certificate of Distinction, and three for Certificate for Merit)

LAUREATES 2007

It was decided that the Laureates for 2007 should be Engineer Tony GIBBS,  a Director and Partner in an Engineering firm and a citizen of Grenada and Barbados, and Professor Yoshiaki KAWATA, Director of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University and Director of  Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, a citizen of Japan.  This recommendation for the Joint Award followed the Jury’s assessment of the lifetime contribution of both individuals, and their outstanding commitment to disaster reduction efforts and related capacity building at the national, regional, sectoral and international levels. The award also recognizes the efforts of these individuals, - both trained as engineers - to communicate effectively on hazard and risk related issues with a wide range of stakeholders including natural and social scientists; journalists and the media; opinion shapers and decision makers, as well as the general public.

Engineer Gibbs is a graduate of the Queens University of Belfast and the University of Leeds and is Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineering and the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). He has practiced as an engineer in the wider Caribbean area for the last four decades and has consulted globally on wind and earthquake resistant design. He has made a significant contribution to hazard awareness and disaster risk reduction in many developing countries particularly those of the Caribbean and has been closely associated with measures taken to increase the resilience of the health sector. He has also contributed to the field by assessing damage following severe events and ensuring that local standards and design manuals are appropriately updated based on lessons learnt. For several decades he has taken a leading role in sharing his knowledge, insights and expertise with the public as well as a wide range of professionals, in training and in practice, through talks and lectures which have emphasized comprehensive risk reduction approaches as a comprehensive sustainability in island developing states.

Professor Kawata, who received his PhD from Kyoto University, is an eminent leader in the field of Disaster Studies and has devoted his career to researching, teaching and sharing his deep insights into this significant challenge to societal sustainability. His research has resulted in better insights on the part of humanity into meteorological and seismic hazards. He has done pioneering and widely recognized work related to engineering and human vulnerability and proposed systems to ensure resilience at sub-national, national and international levels. His efforts to develop integrated approaches with other specialists, particularly those in the social science spheres, are noteworthy; as are his initiatives which have led to the sharing of Japanese experiences and lessons learnt with neighboring countries and the international community.  Prof Kawata has also made a significant contribution to crisis recovery and environmental management after extreme events though his personal efforts and by utilizing the research capacity at his disposal to ensure that a 'culture' of resilience is promoted in the reconstruction programmes.

Both laureates are being recognized for their lifetime accomplishment in the field, their dedication to the promotion of research based improved practices, their integrated and comprehensive 'joined up' approach and their significant contribution to the sharing and diffusion of ideas about Disaster Risk Reduction. The Jury understands that both laureates have proposed to utilize the award to advance capacity building. 

Certificate of Distinction
The Sasakawa Jury has selected for Certificates of Distinction ActionAid International, a South African based International Non-Governmental Organization.  Since its establishment in 1972, ActionAid International has focused on poverty related issues and has successfully integrated issues such as gender, education, governance and food security in the programmes and project activities they have implemented with diverse partners in over 40 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.  They have played a pioneering role in incorporating disaster risk reduction into their national, sub-national, sectoral and community initiatives and have facilitated the development and introduction of the Hyogo Framework as a component of these efforts at moving societies toward inclusive, integrated strategies and plans for achieving sustainable development in the near future. The work of ActionAid International related to DRR and their strategies, methods, tools and lessons learnt related to sustainability has been generously shared and widely diffused to a global audience through a variety of modalities.

Certificates of Merit
The Jury has also selected for Certificates of Merit three entities, The Social Action Centre - Prelature of Infanta (Philippines),  Red Habitat en Riesgo (Argentina) and the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (DiMP) (South Africa). These organizations are being recognized for their dedicated pioneering work that  has led to increased resilience of societies in their spheres of influence. Although emerging from different contexts  –  charitable works and from the field of science, livelihood and health – they have moved beyond the orientation of relief and reaction to undertake analysis, documentation of lessons learnt, outreach and networking to ensure that formal and informal learning from disasters is enhanced and institutionalized. All these awardees are making significant contributions to Disaster Risk Reduction. The innovative and diverse information material produced by Red Habitat en Riesgo using a variety of technologies and widely disseminated in Latin America deserve more recognition and emulation.

The Jury wishes to commend the candidates, many of whom demonstrated dedication, innovative approaches and we were particularly pleased to see the many instances where outreach, extension and networking initiatives were being actively and aggressively pursued in spite of significant resource (and governance) challenges and constraints. We sincerely hope that these awards will stimulate further efforts in the field, encourage wider nominations for the Sasakawa Laureate in this field and most importantly contribute to the wider application of the Hyogo Framework and mainstreaming of Disaster Risk Reduction.