Unfortunately, during some of these disastrous natural events even the invaluable evidences of ancient Persian culture have been flattened to the ground. All the aforementioned facts confirm the crucial necessity of being concerned about seeking a remedy in order to prevent and diminish these effects. Regarding high seismicity, vulnerability and high seismic risk of this region, International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (IIEES) was established in November 1989 following the suggestion of 24th UNESCO General Conference and approval of Iranian government "Council of Higher Education Development" based on the investment of Iranian experts in the earthquake engineering.
In order to realize the goals of institute and develop the knowledge in this arena, training the intelligent students could be of great help. In this regard, IIEES was approved as a "Research Center" at the 408th meeting of "Council of Higher Education Development" in 1999 and then its new doctrine was affirmed in August 2001.
Today IIEES is engaged in implementation of national and international projects and will take effective steps in protecting the lives and properties of human being against the activities of nature thanks to all its responsible and qualified researchers.
The main goals of IIEES are investigation, technology and education in all aspects pertinent to seismology, earthquake engineering, earthquake hazard, and suggesting practical approaches and supporting their implementation to reduce the risks of earthquakes, and develop the security culture against earthquakes in this country and in the region.

IIEES is composed of different research departments, including Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Risk Management, Graduate Studies, Information Technology, and International Relations.

In the aftermath of the disastrous Gilan and Zanjan earthquake in 1990, the Technical Capacity Mobilization Office of Iran was established for the reconstruction of the affected areas in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) under the supervision of the Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution. By ending the World Bank's loan and approving a new statute in 1993, the Centre for Natural Disasters Mitigation Studies of Iran was established and continued its activities until 1998.

The Ministry of Jahad-Agriculture, deputy of Research and Education, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute (SCWMRI) with the main mandate of research on integrated watershed management is founded in 1993. The main field of activity is to conduct research in soil erosion and sediment yield, soil conservation, watershed management, flood management and exploitation, river engineering, coastal protection, hydrology and water resources development, aquifer management, climate change and agricultural drought impacts management.

Being the best in Iran, the University of Tehran has been ranked as one of the top universities in Asia.The foundation of the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources (UTCAN), goes back to the year 1900, when it was first established as "School of Agriculture". 120 years of education, research and policy-making, has turned UTCAN into a pioneering and leading focal point in Iran and also in Asia. UTCAN is honored to have former Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Economy, Acting-Minister of Science, Parliament member, President of the University of Tehran and other great leaders among its faculty members. UTCAN, with more than 240 eminent faculty members. 4500 Students are currently studying in 148 majors and specializations in 17 departments.

The Center's mission is to provide a state-of-the-art scientific research institute to serve as a think-tank for policy framers, decision-makers, the academic community and practitioners from all sectors.

The two intertwined functions of the Center are 1) independently generated, cutting-edge and multi-disciplinary research, and 2) solicited real-time response to requests by NEMA, government ministries, elected officials, NGOs and other stakeholders.

The current activity is a research gap assessment in the eight disciplinary groups (Social Science; Public Health and Emergency Medicine; Welfare and Social Work; Engineering, Technology, and Planning; Risk Assessment and Management; Environment; Law; and Public Policy) which culminates in September with a prioritized research agenda whose emphasis will be multi(trans)-disciplinary in nature. According to the prioritization, research projects will be funded beginning in November 2018. Some of the projects will be of a comparative nature and be conducted together with international partners.

Assisted by an initiative of the OECD's Global Science Forum, GEM was formed in 2009 as a non-profit foundation in Pavia, Italy, funded through a public-private sponsorship with the vision to create a world that is resilient to earthquakes. GEM's mission is to become one of the world's most complete sources of risk resources and a globally accepted standard for seismic risk assessment; and to ensure that its products are applied in earthquake risk management worldwide.

As the Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre's mission is to provide EU policies with independent, evidence-based scientific and technical support throughout the whole policy cycle. Its work has a direct impact on the lives of citizens by contributing with its research outcomes to a healthy and safe environment, secure energy supplies, sustainable mobility and consumer health and safety.

The JRC draws on over 50 years of scientific work experience and continually builds its expertise based on its seven scientific institutes, which host specialist laboratories and unique research facilities. They are located in Belgium (Brussels and Geel), Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

While most of our scientific work serves the policy Directorates-General of the European Commission, we address key societal challenges while stimulating innovation and developing new methods, tools and standards. We share know-how with the Member States, the scientific community and international partners. The JRC collaborates with over a thousand organisations worldwide whose scientists have access to many JRC facilities through various collaboration agreements.

The department has 42 units of academic staff, 21 units of administrative staff and 130 non-permanent staff such as PhD students, assistant researchers. The Earth Sciences Department of the University of Firenze is, since 2004, the official Centre of Competence of the Italian Civil Protection for Remote Sensing and Geohazards (Directive of the Italian Prime Minister of 27 February 2004; Decree of the Head of the Italian National Civil Protection Department no. 252 of 25 January 2005).

