The 10-year Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) came out of the world conference held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, in 2005. It is the first plan to explain, describe and detail the work that is required from all different sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses.

The HFA outlines five priorities for action, and offers guiding principles and practical means for achieving disaster resilience. Its goal is to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 by building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

Delegates at this week’s 4th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction called for immediately starting work on developing targets and indicators to monitor the reduction of risk, ahead of next year’s conference, to be held in the Japanese city of Sendai.

Martin Dahinden, Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Chair of the Global Platform, said the three-day meeting confirmed that the process to develop a successor to the Hyogo Framework is well underway.

“There is consensus that the new instrument should build on the HFA and introduce the necessary innovations to address the challenges of increasing risk over the next 20 to 30 years,” he stated.

“We need to enable local action, address climate risk and recognize the central roles of both the scientific community and the private sector, which were both very present at this Global Platform.”

In addition to the scientific community and the private sector, the record 3,500 participants at the Global Platform also including representatives of government, academia and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), among others.

Organized by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the Global Platform was established in 2007 as a biennial forum for information exchange, discussion of latest development and knowledge and partnership-building across sectors, with the goal to improve implementation of disaster risk reduction through better communication and coordination amongst stakeholders.

Also today, UNISDR released the most detailed account yet of the implementation of the Hyogo Framework. It finds that, since 2005, 121 countries have enacted legislation to establish policy and legal frameworks for disaster risk reduction.

In addition, 191 countries have established HFA focal points and 85 countries have set up national coordinating bodies for disaster risk reduction.

While noting that almost 90 per cent of countries report the integration of disaster risk reduction in some form within public investment and planning decisions, the report finds that a key challenge is finding the resources to ensure that frameworks and principles become operational.

“Since the HFA was introduced there has been a significant change in mindset. We are seeing lots more planning, legislation and new policies. There are 56 national disaster loss data bases and their numbers are growing all the time. Nearly every country in the world now has a HFA focal point,” said UNISDR Director Elizabeth Longworth.

“There is evidence that the HFA is making a difference, even if a lot more needs to be done to address the gap between policy and implementation and arrest the continuous rise in economic losses from disasters,” she added.

Among the events at this week’s forum was the launch of a new interactive tool for accessing disaster data. With the touch of a finger, users of “GAR for Tangible Earth” can access real-time weather data or check historical disaster patterns. It uses earth science data from the 2013 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, released earlier this month by UNISDR.

Tablet computer users can download the application for free from iTunes. Among other functions, they can request hourly weather updates or query the probability of seismic events for a given region. They can also make correlations between such phenomena as continental drift, El Niño, global warming and the growth of megacities.

Welcoming the contribution, UNRWA Commissioner-General thanked the Government of Japan. “Once again, the people of Japan have come together to support UNRWA’s ability to support for Palestine refugees most in need,” he said in a statement.

“With the highest healthy life expectancy in the world, it seems fitting that Japan has prioritised strengthening UNRWA’s family health team approach in the West Bank and Gaza. On top of that, the additional contribution to our Syria Regional Response Plan will allow us to provide emergency services to those Palestine refugees desperately seeking reprieve from the suffering caused by this heartbreaking conflict.”

Of the total US$15 million, US$5 million will support UNRWA’s humanitarian response to the crisis in Syria, helping 280,000 Palestinians in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Two-thirds of the funding will be allocated to UNRWA’s 17 health centres in the oPt, which have recently adapted to the Agency’s new family health team approach. With growing health-care needs, rising health-care costs, and limited financial resources, the Agency last year began reforming its health-care centres to ensure continued access to quality care for Palestine refugees. Teams are made up of doctors, nurses, and midwives who provide continuous, comprehensive, patient-centred services.

Japan is an important partner to UNRWA, and has been a member of its Advisory Commission since 1973. Between 1953 and 2011, the Government of Japan contributed over US$600 million to Agency operations across the Middle East.

In March 2011, Japan was struck by an earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people in the eastern part of the country. The tsunami also slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, located in Fukushima Prefecture, disabling cooling systems and leading to fuel meltdowns in three of the six units.

The report, produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), concluded that for the general population inside and outside of Japan “the predicted risks are low and no observable increases in cancer rates above baseline rates are anticipated.”

However, the report also notes that the risk of specific cancers for the population living in the most affected parts of the Fukushima Prefecture is slightly higher.

“The primary concern identified in this report is related to specific cancer risks linked to particular locations and demographic factors,” said WHO Director for Public Health and Environment Maria Neira.

“A breakdown of data, based on age, gender and proximity to the nuclear plant, does show a higher cancer risk for those located in the most contaminated parts. Outside these parts – even in locations inside Fukushima Prefecture – no observable increases in cancer incidence are expected.”

For people in the most contaminated area, the report estimates that there is a 70 per cent higher risk of females exposed as infants of developing thyroid cancer over their lifetimes.

In addition, the risk of leukemia increased by 7 per cent for males exposed as infants, and for infant females there is a six per cent higher risk of contracting breast cancer. The report also notes that one third of the emergency workers who were inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant have an increased risk of cancer.

“The WHO report underlines the need for long-term health monitoring of those who are at high risk, along with the provision of necessary medical follow-up and support services,” said Dr. Neira. “This will remain an important element in the public health response to the disaster for decades.”

The report, ‘Health Risk Assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami based on preliminary dose estimation,’ was carried out by scientific experts on radiation, epidemiology and public health, among others, who estimated risks in the general population in Fukushima Prefecture, the rest of Japan and the rest of the world.

