World Tsunami Awareness 2024; November 5th.

FORUM: “Empowering the next generation with the lessons of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.“ World Tsunami Awareness Day 2024. The theme of this year’s WTAD is aligned with the theme of the IDDRR and the Summit of the Future, in September 2024, where ‘youth and future generations’ are a priority. It has been nearly 20 years since the onset of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, which tragically impacted countless lives and communities in South and South-East Asia in late December of 2004. The figures remain sobering and instructive: wave heights across the region exceeded 30 meters, inflicting widespread coastal destruction in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – as well as 12 additional countries. Total casualties exceeded 230,000 persons, many who were tragically in the direct path of the surging ocean waters. On this year’s World Tsunami Awareness Day; Asia’s coastal and island communities can look back and take pride in having rebuilt their ways of life and regional economies, but much still needs to be done to achieve early warning services and greater preparedness. This year commemorations aim to honor the memory of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on its 20th anniversary, to highlight its lessons for children and youth around the world and to celebrate the success of progress made in advancing early warning system coverage. Empowering them with this knowledge, which is captured in the #GetToHighGround campaign, can be the difference between life and death when tsunamis emerge.Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #GetToHighGround, #Ocean&ClimateChange, #TsunamiSafety, #TsunamiAlert, #WaterLevels, #TsunamiCoastalObservations, #WorldTsunamiAwarenessDay, #5november, #TsumaniDay, #DisasterResponse, #DisasterResilience.

EVENTS: On November 5th; The UNESCO and UNDRR regional offices will organize a webinar to observe the World Tsunami Awareness Day 2024. WTAD 2024 activities will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami by passing its lessons to a new generation of children and youth. On this day, We are calling on all countries at risk from tsunami to take action today: to develop new/revised strategies on tsunami risk, update evacuation routes, to install new tsunami warning sensors and warning systems. We are calling on all actors in all coastal communities to raise the awareness of their children and youth of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and to conduct, if possible, evacuation drills to higher ground any time during the year. We are calling in youth, children and learning institutes to play and learn to Stop Disasters, The Stop Disasters online game teaches children how disasters strike, including tsunamis, and how early warning systems, evacuation plans and education save lives. Get the concept note and Register to participate!

Among other observances, we got the CARIBE WAVE 2024; This annual Tsunami Regional Exercise will take place on March 21, starting at 1500 UTC. The 2024 Alaska’s Tsunami Preparedness Week from March, from 26 to 31, have urged all Alaskans to be aware of, and prepared for, a tsunami hazard in their local regions. the California’s Tsunami Preparedness Week from March 23 to 31, 2024; All Californians are encouraged to plan and register their TsunamiPrep activities (at work, school, and home) to be counted as part of.the activities and the Hawaii’s Tsunami Awareness Month from April 7 to 13; The Pacifex 2024 will be held on May 23rd and the LANTEX 2024 on November 7th.

Ongoing activities: Visit the Virtual Fair hosted by the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group to learn about earthquake and tsunami hazards of California’s North Coast.

STATEMENTS: Read the Statement of the United Nations Secretary-General on the World Tsunami Awareness Day 2024; November 5th.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami – one of the deadliest disasters in recent history. More than 230,000 people lost their lives.

On this World Tsunami Awareness Day, we honour the victims and recommit to protecting the 700 million people around the world who are at risk from tsunamis.

The best way to do so is by all partners delivering on the United Nations Early Warnings for All initiative that helps ensure every person on Earth is alerted when tsunamis and other disasters are on the way.

Education is vital to saving lives, and as this year’s theme reminds us, the participation of children and young people is critical. I urge governments and partners in coastal communities to raise awareness, so children and young people know how and where to evacuate to higher ground.

Together, let’s ensure people’s futures are not swept away by tsunamis. Let’s build resilience – now.

Mr António Guterres; Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Message from the head of the UNDRR on “World Tsunami Awareness Day 2024; November 5th.

Twenty years ago, the Indian Ocean tsunami which emanated as a result of an earthquake that occurred off the coast of Indonesia had devastating consequences.

We lost so many lives, across so many countries.

The worst impacts were of course in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India.

But countries as far as Tanzania, from where I am recording this video, were also very badly impacted. It really showed us how sometimes, hazardous events, particularly some low frequency, high impact kind of hazards can have impacts that will ripple across the entire global system and across multiple geographies.

In so many ways, that Indian Ocean Tsunami was a wake up call for humanity to do more, to have a much better understanding of disaster risks.

People who were impacted in that disaster were not just from the five countries that I listed, the worst affected countries, but from across the world.

People who've been warned have taken the right kinds of steps to protect themselves. So this is a huge progress we've made in the last 20 years, and it's an example of unprecedented global collaboration for an important area of common good.

We have to do more. We have to continue to keep the awareness of tsunami risk high because tsunamis do not occur frequently, but when they occur, their effects can be devastating.

So it's really important that we do not forget the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and continue to do everything we can do to protect ourselves, our children, our future generations, from the impact of future tsunamis.

Head of UNDRR.