In 2008 it was entitled "World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction 2008-2011" by International Programme on Landslide (IPL). This recognition was confirmed in 2011 and in 2014 for the third consecutive time. The Geohazards research group, which is established at Earth Sciences Department of the University of Firenze it is one of the largest centres for scientific and technological services on geohazards in Italy, currently composed by 51 full-time employees (Figure 1). The group counts 4 professors, 3 researchers, 7 technicians, 19 post-doc fellows, 15 PhD students and 3 administratives. It is the biggest centre in Italy in the field of Geohazards and Engineering Geology.

and is composed of the following six research fields : 1) Earthquake disaster, 2) Tsunami disaster, 3) River disaster, 4) Slope disaster, 5) Volcanic disaster and 6) Information and plan for disaster prevention and mitigation.

The center aims to promote fundamental and applied studies that contribute to prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, to study and support regional disaster prevention and mitigation, and to educate and spread the knowledge of natural disasters on the general public, the local government staff concerned, the company personnel concerned and so on through lecture meetings, forums, seminars, symposiums, etc. In order to perform these aims, the center actively promotes cooperative researches and projects with national and local governments, companies, local communities and so on.

Postgraduate students may study in any of above fields towards the master's and doctor's degrees under the supervision of the center staff.

The Center works to build disaster resilient communities and to establish networks among countries through many programs including personnel exchanges in this field.

The Center addresses this issue from a global perspective in cooperation with a variety of UN agencies and international organisations/initiatives, such as the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the Office for the Coodination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pasific (ESCAP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WHO/WPRO).

Prevention Division, and Division for Disaster Information Network System in Asian Region, but in 2010, Nankai-Trough Earthquakes Research Division was also added so as to revisit the disaster preparedness plan against the widespread damage during Nankai Earthquake.

More recently in 2014, the number of research divisions has increased to six with the addition of Urban Design Research Division. CDMIR objectives are being met basically through the following two types of activities: (1) Support the local communities with disaster mitigation plans in Ehime (2) Strengthen collaborative relationship for disaster mitigation in Asia As a local disaster mitigation support, CDMIR has been annually convening Ehime Disaster Management Forums since 2009. The forum consists of public, private, and academia groups including the mayors of 20 cities and towns of Ehime prefecture. In 2011, the Association of Regional Disaster-Prevention Research in Ehime was established under the initiatives of CDMIR, to study the diverse disaster prevention and mitigation issues from a regional perspective. As one of the natural disaster hotspots of Asia, Ehime University has signed academic exchange agreement with five universities and colleges in Nepal that include Nepal Engineering College, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University, and others. In 2006, a satellite office of Ehime University was also placed in Kathmandu Nepal to facilitate various Nepal-based disaster management activities of CDMIR. Since then, CDMIR has been conducting various research and training activities aimed at supporting disaster mitigation efforts of Nepal. International symposiums and seminars on disaster mitigation/management issues are also frequently organized. The overall goal of CDMIR is to promote regional disaster management as a part of societal development to foster disaster-resistant and disaster-resilient communities for Ehime, for Shikoku, for Japan, and for Asia.

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creating knowledge networks, and disseminating lessons and information in order to help governments and all stakeholders manage risks of water-related hazards at global, national, and community levels.

To cope with major water-related disasters, such as floods, it is important and essential to strengthen not only individual but also organizational capacity in disaster management, because there is always limitation for what each person can do. Well aware of that fact, ICHARM conducts the following training courses which can contribute to organizational capacity development through training individuals.

* Comprehensive Management of River and Dam (JICA)

* Making JICA Training Program: Capacity Development for Flood Risk Management with IFAS (JICA)

* Water-related Risk Management Course of Disaster Management Policy Program (JICA & GRIPS)

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The International Programme on Landslides (IPL) was launched to create a new global multidisciplinary programme on landslides at the first session of Board of Representatives of ICL (BOR/ICL) at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, in November 2002. The Programme was developed to a global cooperation programme through the thematic session on landslides in the second United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR), Kobe, Japan in January 2015. The IPL was defined and established by the 2006 Tokyo Action Plan "Strengthening Research and Learning on Landslides and Related Earth System Disasters for Global Risk Preparedness", the output of the Tokyo Round Table Discussion "Strengthening Research and Learning on Earth System Risk Analysis and Sustainable Disaster Management within UN-ISDR as Regards Landslides" held at the United Nations University, Tokyo, from 18th to 20th January, 2006. In 2006, the International Consortium on Landslides exchanged Memorandum of Understandings to promote IPL with each of ICL supporting organizations:

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Nuclear disaster should also be considered as a new challenge. And the establishment of a regional disaster prevention system that corresponds to this new situation, the promotion of a comprehensive disaster prevention education and research has become an urgent issue to support it.

