BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
TRAVELLING to attend the World Tsunami Awareness Day was a remarkable trip says White River Community High School’s Social Science teacher, Ashlyn Sese Hou.
Ashlyn was with five of her Form four students who had represented the country in this year’s High School Students Summit on “World Tsunami Awareness Day” in Wakayama, Japan.
She said what they had learnt from the summit was how schools can help prepare for natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.
Hou highlighted “awareness drills” as an important area where schools in Solomon Islands can also carry out in their school.
She said this is something that needs to be promoted in schools from kindergarten to secondary level of education.
Hou explained that if students are well versed with awareness drills which include maps showing safety zones, they would know where to run and move to higher grounds in times of natural disasters.
She also mentioned that if people were already prepared they can escape death.
In this regard, Hou commends Japan for its work in making them more aware about measures to tackle natural disasters.
Hou stressed that given Japan’s status as a country with an aim to promote international understanding and raising awareness of natural disasters, Solomon Islands is fortunate to be part of the summit.
She added that while they learnt a lot about natural disasters and prevention measures they were also fortunate to visit a high tech country that has changed their way of thinking.
Hou said after departing Japan, they returned to the country as changed individuals with new vision and spirit about spreading the message of tsunami awareness.
She is positive that results of this trip will be evident in years to come.
It is understood that Honiara High School students represented the country in last year’s summit.
Hou thanked the government of Japan and Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) for selecting White River Community High School to participate in this year’s event.
