A 2 day program was held in Alappad Panchayat, Kollam on the occasion of UN Tsunami Awareness Day in collaboration with INCOIS
On the occasion of the World Tsunami Awareness Day, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development, Amrita School for Sustainable Futures and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIs) jointly conducted Awareness Drives in the Alappad Community, Kerala, India as a part of the Indian Tsunami Readiness Program. The program, developed by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO is a community performance-based programme that facilitates tsunami preparedness as an active collaboration of the public, community leaders, and local and national emergency management agencies.
On Nov 4th, awareness sessions and painting competitions were held for higher secondary school children in two schools in the Alappad Panchayat namely GVHSS Cheriazheekal and GFHSS Kuzhithura. The awareness sessions were attended by more than 100 students. The sessions included presentations on What is Tsunami, various phases included in the disaster mitigation cycle, the do’s and don’ts during a Tsunami as well as interactive sessions. The painting competitions brought out striking images of the children’s insights about the Tsunami. More than 60 students participated in the painting competition. Mementos with certificates were awarded to the students.
An awareness workshop was held for the 60 members of the AmritaSree Self Help Group in Alappad Panchayat. Sri Ullas Unni, President, Alappad Grama Panchayat lit the lamp and inaugurated the session. Dr. B Ajay Kumar, Scientist, INCOIS delivered the workshop and Dr. Dhanya M, Asst. Professor at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham translated the session to Malayalam. The session also covered various indicators that have to be attained in order to make Alappad Tsunami Ready. According to the guidelines set forth in this program, there are 11 indicators to achieve tsunami readiness. The participants were handed out a questionnaire to understand the baseline of where the community stands amongst these indicators to provide a way forward in improving the indicators and to understand what initiatives can be done further.
Alappad panchayat, is close to the Amritapuri Campus and home to headquarter of the parent organisation, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math and one of the worst hit regions during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. As a part of the Tsunami Ready Program, the panchayat is gearing up to be the second Tsunami Ready Community in India.
