November 5 to be observes as First World Tsunami Awareness Day

In a bid to commemorate the occasion of the tsunami, November 5, 2016 will be observed as the First World Tsunami Awareness Day. On the occasion an event will be organized with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champions at the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016.

The Conference is being organised from November 3-5, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi by the Government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Facts in Brief: Why 5th November chosen for World Tsunami Awareness Day

Facts in Brief:

• The 5th November has been chosen as a tsunami awareness day as it can be traced back to the year 1854. A villager in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, was concerned about an impending tsunami after a high-intensity earthquake on November 5, 1854.
• The observance of the day would help to spread awareness among people across the world in matters related to the dangers of tsunami and shall stress on the importance of early warning systems in order to mitigate damage from the often devastating natural hazard. It also aims at reviving traditional knowledge about tsunamis.
• Awareness raising activities will be organized throughout the Conference through thematic events, exhibitions, and distribution of awareness materials. Following the devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, the Government of India established an Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) under the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) at Hyderabad.
• The Centre, operational since October 2007, has state-of-the-art infrastructure for generating and disseminating tsunami bulletins for the entire Indian Ocean region.
• India, along with 23 other Indian Ocean countries, participated in a tsunami mock drill on September 7-8, 2016.
•  Besides increasing awareness, the drill evaluated the preparedness of participating nations to handle tsunami and other similar emergency situations.