The Ministry of Education (MOE) held the "National Disaster Prevention Education for Staff Knowledge and Growth Improvement and International Practical Experience in Disaster Risk Reduction Education Symposium"(DRRE) at Chang Jung Christian University on June 8th in order to refine the implementation strategies of DRRE promoters and link international practical experience in DRRE. We invited the director of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Kentaro Kadota, and Japanese experts and scholars to share with us, and had our DRRE educators who went to Kyoto, Japan in early March this year to share the experience. Through exchange and discussion between the Republic of China (R.O.C., Taiwan) and Japan, we seek to improve the knowledge and practical experience of our DRRE educators.
The theme of the symposium was " Disaster Risk Reduction Education Altogether, Forever Safe and Healthy", which attracted over 200 people with responsibilities in local government DRRE, members of DRRE counseling teams from counties and cities, other experts and scholars, and furthermore invited three Japanese experts and scholars to Taiwan for Discussion-Based Learning. Through multiple dialogues and exchanges, the experience and knowledge gained will be used to plan and adjust future implementation strategies, which will then be brought back to the DRRE field for implementation.
The MOE described that the symposium would begin with local government DRRE educators sharing their experiences from a visit to Japan in early March, and many participants said that the level of implementation of DRRE in Japan is well worth learning from. Next, Professor Chi-Hua Yu from National Cheng Kung University took the floor using "Development and design of cross-disciplinary disaster prevention and literacy digital teaching materials" as a topic to share his experience in the development of disaster prevention digital teaching materials in Taiwan. Then, Prof. Aiko Sakurai from Tohoku University shared the experience of disaster prevention in Japanese communities with the topic of "DRRE Rooted in the Community: Ishinomaki City as an Example", which gave the participants a deeper understanding of DRRE in Taiwan and Japan.

At the end of the symposium, with "Improvement of Comprehensive Management of Flood-prone Areas: The Example of Sanyegong Stream in Tainan City" as a topic, this allowed all participants to explore the development of local water conservation and disaster prevention facilities in Tainan with the actual case of Sanyegong Stream. We also invited Mr. Shusei Sato, director of Miyagi Prefecture Tagajo High School, Japan, and Mr. Daichi Tsumori, teacher of Miyagi Prefectural Wakuya High School, Japan, to share how to let high school students use self-directed planning, participate in disaster prevention, and cultivate the ability of students to help each other, and to discuss and share in groups in order to build consensus on DRRE.
The MOE referred to Taiwan and Japan as having a long history of close exchanges in disaster prevention and mitigation promotion, post-disaster mutual aid and reconstruction support, as well as frequent interactions in DRRE. In addition to connecting with local partners in the field of DRRE, this symposium also provides a better understanding of how Japanese schools implement DRRE. Through experience exchanging and learning, transforming disaster experiences into energy for disaster mitigation and prevention, facing unknown disasters with a positive attitude, improving disaster resilience, integrating disaster prevention into daily life, and being prepared for disasters at all times. In the future, we will continue to exchange and cooperate in promoting DRRE with Japan.