World Tsunami Awareness Day

The United Nations General Assembly designated 5 November as World Tsunami Awareness Day in December 2015 by the resolution A/RES/70/203, calling on countries, international bodies and civil society to raise tsunami awareness and share innovative approaches to risk reduction. World Tsunami Awareness Day was the brainchild of Japan, which due to its repeated, bitter experience has over the years built up major expertise in areas such as tsunami early warning, public action and building back better after a disaster to reduce future impacts. UN Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) facilitates the observance of World Tsunami Awareness Day in collaboration with the rest of the United Nations system.


FORUM: World Tsunami Awareness Day 2020 - Promoting national and local risk reduction plans.

In 2020, the day encourages the development of national and community-level, local disaster risk reduction strategies to save more lives against disasters. This year’s observance promotes "Sendai Seven Campaign,” target (e). By the year 2030, an estimated 50 per cent of the world's population will live in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis. Having plans and policies in place to reduce tsunami impacts will help to build more resilience and protect populations at risk. Do you have a national or a local plan in place to anticipate a tsunami?


Statement by the United Nations Secretary-General on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2020; November 5th.

We live in a multi-hazard world where risk is systemic and embedded in the very fabric of human development.

Currently we are struggling with what some describe as a tsunami of death and disease due to COVID-19.

This metaphor comes easily because living memory remains strong of the worst sudden onset disaster this century, the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 that took more than 227,000 lives.

Pandemic preparedness can borrow much from the progress we have made in reducing large-scale loss of life from tsunamis.

There are now early warning systems wherever coasts are vulnerable.

The United Nations system is working with partners around the globe to educate the public, organize drills, create evacuation routes and to do everything possible to avoid heavy loss of life when the next tsunami comes.

And come it surely will, just like the next pandemic, storm, flood, drought or heatwave.

When tsunamis strike, they are a supreme test of the governance and institutions that have been put in place to manage disaster risk.

Strengthening disaster risk governance is the theme of this year’s World Tsunami Awareness Day.

It should help build our resilience to all hazards, natural and man-made.

Secretary-General António Guterres

Other statements


EVENTS:

UNESCO Online Lecture Series - Going “Tsunami Ready” in the Indian Ocean

The six-part lecture series targeted community leaders, disaster management offices, NGOs and citizens at large to inform about the Tsunami Ready Program and encouraged them to implement the program’s risk reduction protocols and indicators to be recognized as Tsunami Ready by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). Visit the IOC event page to learn more and to watch all six sessions online.

UNDRR - World Tsunami Awareness Day: Ready for the Next Wave!

UNDRR brings together a High-Level Panel to discuss implementing disaster risk reduction plans and are preparing to face the next tsunami. Watch now.

UNDRR - Third World Tsunami Museum Virtual Conference

This digital event highlighted the work of existing disaster museum experiences and promotes the network of disaster museums in keeping the memory of past disasters alive. Watch now.


CAMPAIGN: Use the assets to share the social media campaign. Join the conversation! #TsunamiDay #Plan2Survive

This year, the World Tsunami Awareness Day is focusing on Target ( e) of the Sendai Framework, the global plan to reduce disaster losses by 2030, and encourages more countries to have national and local disaster risk reduction plans and strategies in place to better protect populations at risk including those exposed to tsunami risk.




2020 World Tsunami Awareness Day:

Tsunamis are rare events but they do happen. Having a tsunami plan in place can save many lives and reduce economic losses.