The Third U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will begin on Saturday, March 14 in Sendai, Japan. The conference will gather thousands of participants from throughout the world to outline a new global disaster risk reduction framework. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, who is responsible of the Prime Ministry Disaster Management Authority (AFAD), will represent Turkey at the conference.

In recent years over 3.2 million Turkish students and education professionals have received basic training for emergencies and disasters. Moreover, AFAD aims to transform Turkey's disaster culture from the bottom up by teaching 17.5 million students how to act in emergency situations. While AFAD's success in promoting a culture of disaster preparedness and risk reduction will be addressed at the conference, Turkey's success in promoting a culture of disaster preparedness will also be shared by AFAD officials with the participants.

The new global disaster risk reduction framework has been discussed by U.N. member states since 2013 through a number of regional consultations. The disaster risk reduction framework is also informed by the Global Assessment Reporton Disaster Risk Reduction regarding existing risks, which is expected to be launched at the conference. In addition, the framework of the world's disaster risk reduction strategy document that will cover 2015 to 2025 is also expected to be embraced at the conference.