High-level Panel Discussion to mark the World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025 at UNHQ, New York.
On 5 November, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and partners commemorated World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The event brought together Member States, UN leaders, scientists, city officials and youth representatives under the theme “Be Tsunami Ready: Invest in Tsunami Preparedness.”
A decade of progress and partnership
Co-organized by the Permanent Missions of Japan, Chile, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand, together with the Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends for Disaster Risk Reduction (Australia, Indonesia, Norway and Peru), as well as UNESCO and UNDRR, the commemoration reflected on ten years of progress since the establishment of World Tsunami Awareness Day. Speakers highlighted advancements in tsunami awareness, education and early warning.
Delivering a message on behalf of Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Mr. Yamazaki Kazuyuki, Permanent Representative of Japan, underscored the importance of preserving and sharing disaster memory as an “essential duty entrusted to us,” and highlighted the yearly High School Students Summit, which has reached more than 2,000 students since 2016.
Mr. Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), reminded participants that disasters can erase years of development progress in minutes. Similarly, Ms. Rabab Fatima, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS), drew attention to the disproportionate toll that disasters continue to take on the most vulnerable nations. “When the ground shakes and the oceans withdraw - seconds decide lives.”
In a video message, Mr. Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR, commended progress but warned against complacency, urging sustained investment in early warning, resilient infrastructure and recovery readiness
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Education and intergenerational learning.
Ruka Ogura, Mitsuki Komatsu and Yumeto Hirama from Sendai high schools presented their preparations for the upcoming High School Students Summit on Tsunami Awareness.
Tsunami education was a central theme throughout the commemoration. Mr. Jayantha Jayasuriya, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, reflected on the lifesaving power of awareness. He recalled the heroism of a young girl who learned about tsunamis in school and recognised the warning signs on a beach in Thailand in 2004 and urged others to safety – a reminder, he said, that education must remain at the heart of preparedness. Students from Sendai City exemplified how cross-border collaboration and peer learning are shaping a new generation of disaster-aware leaders.
Local leadership and community-based disaster risk reduction
Speakers highlighted how local leadership translates policy into practice. Mr. Atsushi Yanagisawa, Senior Director of Sendai City’s Disaster-Resilient and Environmentally-Friendly City Promotion Office, described how recovery after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami led to relocating homes to higher ground, converting the coastal zone into orchards, parks and green belts, and training local disaster-risk-reduction leaders.
Ms. Finau Heuifanga Leveni, Head of Delegation of the Pacific for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, stressed that “preparedness must live in communities,” describing how local volunteers, schools and community drills are often the first and most effective line of defence in the seismically active Pacific.
From Canada, Ms. Naomi Yamamoto, President of the BC Earthquake Alliance and former Minister of Emergency Preparedness of British Columbia, highlighted how lasting resilience depends less on top-down directives and more on the capacity of communities themselves. “Preparedness is everyone’s responsibility, and if we recognise local leaders who are central to resiliency, it will go a long way.” Governments must create an enabling environment through sustained investment for community leadership to thrive.
Ms. Naomi Yamamoto and Mr. Dwayne Meadows speak at World Tsunami Awareness Day panel, New York.
Investing in preparedness saves lives
Sharing a small-island perspective, Ms. Shiruzimath Sameer, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Maldives, underlined how her country has integrated tsunami preparedness into broader climate adaptation and coastal-protection plans, yet faces persistent barriers to finance. “Frequent disasters reduce the ability to pay back debt,” she explained, calling for predictable and concessional financing, debt swaps and public-private partnerships to help small-island States build resilience without sacrificing essential services.
Dr. Dwayne Meadows, a marine biologist who survived being swept one-mile during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while vacationing in Thailand, offered a personal reflection on how far preparedness has come—and how much further it must go. He recalled that while early-warning buoys and modelling systems existed two decades ago, there was no mechanism to communicate risk rapidly or clearly to the public.
“Many thousands of lives could have been saved had we had today’s level of investment, planning and communication strategies,” he said. He also drew attention to the long-term mental-health impacts of disasters, noting that readiness must include training first responders to recognise and address trauma.
Across these interventions, the unifying message was that investment in preparedness is most effective when it strengthens communities’ capacity to lead their own resilience efforts.
Reception and interactive learning.
