Peace Boat Disaster Relief (PBV) is an International NGO working to assist disaster-affected people and strengthen disaster resilience of communities in Japan and around the world.
PBV believes that, above all else, people are the key to reducing disaster risk, building resilience and minimizing impacts of disasters.
Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011, NGO Peace Boat established the Peace Boat Disaster Relief (PBV; formerly Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Center), a specialist organization to focus on:
- Domestic and international disaster relief
- Disaster risk reduction (i.e., disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response and recovery), such as the training, dispatch and coordination of volunteers
Background
NGO Peace Boat has carried out emergency relief operations since 1995, delivering emergency assistance and raising funds, as well as coordinating the dispatch of experienced logisticians, interpreters and volunteer teams to disaster-affected areas all over the world. Peace Boat’s first disaster relief efforts took place in 1995, following the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Kobe, Japan when teams of volunteers provided assistance, supporting community access to food, water and other basic supplies as well as humanitarian support. Since then, Peace Boat organized emergency relief operations in 15 disaster-affected countries around the world, including Turkey (1999), Taiwan (1999), Algeria (2003), Sri Lanka (2004), Pakistan (2005), Indonesia (2006) and Chile (2010).
Peace Boat Disaster Relief (PBV) was founded in 2011 by the NGO Peace Boat with their experience and expertise gained in relief projects. PBV has inherited the philosophy of “disaster relief beyond borders contributes to creation of regional and global peace” and experiences of its related organization, NGO Peace Boat which had engaged in disaster relief efforts in Japan and overseas since the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake in 1995. PBV has carried out diverse relief projects in 54 communities across Japan and 31 countries since its foundation (as of March 2021).
