On June 14 (Wed), 2017, eight national universities in the Tokai Region (Nagoya University, Gifu University, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Aichi University of Education, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Toyohashi University of Technology, and Mie University) entered into "The Natural Disaster Response Agreement for National Universities in the Tokai Region" during a meeting at the Gakushikaikan Hotel in Tokyo. The agreement aims to promote "partnership and cooperation in times of disaster" as well as "collaboration in times of peace," based mainly on the assumption that large-scale natural disasters may affect a wide area of the Tokai Region in the future, such as an earthquake in the Nankai Trough. The agreement also arranges for cooperation in cases where a certain university is damaged by an inland earthquake, torrential downpours, etc.
There have been concerns for some time over the possibility of a large-scale earthquake in the Tokai Region, and it is believed such a widespread disaster would inflict severe damage upon all eight of the universities. Therefore, it is important for the universities to work together with each other in responding to such a large-scale disaster, with each university making contributions in line with its sufficient response capacities. For these reasons the eight member universities have concluded this agreement.
The agreement will enable the member universities to protect the safety of numerous students, faculty and staff, and to make every effort to ensure the speedy recovery and continuation of their high-level research and educational services; in doing so, it will assist in mitigating the damage to local communities caused by disasters and aid in their restoration and rehabilitation.