On 15 January 2019，Ms. Mami Maizutori, Assistant Secretary-General and UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG), Head of United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), together with Ms. Lotetta Hieber-Girardet (Chief, UNISDR Regional Office for Asia-Pacific) and Ms. Ana Thorlund (UNISDR Programme Officer) visited Beijing Normal University.

Mr. Zuoyu Zhou, Vice President of BNU, Prof. Xiaobin Dong, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Geographical Science, Prof. Peijun Shi, Co-chair of ASTAAG (Asian Science and Technology, and Academia Advisory Group), Prof. Saini Yang, Secretary of ASTAAG and representatives of Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management and the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation at Beijing Normal University met the guests. Talks were held by the two sides on cooperation.

After that, Ms. Mizutori gave a speech on “Global Trends on Disaster Risk Reduction” to students and researchers in BNU. Prof. Xiaobin Dong welcomed the speaker and Prof. Saini Yang hosted the event.

“Science and Technology play an important role in tackling climate change”, said Ms. Mizutori. It is critical that the study of young researchers, scientists and students will provide science based evidence for better debates, actions and policies of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the future. She emphasized the significance of the risk-informed urban planning. At the end of her speech, Ms. Mizutori highly recognized the achievements of the Chinese government in the field of DRR.

Over 70 students and researchers participated the event.