Resilience as Strategy: India-Japan Collaboration in Disaster Management

Recently, the focus of cooperation between India and Japan in relation to disaster management has been visibly stepped up within the framework of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. At a meeting in Tokyo, India's Ambassador to Japan, Nagma Mallick, discussed various aspects of collaborative work in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and resilience enhancement with Japan's State Minister for Disaster Management, Akama Jiro. The meeting highlights the shared determination of the two countries to take preparedness, response measures, and institutional coordination to a new level. These moves continue to build on the broader diplomatic talks between Japanese leaders and their Indian counterparts, reinforcing disaster management as one of the emerging areas of bilateral cooperation.

Ambassador-designate Nagma Mallick met Japan’s State Minister for Disaster Management in Tokyo on 22 December 2025. Source: Mathrubhumi English

India and Japan are both frequently hit by various natural hazards. Over the last decade, their collaboration in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience has gradually become more robust and extensive. Both countries are located on active seismic belts and are vulnerable to cyclones, floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Approximately 58.6% of India's landmass is susceptible to earthquakes. Additionally, of its 7516 km long coastline, close to 5700 km is prone to tsunamis, 68 per cent of the cultivable area is vulnerable to drought and hilly areas are at risk from landslides and avalanches. Japan, located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire”- a 40,000-kilometre arc of intense seismic activity circling the Pacific Ocean- faces frequent earthquakes. Both nations understand that disasters go beyond being mere environmental phenomena; they bring deep socio-economic problems that can undo years of development progress. This shared truth is what has led to their bilateral partnership going beyond diplomatic platitudes, supported by formal agreements, workshops and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Disaster Risk Maps of India and Japan

 At the core of such cooperation is the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on DRR, which was signed during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India in September 2017. The MoC signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of India and the Cabinet Office of Japan has formalized the collaboration at the bilateral level on the various phases of a disaster cycle, including prevention, preparedness, early warning systems, response, recovery, and reconstruction.

 Meeting between Shinzo Abe and Narendra Modi during the India-Japan Annual Summit 2017. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

It also empowered the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of India to be the main official agency for coordination and decision-making on the Indian side, indicating a focused and sustained cooperation in various dimensions of disaster risk governance. The MoC set a list of actionable priorities to work on, which included, among other things:

·       Promotion of earthquake risk assessment,

·       Facilitation of early detection and warning systems,

·       Sharing public awareness practices (for instance, mock drills),

·       Continued communication between officials, scientists, and practitioners on a national level in both countries.

These priorities are a clear indication of the mutual understanding of the two countries that disaster risk reduction (DRR) must be research-based and community-centred instead of being just rhetorical. Since the signing of this agreement, India and Japan have been holding various DRR workshops. The first India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction took place in New Delhi in March 2018.

First India-Japan Workshop on DRR, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi in 2018. Source: Japan Bosai Platform

At this meeting, the main objective was to develop a bilateral action plan and also create a platform for sharing knowledge about best practices, policies, and technological tools. The following workshops have been a continuation of the same dynamics by bringing various stakeholders, such as technical officials, academics and private sector players, together for discussions on mitigation frameworks and inventions that are suitable for domestic markets and unique contexts of both nations.

Technology and innovation is one of the most significant dimensions of this cooperation. The Japanese expertise in this arena - achieved through decades of managing with earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic activities- is globally recognized. The government-supported organizations like the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) in Tsukuba are at the forefront of seismic data acquisition, disaster modelling, and early warning technologies research and development. The research capabilities of NIED, alongside its annual financial grant and a team of dedicated scientists, make it an invaluable resource from which Indian agencies can take great insights, adapting the technologies to local environments.

Japan, for instance, supports endeavours for the establishment and upgradation of tsunami early-warning systems in the Indian Ocean region, through UNESCO. It was the devastation caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that underscored the search for hazard warning solutions, and this, in turn, led to intensified efforts at the international level, wherein Japan contributed not only scientifically but also in terms of policies, thereby unfolding the blueprint for today's early warning systems. These have also been extended to India and its neighbouring countries.

