EXPERTS from opposite sides of the world are meeting in the North-East today to look at ways of managing the risks from natural disasters and major incidents.

A Japanese delegation is flying into Tyneside to attend the first Japan-UK seminar on disaster risk management, being held at Northumbria University, in Newcastle.

Hosted by the university's Disaster and Development Centre, the seminar today and tomorrow aims to take forward the global agenda for disaster reduction, set out by the United Nations at its World Conference, held in Japan, last year.

Dr Andrew Collins, director of the Disaster and Development Centre, said: "Last year, we were the only UK University specifically representing the link between disaster and development and, shortly after the event, were accredited by the UN to work with disaster risk reduction."

During his visit to Japan, Dr Collins cemented the relationship between Northumbria and one of Japan's leading disaster research institutes - the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), at Kyoto University. The institute's director, Dr Norio Okada, is a major contributor to the seminar and will co-host the opening discussion with Dr Collins on the core principles of disaster risk management education.

The event, which is sponsored by the Japan Foundation, will include a presentation on the risks of bird flu by the Health Protection Agency.