Euronews Debates: How do you respond and reconstruct when disaster strikes?

More than a decade has passed since an undersea earthquake set off a tsunami which devastated parts of Japan’s northeastern coast, causing extensive damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

It was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, with more than a hundred thousand residents evacuated from the area.

Eleven years on, the painstaking work of decommissioning and decontaminating the station is still ongoing. Through these years of work, questions have been posed - and answered - as to how communities can be rebuilt after disaster strikes.

With the Fukushima nuclear accident as a case study, Euronews is hosting a debate on this topic.

Our panel will consider what happens in the medium to long term, after domestic and international aid has helped to limit the initial damage and loss of life. How can communities be rebuilt and restored? How can the local economy get back on track?

We’ll discuss the challenges and successes of the ongoing clean-up in Japan, and the lessons other countries can learn from it.

A group of experts will discuss the issues on Tuesday 13 December 2022, at 1100-1200 CET, and the debate will include an audience Q&A.

Managing Director, Eat and Energize the East, and President of NoMA Lab

Takahashi has been working successfully on marketing and branding food products from Japan’s Tohoku region which was devastated by the tsunami and nuclear incidents in 2011. Since 2021, he has been living in Namie, a town within 10km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, and is engaged in community building and industry reconstruction of the town and the surrounding region with NoMA lab.

Professor of Earthquake Geology and Disaster Risk Reduction & Head of Department, University College London