The partnership has also made public-private collaboration a part of its activities. Private Japanese companies taking part in the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP), a consortium of disaster management entities, have collaborated with Indian research institutions through joint projects on seismic retrofitting, resilient infrastructure design, and community disaster education. These activities allow the partnership to extend beyond bilateral government relations and include civil society and the private sector.

At the policy level, both countries synchronize their DRR programs with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), which is an international plan for the reduction of disaster losses in terms of lives, livelihoods and health. Being signatories, India and Japan jointly carry out the implementation of these global targets, thereby demonstrating that their bilateral cooperation strengthens their commitments on a multilateral level.

The benefits of the joint ventures are becoming evident on the ground level. For instance, the adoption of earthquake zoning maps by India, the integration of community-based disaster preparedness programs in vulnerable states, and the upgrading of the national early warning systems are a few examples that demonstrate how domestic planning is being combined with international learning. In the meantime, Japanese research organizations have adjusted their models to cater to India's varied geographical settings, from the Himalayas' seismic belt to the cyclone-prone coastal plains. Such a move towards localisation-based cooperation makes sure that it is not a one-size-fits-all approach but a mutual adaptation of strengths.

In addition to technical cooperation, the diplomatic nature of these initiatives carries strategic value. Today, disaster cooperation not only covers economic and defense ties but also aspects of human security, such as public health emergencies and impacts of climate change. Latest high-level talks continue to focus on disaster resilience as part of a wider security cooperation that includes joint exercises and logistical coordination in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR).

Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) is one of the core pillars of India-Japan disaster cooperation. ODA directly helps to build disaster-resilient infrastructures and enhances emergency preparedness. As the biggest bilateral development partner, Japan invests in India through ODA in sectors that lessen the vulnerability to disasters. These include resilient highways in mountainous regions, bridges resistant to flooding in the Northeast, modern hydropower in Meghalaya, and ecosystem management in areas prone to landslides. All these projects are in line with India’s Act East initiatives as well as the Sendai Framework priorities, hence making the ODA a structural instrument not only for disaster prevention and long-term resilience but also for post-crisis recovery.

The integration of safety concerns in the Dhubri Phulbari bridge, the Umiam-Umtru hydropower modernization and the Mumbai Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail are some examples of ODA-funded projects that demonstrate how Japanese capital is used to incorporate measures for seismic protection, flood adaptation, as well as emergency response into the very foundations of the infrastructure. Thus, ODA is not only a complement to technical cooperation and policy dialogues but it also helps the transfer of Japan's "Build Back Better" and risk-sensitive engineering culture to India's development planning. The end product is a template where diplomacy, finance and disaster governance merge into one single resilience framework.

JICA Projects in India. Source: Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). For a more detailed map of JICA’s Major Projects in India, please refer to this link.

In addition to this, India and Japan's partnerships extend to other multilateral platforms as well, for instance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a worldwide operation initiated by India in 2019 with global partners, including Japan. The CDRI intends to make disaster-resistant infrastructure a standard feature of every country's development plan, especially because of the risks that climate change brings. Japan's participation adds more weight to this endeavour, reinforcing its capacity-building mission beyond the limits of bilateral bounds.

Certainly, the cooperation is not without its difficulties. The translation of high-level workshops into mass community actions, making sure that technologies impact even the remote areas, and the longer-term financial commitments are some of the persistent challenges for cooperation in disaster management. Governments have to maintain their investments in inclusive training, local capacity empowerment, and the exchange of data across borders so that resilience is nurtured at all levels.

In conclusion, India-Japan disaster cooperation puts forward an example of a pragmatic and evolving partnership built on shared risks, complementary capabilities and a mutual commitment to safeguarding human security. By combining Japanese technical expertise with India’s vast implementation landscape, this cooperation aims not only to reduce losses from natural hazards. It innovates solutions that can help strengthen societal resilience, thereby contributing to sustainable development goals and a secure Indo-Pacific region.

 About the Author

Kaveri Jain is a doctoral researcher in International Relations at the Amity Institute of International Studies, Amity University, Noida. Her work focuses on India-Japan relations during the Shinzo Abe era. She has presented at academic conferences, published in peer-reviewed platforms and written on various aspects of India-Japan ties, including foreign policy, technology cooperation, cultural exchange, diaspora diplomacy and engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.