Arab States Commemoration of the World Tsunami Awareness Day
The UNDR ROAS activated a World Tsunami Awareness Day campaign that is aligned with the 2020 theme of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and in line with the Tsunami Ready program recognized by UNESCO-IOC as a valuable initiative to save lives and better protect communities from tsunami risk, and promote countries and cities which have national and local disaster risk reduction building plans in place integrating tsunami risk in accordance with the Sendai Framework Target (e), maximize partnerships to enhance more awareness and preparedness in countries less aware of tsunami risks such as in Africa and the Maghreb and strengthen UNDRR communication tools and platforms to provide concrete opportunities for leverage and joint awareness-raising and capitalize on the past 5 WTAD to evidence tangible results and concrete achievements accomplished on target (a) (b) (c) (d) and (e),
The regional campaign aimed to raise awareness about the value of integrating tsunami risk in national plans and strategies, how to be ready to mitigate, prepare and respond to the tsunami being rare events and educate the public and prepare them for tsunamis. The regional social media campaign included the development of social media cards and a WTAD informative video that were publicized through ROAS social media channels on November 5, 2020. In addition, a physical activation to engage the public was held at the Dubai Festival City Mall in Dubai from 3rd to 5th November 2020. The on-ground activation welcomed more than 220 visitors who viewed the WTAD videos on the screens and received WTAD branded masks.
Also, a session to commemorate the WTAD was organized during the Fifth Arab Partnership Meeting for DRR on November 5, 2020, where an opening remark was delivered by Mr. Ghaith Fariz, Director UNESCO Regional Office for the Arab States followed by the screening of the World Tsunami Awareness Day Video.