On September 8, Minister Akaba received an online courtesy call from 15 trainees from 10 countries of the one-year training course by International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (IISEE) of Building Research Institute (all the trainees obtained master’s degree).

Minister Akaba expressed his congratulations to their completion of the training program though it has been affected by COVID-19. He introduced Japan’s disaster management measures, with talking about his own experiences in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The Minister also said to the trainees, "I hope each of you will advance and improve disaster management measures in your home country, furthermore in the world, and have been an intermediary between your home country and Japan, utilizing what you have learned in Japan."

Participants answered that they have improved knowledge for disaster risk mitigation through the training program, and they were confident that they would be able to represent the achievements of the training program by keeping our passions to improve the capacities of their countries, especially in disaster risk reduction.