The Inauguration ceremony of the “Regional Education and Research Center on Earthquake Risk Management and Resilience for West and Central Asia (RCECWA)”, as the Category 2 Center under the auspices of UNESCO was held at the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) on Tuesday March 14, 2023, with the presence of the representatives of the United Nations offices and international organizations, faculty members, staffs and graduate students of IIEES, as well as relevant stakeholders.

In this ceremony, Prof. Baziar, President of IIEES, Dr. Yasukawa, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction Unit of UNESCO, Dr. Mojtahed Shabestari, Director of OCHA Office in Tehran (on behalf of UN Resident Coordinator in Iran), Prof. Rezaee Far, from Deputy of Technology (Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran), Ms. Mehrdadi, from UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office (on behalf of Ms. El-Khoury, Director of UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office), Dr. Nejad Jahani, Deputy of Iran Disaster Management Organization (NDMO), Dr. Amini Hosseini, Director of Risk Management Research Center of IIEES had speeches on introducing the UNESCO Regional Center and its objectives and programs.

It is worth mentioning that the center was established based on the proposal of IIEES in 2016 and the approval of the 40th UNESCO General Conference (Paris) in 2019. On January 2023, the Islamic Republic Parliament has also ratified the law of establishment of the Center. According to the agreement signed between the Minister of Science, Research and Technology of Iran and the Director-General of UNESCO, the main functions of the center are as follows:

  1. To undertake research and development in main fields of earthquake risk mitigation and management to contribute to better understanding of the risk posed by earthquakes;
  2. To support policy elaboration and development for disaster risk mitigation by undertaking activities such as assistance to the Governments in the design of policies mitigating disaster risk and impact – performing (inter alia) activities such as risk reduction, preparedness, post disaster needs assessment, damage surveys, post-disaster reconnaissance missions, assessment of physical, functional and economic losses; assessment of social effects of disasters and planning of measures and activities for disaster response, recovery, re-development and protection of disaster stricken regions;
  3. To promote education and training to provide transfer of knowledge in the area of earthquake risk management at different levels;
  4. To support development, implementation and improvement of technical regulations, standards and guidelines in the field of DRR;
  5. To conduct research and development in advanced methods, techniques and tools for earthquake loss assessment, rapid response, decision support, etc.;
  6. To promote a culture of risk prevention and community awareness through organization of workshops, seminars, drills, debates and other events, as well as through publications;
  7. To provide services – consultancy, expert studies, technical advices, etc.;
  8. To participate in regional partnerships and networks devoted to the collection and dissemination of relevant information and knowledge on earthquake risk reduction and management.