Kagoshima University Disaster Prevention Education and Research Center, in order to reduce the prevention of disasters in the Nansei Islands region from the southern Kyushu, actual elucidation of the disaster, prediction, disaster prevention education, disaster emergency response, cooperation with local challenges such as disaster recovery reconstruction on effort, do the activities towards the improvement of the local disaster prevention force.

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The Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology at Kanazawa University was established for the purpose to this challenge.

The area of the Circum-Sea of Japan has already become one of the core socio-economic areas of the world due to a significant development of industrial and economic activities. However, atmospheric and oceanic environmental changes caused by human activities have been obvious in the area. Harmful influence of such changes extends to human health and terrestrial ecosystem of the area.
The Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology at Kanazawa University promotes environmental research and education to solve the emergent environmental issues of the area of the Circum-Sea of Japan and to create sustainable future environments in co-operation with the domestic and overseas institutions.

The Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology at Kanazawa University was established as a university joint research and education facility in 2002 on the basis of streamlining plan of existing university facilities such as "Low Level Radioactive Laboratory" at Faculty of Science, "Marine Laboratory" at Faculty of Science, "Electromagnetic Field Control Laboratory" at Faculty of Engineering, and "Botanical Garden" at Faculty of Science. The institute was integrated with the"Japan Sea Research Institute" at Kanazawa University in 2007 to promote the 21^st COE Program"Environmental Monitoring and Prediction of Long- & Short-Term Dynamics of Pan-Japan Sea Area". Further, the institute was again reorganised in 2015 to promote environmental research and education in the pursuit to create sustainable future environments of the world.

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The faculty intends to foster human resources equipped with problem-solving capabilities by developing studies into specialized fields including law, politics, economics, business administration, psychology, sociology, science, informatics, engineering and social medicine as well as comprehensive study of all fields.

The curriculum is centered on the two categories of accidents and natural disasters. Students participate in small-group seminars, and learn current cases of man-made disasters including accidents and natural disasters, while conducting exercises, research and simulations. In the autumn term of their second year, students take either the Man-made Disaster Management Course, or the Natural Disaster Management Course. Depending on their interests and future courses, students are expected to acquire the ability to formulate and implement policies related to safety and security, and thus contributing to society in several fields after graduation.

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Founded as an initiative of Prof. Kazuya Uezu, its first director, RDFES is the first academic institute in Japan to contribute to environmental engineering and firefighting technology with the aim of promoting social safety.

RDFES has become well known among firefighting professionals for its development of an "Environmentally friendly soap-based firefighting agent," as well as new equipment that maximizes the effectiveness of the agent. This is just one example of successful collaboration between RDFES, the Kitakyushu City Fire and Disaster Management Department, a local soap company, and major firefighting enterprises in Japan. Today, RDFES is entering a new research area involving local communities and governments, which aims to mitigate and minimize the risk of fire and natural disasters. Researchers are engaged not only in the development of hardware but also in the creation of an organized social movement that could ensure more effective use of the hardware. Reaching out to local communities reflects the center's position to always welcome new partners to join our important and exciting research activities.

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The mission of RCUSS is to make contributions in building safe and secure urban society by developing the visions towards such society and by conducting researches and educations on suitable methodologies and frameworks in realizing such society.

The urban society needs to be above of all a safe and secure place to live, while it serves various and extensive functions for lively industrial, economic and cultural activities, as well as comfortable and pleasant living environments.

The urban society is however composed of huge and complex societal and infrastructure systems, accompanied by problems such as urbanization and overcrowding.

Thus such society is highly vulnerable to the natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, as well as to the environmental destruction and pollution due to human and industrial activities.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake has taught us, through painful sacrifices of people and society, that urban cities are highly vulnerable to disasters and that integrated and holistic researches are required on building a safe and secure urban society. Kobe University that was the only multidisciplinary national university in the quake-stricken area has thus proposed to establish the RCUSS to orchestrate interdisciplinary and integrated researches, both in hardware and software aspects of society, with the aim of creating genuinely safe and secure urban society.

The Ministry of Education has granted this request by renewing and expanding the former Reclamation Engineering Research Institute at Kobe University

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Our activities extend from the academic circle of universities to the 'field campus' of local communities.

They intend to link the universities' research innovation with the implementation of their achievements in society seamlessly as social-knowledge technology. In addition, they aim at nurturing human resources that will contribute to the establishment of robust and resilient social systems against disasters. Organization The IRESC consists of three divisions;

1 ) Research Division for Disaster Reduction in Natural and Social Systems

2 ) Implementation Division of Science and Technology into Society

3 ) Education Division for Disaster Prevention and Reduction

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