Tsunami awareness educational materials

This webpage contains information on the three phases involved in publishing booklets related to the story of "Inamura no Hi." The booklets are also available to download from the webpage.

Phase 1: Development of the booklets

"Inamura no Hi" is a story of a man who noticed a precursor of a large tsunami at the earliest stage and led village inhabitants to high ground by burning harvested rice sheaves. This story was based on a true story at the time of the Ansei-Nankai Tsunami (1854), which claimed around 3,000 lives in the coastal areas of Western Japan.

The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) developed tsunami educational materials with basic knowledge of tsunami in eight countries, using the "Inamura no Hi" story, funded by the Government of Japan.

Phase 2: Workshops for utilization of the booklets

ADRC additionally printed the tsunami awareness booklets, "Inamura-no-hi," under the initiative of UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's (IOC) response to the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in line with the strengthening of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWC) activities, and in conjunction with the IOC's on-going plan of action to promote capacity building, training, educational awareness and information on tsunami.

Around 5,000 copies of booklets were printed and distributed each in the three target countries (India, Bangladesh and Indonesia) in cooperation with partner NGOs (BDPC, SEEDS and MERCY Malaysia).

Phase 3: Additional printing of the booklets for more utilization

With support from UNDRR, ADRC additionally printed 5,000 copies of each of the children's versions of "Inamura-no-hi" booklets for Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, which are on the Indian Ocean rim. 

The English version for Singapore was modified, and ADRC developed both English and French versions of the booklets for the African countries of Somalia, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Comoros, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa, Mauritius, Re Union and Djibouti, which will likely be affected by a tsunami in the future. 30,000 copies of the English version and 20,000 copies of the French version of the booklets were printed and delivered to the UNDRR Africa Office for wider dissemination.

Other activities: Spanish version of the booklet

With the initiative of JICS (Japan International Cooperation System), the English version of the booklet was translated into Spanish for Latin American countries.