Five students and the school principal from Selwyn College participated in the High School Students Summit on “World Tsunami Awareness Day” 2024 in Kumamoto, Japan on October 23rd and 24th . The summit meeting is based on the resolution to designate November 5 as “World Tsunami Awareness Day” which was proposed by 142 co-sponsored countries including Japan and adopted by consensus at the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) in 2015.
In previous years, the following high schools represented Solomon Islands in past programs: Honiara Senior High School in Okinawa Prefecture 2017, White River Community High School in Wakayama Prefecture 2018, Visale Community High School in Hokkaido 2019, and Betikama Adventist College in Niigata 2022 (Online).
Kumamoto has recently experienced large-scale natural hazards, such as the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes and the Heavy Rain Event on July 2020. The High School Student Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2024 in Kumamoto was held with the aim of mitigating the damage caused by natural hazards such as earthquakes and tsunamis, developing future leaders who will take action toward national resilience, and further deepening the ties between countries all over the world. This summit will also help high school students around the world gain more knowledge about creative reconstruction in Kumamoto.
Read about the firsthand experiences of Selwyn College students who were in Japan for World Tsunami Awareness Day.
The High school Student Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day gathers around 500 students from various countries to tackle the challenges posed by natural disasters, including earthquake and Tsunami.
The summit aims to foster national resilience and develope future leaders equipped to address impacts of natural disasters.
Being Part of this summit as Participants from Solomon Islands we experience new things and Japan’s advance technology was really an eye opening to us. We learnt lots of new things in Japan especially in reducing natural disasters. It was a very interesting activity going tour around Japan and seeing many places and sites that were destroyed and later rebuild again.
Accompanied by our School Principal Mr Edwin Rogemana, we Arrived in Tokyo on Saturday October 19th. The JTB staff warmly welcomed us and immersed us in a cultural tour of the city, gaining valuable insights into Japan’s rich traditions admist its modern landscape.
A highlight of our Tokyo visit was a stop a local temple where we learned about a traditional black dished used in ceremonial practices involving ashes.
On Sunday October 20th, we flew to kumamoto for orientation Day setting the stage for the two day programme at the Kumamoto Jo Hall. We received a gracious welcome by JTB staff and enjoyed a welcomed Dinner before settling into our accommodation.
This initiative provides a high opportunity for students to engage in critical discussions on disasters mitigation strategies and strengthen international ties in the face of environmental challenges.
On Monday 21st to Tuesday 22nd October, we involved in a study tour which had us visit sites in Kumamoto which was the Kumamoto castle, Amakusa High school, the Suwa shrine, Amakusa Christian Museum and learned about the Shimabara disasters Higo Troubles.
And the Opening ceremony was today (23rd October) which every country came together in the Kumamoto Jo Hall and get to know each other very well, watch entertainments as well as leaned so much about Kumamoto.
End////
-Japanese Embassy in Solomon Islands
