Think the Earth

The "Natural Disaster Youth Summit" attempts to bring children around the world together online to share their "knowledge" and "experiences" so that they may learn about disaster prevention from one another. This undertaking began 4 years ago, on September 1, 2005, a decade after the Great Hansin-Awaji Earthquake . This year too, the "NDYS 2009" will begin from September 1, the "National Disaster Prevention Day" here in Japan, and continue until March next year.

Last year, schools from 12 countries and regions, with Japan taking on the central role (from Hyogo Prefecture among others) and with the participation of Taiwan , Iran, and Trinidad & Tobago, etc. First, they started research about the disasters that have happened in their own countries, and about the neighboring regions around school. Then they created a "Disaster Safety Map " based on the data gathered. Next, they introduced their learning process and the results obtained by video conference and on the Internet forum, and then at the end, they adopted a joint declaration.

What became the bedrock of this summit was the iEARN International Conference held in Hyogo in 2003. The global network of teachers and students who have been making use of ICT (Information Communications Technology) such as Internet to carry on international exchange as part of their learning activities have helped develop the iEARN International Conference held in Hyogo into the NDYS project.

The video conferences, which perhaps may be the most exciting part of this project for children taking part, provides a forum and an occasion for children around the world to share their ideas. The message that this project seems to convey is that - "There are no borders for the natural disasters."