The aim of "community disaster resilience" is to create a sustainable society which is resilient in the face of disasters. What does it mean to be "disaster-resilient"? Associate Professor Ishihara says that it is first necessary to break away from the past disaster recovery approach which used [population growth] and [robustness of infrastructure] as indicators. "Many of the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake of 2024 were suffering from depopulation. In areas where the population was already declining, recovery cannot be measured using population as an indicator. From this point forward, what should be emphasized in the disaster recovery efforts is the level of satisfaction felt by the residents who are able to say, "I'm glad I was able to continue living in this area".
What is important is that the post-disaster recovery community is sustained in an environment good for the people who live there. An example of this can be seen in the town of Kinosaki Onsen which was destroyed due to fire caused by the Kitatajima Earthquake in 1925. "When the hot spring resort was being rebuilt, reinforced concrete buildings were constructed in key locations to prevent fires, and most of the ryokan(Japanese traditional hotels) were rebuilt in the same way as before the fire, using wood. While acknowledging the risk of fire, the residents still respected the culture, atmosphere and lifestyle of the hot spring area. It is important to protect people's lives, but they do not live thinking only about disasters."

What does a community need to achieve a sustainable and highly satisfying disaster recovery (in other words, to enhance community disaster resilience)? The answer to this question differs from region to region.
Assosiate Professor Ishihara says, "Bonds forged through the local culture of matsuri (festivals) in the disaster-affected areas of the Noto Peninsula contributed to the enhancement of community disaster resilience". Associate Professor Ishihara emphasises Action Research, through which researchers and practitioners work together to solve practical problems, examining different regional factors which contribute to community disaster resilience. "What is important is building trust with co-researchers, as well as the locals. Sometimes we work with students on practical initiatives related to local disaster prevention, but even when students make efforts to improve capabilities of the local community, at first they are not listened to by people in the field. However, as students and the locals casually spend time together, such as at festivals and by cooking together, they gradually start to get along. Eventually, the locals start to accept the students' proposals. Even when making the same proposal, it is sometimes more important to think about who is going to make the proposal rather than what is going to be said."
Research deepens and proposals get realized after building strong relationships through multiple interactions. This leads to the enhancement of community disaster resilience.

"Even if the number of residents is declining, you can increase community disaster resilience by growing the number of connections with supporters outside the area," says Associate Professor Ishihara. There are many cases in which people who visit an area for tourism or a hobby end up falling in love with the area and becoming “allies” who can be relied on in the case of disaster. The core of this connection comes from a sense of attachment and empathy for the area.
"We have also seen a movement in which people affected by the Chuetsu Earthquake in 2004 supported areas affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. This is a good example of how a sense of empathy generated among afflicted people led to the creation of a circle of support." In order to maximise the power of connections, it is effective to 'lay the groundwork' so that people can easily be assimilated into the community.Ryukoku University has built a system through which the university buses students to disaster areas to participate in group volunteer activities. Not only does this lower the hurdle for participation on the part of the students, but the fact that the students are visiting from the same university on a regular basis also increases the sense of security and trust in the local community.
In addition, one thing that can be done within each community in advance is to develop a 'disaster support acceptance system', so that afflicted people can receive support in an appropriate manner.

One example of "connection" is to strengthen coordination in advance among organizations within the local community. In a society with a declining population, in which there is an individual burden both in normal times and in times of disasters, it is not a realistic approach to set up a new disaster-related organization which attempts to handle everything. Associate Professor Ishihara says, "That's why it's important for organizations that are already active in the community (such as the PTA neighbourhood associations) to connect with each other and share resources."
Associate Professor Ishihara says that as the absolute number of the population decreases, in order to improve overall disaster response capability it will become increasingly important to have connections, or "collaborations," even before a disaster occurs, as well as an attitude of region-specific "culture". He, himself, would like to become a link, so he visits the local community every day. "What kind of mechanisms and communication are needed to form multi-layered partnerships within and outside the local community? I believe that by thinking about this and taking action, we can increase the community disaster resilience of society as a whole.”