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Inamura no Hi
Tsunami Awareness Educational Materials
"Inamura no Hi" means fire of rice sheaves.
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 a high ground by burning harvested rice sheaves. This story was based on a true story at the time of Ansei-Nankai Tsunami (1854), which claimed around 3,000 lives in the coastal areas of Western Japan. (See the below for the detailed story.)Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) developed Tsunami educational materials with basic knowledge of Tsunami in 8 countries, using "Inamura no Hi" story, funded by the Government of Japan.
Phase 2: Workshops for Utilization of the Booklets
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) additionally printed the Tsunami awareness booklets "Inamura-no-hi" under the initiative of UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's 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 the partner NGOs (BDPC, SEEDS, and MERCY Malaysia).
Phase 3: Additional Printing of the Booklets for more utilization
With support from UN/ISDR, ADRC additionally printed of 5,000 copies of each of children versions of "Inamura-no-hi" booklets destined to Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka which are on the Indian Ocean rim.Besides, the English version for Singapore was modified and developed both English and French versions of the booklets for the African countries: Somalia, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Comoros, Mozambique, Madagascar,South Africa, Mauritius, Re Union, and Djibouti, where will be affected by a Tsunami in the future. 30,000 copies of English version and 20,000 copies of French version of the booklets were printed and delivered to the ISDR Africa Office for wider dissemination.
Other Activities: Spanish Version of the Booklet
With the initiative of the JICS (Japan International Cooperation System), the English version of the booklet was translated into Spanish for the Latin American countries.
Useful Links
More detailed background information on "Inamura no Hi" (Cabinet Office, Japan)
Picture-Story Show of "Inamura no Hi" (Cabinet Office, Japan)
"A Living God" by Lafcadio Hearn (Study group of Inamura-no-Hi)
(Japanese) Study page: "Inamura no Hi" (JMA, Japan Meteorological Agency)