World Tsunami Awareness Day 2020: All you need to know about day aimed at 'strengthening disaster risk governance'

The day is based on a practice known in Japan known as ‘Inamura-no-hi’ or the burning of rice sheaves that took place when a tsunami occurred due to the 1854 Ansei Nankai Earthquake The World Tsunami Awareness Day 2020 is observed every year on 5 November with an aim to create ways to save lives in view of future disasters. In 2020, World Tsunami Awareness Day will promote targets of the Sendai Seven Campaign, which encourages communities and countries to have national and local disaster risk reduction strategies in place to save more lives against disasters by end of 2020. UN Secretary General António Guterres issued a statement to mark World Tsunami Awareness Day stating that currently we are struggling with a tsunami of death and disease due to COVID-19 and that the UN system is working with partners around the globe to educate the public, organise drills, create evacuation routes and to do everything possible to avoid heavy loss of life when the next tsunami comes. “Strengthening disaster risk governance is the theme of this year’s World Tsunami Awareness Day,” he said, adding that it should help build resilience to all hazards both natural and man-made.