［January 2020]
Disaster Preparedness and Response between Sister Cities and Friendship Cities

On behalf of all the staff of CLAIR Sydney, I would like to pay my respects to the victims and families affected by the 2019-2020 bushfire season in Australia, and the Whakaari/White Island volcano eruption in New Zealand.

In recent years, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have all suffered from several devastating natural disasters. I believe the strong and collaborative sister city relationships and friendly relationships between our countries can play a crucial role in improving disaster preparedness, management, response, and relief in all three countries.

A great example is the partnership between Palmerston North in New Zealand and Mihara City in Japan. The two Cities share a history of experiencing earthquake and flooding disasters. Taking this into account, Palmerston North and Mihara have established an exchange program for municipal staff in charge of disaster and crisis management to visit their partner city to collaborate and learn techniques and methods to mutually improve the two Cities’ disaster preparedness and response efforts.

In the past, after the occurrence of a disaster, there had been times that the people-to-people connection within sister city relationships and partnerships between Australia, New Zealand and Japan brought comfort and relief to the disaster-stricken regions. An example of this is that after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Christchurch’s Japanese sister city Kurashiki dispatched a team of municipal staff in charge of disaster victim support to Christchurch.

It is also common for the citizens of a sister city to hold fundraising activities to collect donations as disaster relief for their partner city if the partner city were struck by disaster. Consequently, in recent months, CLAIR Sydney has received many enquiries from Japanese local governments asking how they can donate to their Australian partner cities or disaster victims in bushfire affected areas. Another example of comfort brought on by sister city relationships and partnerships after a disaster is the condolence letters sent by the mayor of the partner cities of disaster-stricken areas. I believe the heart-warming condolences from overseas may somewhat bring a small sense of relief to disaster victims.

I hope that the above examples can be food for thought for your city’s consideration in providing support and assistance for your partner city before and after a disaster.