Based on the cooperation of TU Wien with KEIO University in Japan (https://www.keio.ac.jp) TU Wien can offer a course for students on combined disaster risk preparedness and climate change adaptation planning together with Japanese professors. Along with the three international documents promoted by United Nations agencies, namely the "Sendai Framework for Action" (UNISDR 2015), the "Paris Agreement" (UNFCCC 2015) and the "2030 Sustainable Development Goals" (UN 2015), global, regional and local development aspects should turn to the better. During this master course we are going to analyze in how far this vision can be reached on the three levels by comparing locations in Japan and Austria.

Disaster resilience, climate change adaptation and a higher degree of sustainability, can be achieved with combined planning and measures. By combining separate plans or legal frameworks from disaster resilience, climate change adaptation and sustainable development, it is possible to establish national frameworks that are more than just the sum of all three separate approaches. This in turn will provide a basis for local actions and measures to counter unwanted development. The aim is to decrease vulnerabilities and to increase resilience to all three challenges simultaneously. Vulnerabilities vary due to environmental properties, risk exposure, landscape features, population pressures, educational background of concerned people and more. Resilience is the ability to cope with threats and relates to the endogenous power of people from within the region. This widely depends on their wealth or disposable income and their power to organize their relief from within the region. 

Registration: Letter of intent and motivation to participate:  Email until August 6th, 2018 at meinhard.breiling@tuwien.ac.at

The target in Japan is Kochi Prefecture, the most western prefecture of Shikoku Island, and Tosashimizu municipality a half island where a major earthquake is expected within the next 30 years (with 80% probability in model calculations). This will lead to a Tsunami wave with an anticipated 25m height or about three times the height of the Fukushima tsunami following the earthquake in 2011. The prognosis alone had disastrous consequences on the province in particular the real estate market and the willingness to invest into new projects. On the other side new groups migrate to Kochi as financially weak persons have the chance to buy property there and start tourist pensions, art studios or agricultural activities at the expense of a permanent and increased threat of a major disaster. TU Wien participants are going to analyze this situation in mixed teams with students from KEIO university. What kind of emergency plans are in place and how to find a balance between acceptable and unacceptable risks. While earthquakes and tsunamis are not climate related, other risks relate to extreme weather events - floods, droughts, hail, freezing - are climate dependent and expected to increase over time. In July 2018, Western Japan was seriously affected by flooding (Reuters 2018) and some 200 people were killed. In particular the climate related disasters cause problems as they are expected to double in the coming decades.

The target in Austria is Tyrol province and the districts of Imst and Landeck. The village Galltür in Landeck district experienced the largest avalanche catastrophe in recent Austrian history with 60 fatalities in 1999. The two districts widely live on tourism with two distinct seasons of summer and winter tourism. Alpine risks - torrents, flash-floods, hang gliding, falling rocks, thunders and lightning - are serious risks that for the time being widely can be abated. However, most of this risks are climate dependent and will strongly increase during the next decades. Tyrol province is most dependent on winter tourism and became a global leader in this economic activity. Huge investments are undertaken to adapt to climate change in form of snow making and to secure the provincial income. The current level of warming had not yet a negative impact as the ski resorts are situated very high and circumstances are much better than in lower laying ski resorts. When other tourist resorts experience limitations the higher up resorts can operate as usual. However, along climate change this situation will worsen and incomes can decrease will requirements for safety will increase.