Civil protection: Enhancing resilience through collaboration

Civil protection is a newly emerging area of bilateral security cooperation between the EU and Japan, adding to long-standing cooperation in multilateral fora, such as the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Hyogo Framework for Action 2005 and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015) and the World Health Organisation. The EU and Japan also regularly collaborate in providing humanitarian aid. They share a high exposure to natural and man-made risks, but are resilient in preparing and protecting their populations. The Civil Protection Mechanism enables the EU to respond to transnational risks and regional instability linked with terrorism and migration. The Japanese central government administers civil defence against external threats, while local governments remain responsible for crisis management of natural disasters and internal threats. Increased bilateral cooperation has followed the perception of increased threats, a stronger role of central authorities - the Directorate-General for Civilian Protection and Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO) (EU) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Japan) - and the exceptional event of the March 2011 Triple Disaster when the EU protection mechanism was activated to assist Japan following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accidents.