Building resilience to disasters - “No more people will have to go through what Anzonetta and Jared had to”

Anzonetta Janice Joan Slaven-Schwalger, who lost her children in the 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami, recalls: “There was no preparation in the village… preparations were only made in the town area, [and] there were no warnings in the villages, no sirens or anything.” Her husband Jared also lost his mother in the same disaster.

Anzonetta and Jared’s story is one of several featured in the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction Programme. The programme, developed and run by UNITAR Division for Prosperity, seeks to equip women leaders from Pacific communities with the skills and knowledge to facilitate inclusive disaster preparedness and build resilience in their countries and communities.

In the course, participants learn about disaster prevention measures and initiatives mainly from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. They focus on how they could apply the examples and lessons in their own countries and communities.