Mr. Eliot Minchenberg, Director of the UNESCO New York Office and Representative to the United Nations in New York, addresses the World Tsunami Awareness Day Reception, UNHQ
The commemoration concluded with a reception, where remarks were delivered by Ms. Paula Narváez Ojeda, Permanent Representative of Chile; Mr. Juan Pablo Vegas Torres, Deputy Permanent Representative of Peru; and Mr. Eliot Minchenberg, UNESCO.
Mr. Vegas Torres captured the key message of the commemoration: “Preparedness is not a luxury or a cost. It is a life-saving investment.”
Alongside an exhibition by Sendai City, participants explored the “Stop Disasters” game - an interactive UNDRR simulation where players act as city planners, making investment decisions before a tsunami strikes, illustrating how informed choices and inclusive planning can mean the difference between catastrophe and resilience.
Concept note: World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025.
Education and intergenerational learning.
Ruka Ogura, Mitsuki Komatsu and Yumeto Hirama from Sendai high schools presented their preparations for the upcoming High School Students Summit on Tsunami Awareness.
Tsunami education was a central theme throughout the commemoration. Mr. Jayantha Jayasuriya, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, reflected on the lifesaving power of awareness. He recalled the heroism of a young girl who learned about tsunamis in school and recognised the warning signs on a beach in Thailand in 2004 and urged others to safety – a reminder, he said, that education must remain at the heart of preparedness. Students from Sendai City exemplified how cross-border collaboration and peer learning are shaping a new generation of disaster-aware leaders.
Local leadership and community-based disaster risk reduction
Speakers highlighted how local leadership translates policy into practice. Mr. Atsushi Yanagisawa, Senior Director of Sendai City’s Disaster-Resilient and Environmentally-Friendly City Promotion Office, described how recovery after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami led to relocating homes to higher ground, converting the coastal zone into orchards, parks and green belts, and training local disaster-risk-reduction leaders.
Ms. Finau Heuifanga Leveni, Head of Delegation of the Pacific for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, stressed that “preparedness must live in communities,” describing how local volunteers, schools and community drills are often the first and most effective line of defence in the seismically active Pacific.
From Canada, Ms. Naomi Yamamoto, President of the BC Earthquake Alliance and former Minister of Emergency Preparedness of British Columbia, highlighted how lasting resilience depends less on top-down directives and more on the capacity of communities themselves. “Preparedness is everyone’s responsibility, and if we recognise local leaders who are central to resiliency, it will go a long way.” Governments must create an enabling environment through sustained investment for community leadership to thrive.
Ms. Naomi Yamamoto and Mr. Dwayne Meadows speak at World Tsunami Awareness Day panel, New York.
Investing in preparedness saves lives
Sharing a small-island perspective, Ms. Shiruzimath Sameer, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Maldives, underlined how her country has integrated tsunami preparedness into broader climate adaptation and coastal-protection plans, yet faces persistent barriers to finance. “Frequent disasters reduce the ability to pay back debt,” she explained, calling for predictable and concessional financing, debt swaps and public-private partnerships to help small-island States build resilience without sacrificing essential services.
Dr. Dwayne Meadows, a marine biologist who survived being swept one-mile during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while vacationing in Thailand, offered a personal reflection on how far preparedness has come—and how much further it must go. He recalled that while early-warning buoys and modelling systems existed two decades ago, there was no mechanism to communicate risk rapidly or clearly to the public.
“Many thousands of lives could have been saved had we had today’s level of investment, planning and communication strategies,” he said. He also drew attention to the long-term mental-health impacts of disasters, noting that readiness must include training first responders to recognise and address trauma.
Across these interventions, the unifying message was that investment in preparedness is most effective when it strengthens communities’ capacity to lead their own resilience efforts.
Reception and interactive learning.
Mr. Eliot Minchenberg, Director of the UNESCO New York Office and Representative to the United Nations in New York, addresses the World Tsunami Awareness Day Reception, UNHQ
The commemoration concluded with a reception, where remarks were delivered by Ms. Paula Narváez Ojeda, Permanent Representative of Chile; Mr. Juan Pablo Vegas Torres, Deputy Permanent Representative of Peru; and Mr. Eliot Minchenberg, UNESCO.
Mr. Vegas Torres captured the key message of the commemoration: “Preparedness is not a luxury or a cost. It is a life-saving investment.”
Alongside an exhibition by Sendai City, participants explored the “Stop Disasters” game - an interactive UNDRR simulation where players act as city planners, making investment decisions before a tsunami strikes, illustrating how informed choices and inclusive planning can mean the difference between catastrophe and resilience.
Concept note: World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025.
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