As survivors of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami cope with the loss of their families, homes and livelihoods, some of the younger generation are focusing their energies on helping people elsewhere in Asia.

Haruka Kurosawa, 19, lived through the 2011 calamity and afterward witnessed the dismal reality of life in evacuation shelters.

On March 15, he will join a group of Japanese peers and survivors from the typhoon-struck Philippines to discuss their experiences and ideas for better disaster preparedness in a forum to be held on the sidelines of the U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai.