On March 15th, 2015, while in Sendai to attend the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, President Samsul Rizal of Syiah Kuala University, Indonesia visited President Susumu Satomi and Executive Vice President Toshiya Ueki to discuss potential future exchanges.
Founded in 1960, Syiah Kuala University is a national university with ten academic departments located in Aceh province, which was heavily damaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Since that time, the university has been a major player in the recovery and restoration of the region. In June, 2014, Syiah Kuala University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Tohoku University’s International Research Institute of Disaster Science concluded a Memorandum of Understanding, and there is much anticipation for results in the fields of Disaster Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Agriculture in the future.