January 17th marked the 29th anniversary of the Great Hanshin earthquake. Every year, this day holds a special significance for us. Our campus served as an evacuation center while our school community was also largely affected by the disaster, and everybody in the community put in tremendous effort with resilience to recover from the damage.
For this year’s memorial day, our high school Key Club created a video in memory of the Hanshin earthquake and shared it with their peers. The group is one of our service clubs, which works to serve both the local and international community, as well as to develop themselves as leaders by participating in various programs.
One of their key activities amongst others is to raise awareness for disaster prevention. In their video, they also talked about the situation in the affected areas of the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and then invited their peers to take a moment of silence to honor the victims of both earthquakes.
Because of the experience in the Hanshin earthquake, it is an essential part of our school’s identity to pass on the lessons we learned and take initiative towards practicing disaster prevention in the community.
Every January, the Tohoku Team, a service group of middle school students, organizes an assembly for their peers to learn about disaster prevention. The group was initially formed to support people affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku in 2011. In recent years, the group has been working to raise awareness about disaster prevention, as well as support those affected by disasters around the world.
‘An earthquake occurred while you were shopping at a convenience store. What would you do? Option one is to hide between the shelves. Option two is to run outside of the store. Option three is to put a shopping basket on your head and move away from the shelves.’
During the assembly, the Tohoku Team led an earthquake simulation activity. The Team carefully designed the activity so that the students could gain knowledge about how to stay safe when an earthquake occurs. The Team also prepared quizzes to share practical information on disaster prevention. The Team did a fantastic job of making the activities involving and interactive, which allowed their peers to think about disaster prevention as their own matter. (Option three is the correct answer to the question above - a shopping basket helps protect your head.)
We are proud of our students for taking initiative towards practicing disaster prevention and continuing to take action to support those affected by disasters, both nationally and internationally. For people in the affected areas in Ishikawa, we are currently exploring ways that Canadian Academy can best help. More information will be shared by the student body.