The Philippines and Japan are both vulnerable to natural disasters like typhoons. A Japanese expert on reducing such risks has shared his know-how with university students in Manila.

Nishikawa Satoru is a senior advisor on disaster risk reduction at the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
More than 200 students and local government officials joined Nishikawa's event on Thursday.

The Philippines was recently hit by the Severe Tropical Storm Yagi, which left at least 16 people dead and 17 missing.

Nishikawa explained some of Japan's efforts to reduce the effects of such disasters. He said there is only so much infrastructure alone can do, and stressed the importance of networking with local communities to come up with ideas to reduce risks.

One student said he learned that participating in disaster prevention activities in his own way is important.

The Philippines will host the United Nations' Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in October. Over 3,000 local and foreign delegates are expected to join.