“BOSAI”(Disaster Risk Reduction Measures) learning in Japan

Name: Mr.Emmanuel Ladu
Name of the program: Comprehensive Disaster Management in the African Region
Program period: 28th September to 30th October 2015

Introduction

Konnichiwa.
Hajimemashite, Namae ha Emmanuel Ladu desu, kuni wa South Sudan desu, dozo yoroshiku onegai-shimasu.
Hello my name is Emmanuel ladu from South Sudan. I am an open minded person who always likes to look at things in a broader way, and stays focus to every single detail of whatever is happening around me from different angle. I am an adventurer who likes to explore on new things and make a change by creating an impact that will always stay in people’s minds. I am a quick learner and always eager to learn new ideology/ things and analyse them in a positive manner because each and every happening has a source and a reason as to why it is taking place so that I am able to receive them as they unfold.

Choosing a career

I am a civil servant, an environmentalist by profession. I work for the National Ministry of Environment in the directorate of pollution control and waste management as an Environmental Auditor base in Juba the Capital City of the Republic of South Sudan and I am also a volunteer of the South Sudanese Red Cross Society. As a grow up right from my childhood, I saw how my fellow country men and women were suffering due to human induce suffering imposed on us couple with the escalating hurdles as a results of loom crisis in the 1990s so I had a dreamed to be a medical doctor to save lives but as time goes on I realised my dreams was fading due to un conducive learning environment couple with political instability and lack of resources, I decided to join another university in a different country but the cost for realising my dreams became unbearable hence I had to make a decision and finally I opted for something else that I can afford and be able to serve my people thus becoming an environmentalist was the option.

My experience in Japan

While in Japan I was able to learn from the experience shared by the Japanese and my African colleagues, their experiences on both natural and human-induced disasters couple with all our study trips, lesson from the great Hanshin-Awaji and the Great East Japan earthquake that had strike the country some time back. The planning and reconstruction efforts of hard countermeasures to safeguard the first and foremost the people’s lives, environment and economy and the non-structural countermeasures, like drills, the creation of BOKOMI, and most specially the communities participation in these activities are a remarkable efforts.
In this program, we were taken back in time of the disasters that Japan had encountered for the past years. Going to the museum to know experience of the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, experience at Honjo Disaster Museum at Tokyo was a very remarkable experience to me and the recovery efforts made after the disaster tells me that when there is a will there will always be a way especially when comparing Japanese’s situation during the events and the Japan of today, I was really touched by the misery of the people who were sheltered in the evacuation centres and the lives lost at Kobe prefecture and most especially Fukushima prefecture which up to today the traces of disaster can be seen from ghost towns and the then Miyagi area which was washed away by the Tsunami.
Learning and knowing how disaster management is taken very seriously in Japan, the preparedness and preventive measures taken by the Japanese people to minimise the loss of lives and people’s properties tells me that human lives are very precious and need to be safeguarded by any means and the readiness and the countermeasures put in place such as the evacuation centres which are stock with emergency items, the retarding measures for flood control, drills, and many others shows that however much they very costly, human lives comes first and that it calls for a collective effort and team work.
We all know that natural disaster has its own schedule that we cannot stop or delay its arrival, the best thing to do is to be ready and aware of what to do in case of natural disaster. And by keeping this notion in mind we can reduce the effects of the aftermath of a disaster as it is evident from the past disasters in Japan and the ongoing human suffering in my country as a result of a man-made disaster one can tell how severe a disaster can be. Copying from the lessons learn in japan, I only wish we will emulate and practice the same in regards to reducing human suffering and minimising property loss and making the Republic of South Sudan a safe country from both natural and man-made disaster.

In final

The government of Japan and the people are worth appreciating for this noble act of making the planet Earth a safer and conducive environment for all most especially in the field of disaster where I have greatly benefited from in terms of knowledge impacted on me and my colleagues for the Republic of Kenya, Republic of South Africa, Republic of Mozambique, Republic of Algeria and my fellow countrymen from the Republic of South Sudan. Hoping that the knowledge gained will be put into practice and let others also benefit from it and I also do hope that this training will continue because both natural and man-made disasters do happen everywhere and at any time so without adequate preparation, it can have an adverse negative impact on people’s lives and properties, we only share one earth but its effects can be felt by everyone in the world.
Arigato Gozaimasu.