Ambassador Omura Farewells Youth Ambassadors for “World Tsunami Awareness Day”

 

Japan’s Ambassador H.E. Mr. Masahiro Omura hosted a send-off reception for students from Koro High School and Motufoua Secondary School from Tuvalu, who will be attending the High School Students Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2018 in Wakayama, Japan.
The “High School Students Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2018 in Wakayama”, is the third Summit to be hosted by Japan since the establishment of the World Tsunami Awareness Day in December 2015. The 2018 summit will be a special event since Wakayama is the home of Mr. Hamaguchi Goryo, who is known in Japan as a hero saved the lives of his fellow villagers from an impending tsunami by burning his rice sheaves to guide people to higher ground on 5th November 1854. For this reason, the 5th November date was adopted by the UN General Assembly and recognised as the World Tsunami Awareness Day to commemorate the heroic actions of Mr. Hamaguchi Goryo.
Ambassador Omura hopes that the Summit will provide the students the opportunity to acquire knowledge on disaster reduction and understand the threat of earthquakes and tsunamis. He further added that the Summit will also provide students better understanding on how to save lives and the importance of implementing policies on disaster mitigation and risk reduction, rapid rehabilitation and reconstruction.  The Permanent Secretary for Education Ms. Alison Burchell highlighted that the selection of Koro High School to represent Fiji in this summit is important, given their experience on the devastation caused by TC Winston including the tidal waves that struck parts of Koro Island. “I hope that you will share your experiences and at the same time learn from the experiences of other students from different countries”
The High School Students Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day will be held on Wednesday 31 October and Thursday 1 November. A total 487 participants from around world will attend the Summit with a theme of “To protect people’s lives from disasters, let’s learn together the spirit of Hamaguchi Goryo in Wakayama, at the birthplace of the story of “Inamura-no-Hi”. Marist Brothers High School and Ratu Kadavulevu School attended the 2016 and 2017 summit respectively. 5 students and 1 escort teacher from Koro High School are going to represent Fiji, as “Youth Ambassadors for World Tsunami Awareness Day”, at the “High School Students Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2018 in Wakayama” which will be held in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan on 31 October – 1 November 2018.  (25 October 2018)
 
◆Official website of the “High School Students Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2018 in Wakayama”
https://www.tsunami2018wakayama.telewaka.tv/en/index.html
◆Website of UNISDR (World Tsunami Awareness Day)
https://www.unisdr.org/tsunamiday