This paper studies the characteristics of New Public Commons for disaster reconstruction through three case studies: the Unzen, Hanshin-Awaji, and Chuetsu disasters. New public activities can be launched after huge calamities. They are mainly soft measures and provide victims and communities with innovative methods for community reconstruction. Public-private partnership is also important to sustain new public activities and to revitalize the communities.

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This empirical study focuses on women's potential roles in Community-Based Disaster Management through a training program developed for women based on the preliminary research, which targeted three communities within the Kathmandu Valley.The study assessed the process of developing the training program and stressed that the importance of empowering of women for disaster management, and using gender-based social networks for building disaster-resilient communities.

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The Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) contributed remarkably to emergency relief activities during the Great East Japan Earthquake. The NGOs/NPOs were successful in coordinating with the government, private companies, the Council of Social Welfare and other NGOs/NPOs to provide substantial assistance to disaster survivors. The rise of the NGOs/NPOs in providing emergency relief assistance was a new phenomenon in Japan. This article attempts to analyze the reason behind such a rise.

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Danish Flexicurity system presents an example for other EU member countries. This complex approach can lead to a modernization of the European labor markets, an improvement of hiring candidates, a diminishing gap between employed and unemployed and consequently minimization of poverty and social exclusion. The paper focuses on significant aspects of the Flexicurity system implementation, an analysis of the development of unemployment in the Slovak Republic in comparison to Denmark and an outline of barriers of its application in the Slovak Republic.

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An estimated two to six million people are adversely affected every year by natural disasters in the Philippines. This article explains the roots of service learning and discusses how classrooms are effectively linked to communities by increasing student awareness and capability to respond to crisis situations. To sustain voluntary relief efforts by students, community development has been integrated in courses taught in many schools and universities. A case study of the Ateneo de Manila University's ‘Theory and Practice of Social Development' course established in the 1970s for relief and rehabilitation work in flood-prone areas, examines the contents and issues of service learning in the country.

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This is an ongoing study investigating how the NPO Takatori Community Center has been supporting foreign residents in the community since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The authors have, so far, interviewed its three directors and one staff member. Some of the findings are: the importance of community oriented activities, joint ventures of the plural leaders, and multicultural mediating power.

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Empathy breeds social innovation and good leadership. This brief note is an initial exploration of the enablers of social innovation at the grassroots level where it matters most in a crisis. We focus on the need for individuals or groups who can implement plans of action that help whole communities respond and recover from a crisis. The distinguishing features of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Great East Japan Earthquake are compared with profiles of the leaders commended for their selfless acts in crisis response and management.

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