Experts also stated that the psychosocial impact of the nuclear disaster may have a long-term consequence on the health and well-being of the population, and this should be addressed as part of the overall response along with the environmental impact to prevent future incidents of this nature.

“In addition to strengthening medical support and services, continued environmental monitoring, in particular of food and water supplies, backed by the enforcement of existing regulations, is required to reduce potential radiation exposure in the future,” said the Acting Director for WHO’s Food Safety and Zoonosis Department, Angelika Tritscher.

The first part was devoted to arguments on regional operation, the real economy and production networks, as well as the characteristics of the economic integration in East Asia. The second part was about the European Union, the debt crisis and the necessity of political leadership addressing financial reform to overcome the crisis. Then views were exchanged on East Asian economy, definitions of East Asia, the prospects of the Chinese economy, and the implication of the economic integration in East Asia for Europe etc.

Interestingly, all participants agreed that political will is the most important factor for crisis management and further economic integration, both in Europe and in East Asia. While I was writing this, it was already known that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit Athens tomorrow (Oct. 9). Besides the obvious feelings of insecurity and the patriotic symbolisms the visit will produce for all Greeks and particularly Athens inhabitants, I could not but consider the obvious: a political solution is on the way. I am not sure whether it will prove to be beneficial towards “further economic integration” or it is a way the German leader to appear bailing out Greeks on her own; again, in political terms.

The stalemate with the troika has to do with trust. Troika head representatives have been called many things in this country, but being inconsistent is not one of them. Since the beginning of negotiations in 2010, troika people have been steadily arguing for two parallel courses of action: cutting expenses and forwarding structural changes (to liberalise the market, invite competition and boost growth). Cuts did occur, reforms never happened. Either due to political cost or unionist phobia, structural changes have never been properly dealt with, remaining suppressed by partisan interests and clientelistic concerns. Hence today’s impasse.

Real growth (not the one driven by consumption and loans), economic integration, daring steps forward towards the unification of countries that share common interests, truly need political courage. Politicians need to be brave and think ahead; what they also need is the support of their peoples by regaining their trust.

This is where politics draw its power, people. Either in East Asia or in Europe, political solutions remain political when people are willing to play along. If they do not agree with politicians’ moves, then the latter are on their own, alienating themselves from society, thus failing to serve the [perception of] common goal.

Greek police and other security forces are bracing for Angela Merkel’s visit tomorrow. Demonstrations, sit-ins and heroisms in front of the German embassy in Athens are already scheduled, perhaps accompanied by the occasional riot activity. This is people’s way to express their outrage but hardly constitutes “solution” material. Even if the package is agreed, the symbolism for the government will be hard to read.

All participants in Japanese Embassy’s symposium agreed that political solutions are the way to move forward. I would add that political solutions should be decided by people themselves. If more integration is the way to go (in Europe and East Asia) then people (instead of politicians) should be asked whether they are willing to turn their countries into peripheral geographical entities of a centrally managed bureaucracy.

Finally, although Europe is much older in the integration game, I would say that the chances for real progress in the integration field lie more on the East Asia side. Both philosophically and technologically, they have all necessary elements to put forward a whole new paradigm of economic integration, based on 21st century politics; namely based on elements of fairness, honest cooperation, advanced sense of social responsibility. In order something like this to succeed, it should be grassroots; and on the web. Then mainstream politics could follow, framing the drive with ‘political solutions’. In the social networks era, cross-country political initiatives need to start from the base.

On-going online democracy could prove much more powerful than any old fashioned political initiative; Europe needs to understand this as well.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of Alyunaniya.com

Hokkaido Electric Power, which runs the plant, said they would at 5pm (0800 GMT) begin inserting control rods that would halt the chain reaction and bring the reactor to “cold shutdown” some time on Monday, AFP reports.

The closing down of the reactor marks the first time since the late 1960′s that  Japan has been nuclear-free, a technology that had provided a third of its electricity until meltdowns at Fukushima.

Now much of the shortfall is being made up with increased imports of fossil fuels, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, critics of Japan’s nuclear policy say authorities in Tokyo have not done enough to improve nuclear safety standards

George Dracoulis, the head of the nuclear physics department at Australian National University, told Al Jazeera that the loss of nuclear power was “a serious issue for Japan”.

“At the moment they’re surviving by increasing imports of gas, coal and oil, currently at the cost of about $40bn a year,” said Dracoulis

“One of the results of this is that greenhouse gas emissions will rise by about 16 per cent.”

Environmental groups see the closure of the country’s last operational plant as an chance to rid Japan off atomic energy and follow the German model. However, creating the infrastructure for green energy is time consuming and  needs significant investment.

JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, Japan’s top refiner, says it would not be able to carry on importing oil from Iran.

Kuwait and top exporter Saudi Arabia are the main beneficiaries of the fall in Iranian shipments, along with new suppliers such as Gabon, as Japan buys more oil for firing generators following last year’s nuclear disaster, according to Reuters.

Earlier this year, China halved imports of crude from Iran, while an Iranian official denied that, in a statement to Mehr news agency, today.

While India has leaped to the top of the list of Iran’s oil customers, overtaking China, in a first-quarter buying surge ahead of tighter sanctions against Tehran this summer, according to data published by a leading industry consultant.

Iran sells most of its 2.2 million barrels per day of oil exports in Asia, where China, India, Japan and South Korea make up its four biggest buyers.

The United States and Europe have imposed tighter sanctions on Iran in an attempt makes to force it to halt a nuclear program they fear will be used to make weapons, which Tehran denies.

The EU had been the second biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China and its embargo is a direct strike on the biggest source of export income for Iran, the second largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Alarabiya reported.