Wakayama: DAY 3 (Monday, August 1st, 2016) – Opening Ceremony, Introduction of Countries/Areas, Sectional Meetings, Preparation for General Meeting

On Monday, August 31^st, 2016, all of the students that participated in the Asian and Oceanian High School Students’ Forum 2016 were present in Wakayama Prefectural Hall.

The first event on that day was the Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony was started with the greetings by the Governor of Wakayama Prefecture, Mr. Yoshinobu Nisaka. Then, President of EIRA, Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura gave greetings that reminded us of how important connectivity is. 

Afterwards, we were also greeted by remarks by the Ambasasador for Kansai region, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as well as remarks by Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The Opening Ceremony was closed with the declaration of the opening by student representatives who were Chika Wanaka from Chiben Gakuen Wakayama Senior High School (Japan) and Waiata Geddes from Orewa College (New Zealand).

Opening Ceremony

Proudly representing Indonesia

During the short break after the Opening Ceremony, I had the opportunity to meet the Consulate of Indonesia. It was an honor to receive a congratulation message as well as encouragement from him.

Next, in the Country/Area Introduction, every representative from different countries or areas gave a 4-minutes self-introduction of country/area presentation. There were 20 students from 20 countries which were Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. There were also participants from prefectures in Japan which were Chiba Pref., Kanagawa Pref., Tochigi Pref., Kyoto Pref., Hiroshima Pref., and Wakayama Pref.

In my self-introduction presentation, I introduced myself, my family, my school BINUS School Serpong, and my beloved home country, Indonesia. I proudly presented Indonesia as the largest island country with more than thirteen thousand islands that is known for its beaches, volcanoes and jungles sheltering elephants, tigers and Komodo dragons. I could not forget to mention that Indonesia consists of hundreds of distinct native ethnic and linguistic groups. Also, Indonesia’s national motto “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” which means “Unity in Diversity” articulates Indonesia’s richness in culture and tradition, as shaped by diversity.

Self-Introduction 

It was wonderful to see diverse culture and uniqueness of each country through this Country/Area Introduction.

Sectional Meetings were held at the afternoon in different venues according to the research categories. As I was the representative of Indonesia, my research theme was “Disaster Prevention”. The other countries aside from Japan that also had this theme were Nepal, New Zealand, and Turkey.

There were 8 presenters and 2 chairpersons in total in this research category. Every presenter had 15 minutes to present the results of their research on “Disaster Prevention” and 5 minutes to involve in Q&A session.

Sectional Meeting of "Disaster Prevention"

At 13.30, after we had a bento (lunchbox) with a plum for lunch, the Sectional Meeting started.

Bento with a plum

The first presenter was Mitsuho Nakai from Hidaka High School in Wakayama. She made a presentation about what students and schools can do to increase awareness of disaster measures in their community. She told that her school has an event called “The School for Disaster Measures” for students and local people to learn about disaster measures. Although many people go, the number of local people participated in this event has been decreasing. As her school is an important evacuation site that wants to do more to increase awareness in the community, she recommended to make a flyer about “The School for Disaster Measures” and to hand it out to the citizens.

Presenter from Hidaka High School

The second presenter was me, Marvela Ester Kurniawan from BINUS SCHOOL Serpong, Indonesia. My research title was “Disaster Prevention”. The points of my presentation include firstly, change from reaction to prevention mindset. Secondly, everyone must take an active role from students to the government in preventing disasters. Thirdly, increasing the level of awareness on disaster prevention amongst students and creating the sense of belongingness to our global community and responsibility.

Presentation of my research on "Disaster Prevention"

:)

The third presenter was Teppei Enari from Sagamihara Secondary School in Kanagawa with the research title of “What High School Students Can Do When a Disaster Strikes”. He highlighted that high school students can help run evacuation center and take part in discussions about the management of the center.

The fourth presenter was Subigya Ghimire from Flourescent Higher Secondary School in Nepal with the research title of “25 April 2015 Earthquake and UNESCO Heritage Sites in Nepal: Post Seismic Status and Lessons Learned”. His presentation was about the heritage site which was unaffected, the necessity of understanding its architecture and other aspects for future reference.

Presenter from Nepal

The fifth presenter was Momo Ogashi from Tanabe High School in Wakayama. She discussed some issues with awareness of disasters and disaster prevention as well as ways we can try to overcome them. She found that people’s awareness tends to be low in school life, thus it is essential to always bear in mind that we are living with danger of tsunami when taking measures against it as well as be serious about disaster prevention.

Presenter from Tanabe High School

The sixth presenter was Waiata Geddes from Orewa College in New Zealand with the research title of “Disaster Prevention in New Zealand”. Waiata gave presentation about the dangers of tsunamis in New Zealand and how to prepare for them. She explained that apps such as Hazard App that they have in New Zealand can be used when evacuating. The app lets people verify the procedures used in various disaster situations. Furthermore, the people in her hometown also practice walking the tsunami evacuation route in order to increase preparedness.

The seventh presenter was Itsuki Fukutomi from Chiben Wakayama High School in Wakayama. Her presentation was titled “Evacuating at home”. She gave explanation about how to live without gas, electricity, and water when evacuating at home as well as the importance of preparing for disasters in our daily lives.

Presenter from Chiben Wakayama High School

Last but not least, the eight presenter was Baran Kirdar from Büyük High School in Turkey. Through his presentation titled “Impacts of Floods”, he talked about the importance of understanding floods and their effects. He also suggested that governments should prepare plans for flood as flood is something that needs to be stopped.

Full team!

Finally, at 5 pm, the Sectional Meeting finished. We then had a delightful buffet dinner together with all participants from all research categories.

Dinner with members of "Disaster Prevention" Research Category Group

Afterwards, I together with the members of “Disaster Prevention” research category went back to our hotel. With most of us still wearing our uniforms, we gathered in the hotel’s lobby at the evening to have a preparation (accompanied with Mister Donut ;D) for the next day’s General Meeting.

Donut give up!

It was quite challenging for us to collectively make summary and conclusion of the Sectional Meeting but thankfully we could accomplish it together at the end. The preparation finished at 10 pm.

Making summary and conclusion together

Despite of us being exhausted, we still had a fun “snack party” in the room of one of the Japanese students. This was my first time of having snack party and I really enjoyed the togetherness we had. We were playing games, enjoying tasty snacks, and ultimately having a great time.  

Snack Party!