“We almost disappeared from the surface of the earth for a couple of seconds in 2004 and we are now working hard on having a common early warning system and a number of mitigation measures that will build safer islands and help evacuating and securing the lives of thousands of people who are living there throughout the year not only tourists,” said Mr. Ahmed Shiian, Ambassador of Maldives to Belgium and Head of Mission to the European Union.

One of those projects is the City of Hope being built on an artificial island called Hulhumale, near the capital Male and which will be able to accommodate about 130,000 people with schools, hospitals and shopping areas.

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami “was one of the most expensive in terms of economic losses. It cost more than US$ 315 million and affected many sectors including tourism,” said Mr. Teru Fukui, Member, Japan House of Representatives.

“We are the first department in France to have a tsunami plan and we hope that many other departments will follow us as we have had tsunamis in the past and many more assets are located today in dangerous flooding areas including critical infrastructure” said Mr. Christos Sabanis, Head, Regional inter-ministerial Service for civil and Economic Affairs of Defence and civil Protection, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, France.

To conclude Ms. Kirsi Madi, UNISDR Director said: “Education remains the number one preventive measure that can save more lives in order to leave no one behind in the future.”

Date:

17 Oct 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Themes:

Advocacy & Media

Hazards:

Tsunami

Regions:

Africa, Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania