Association of Medical Doctors of ASIA, founded in 1984, Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC since 1995

Throughout this training program in Japan, Nepal TV crew saw, learnt and inspired by efforts of different people related to disaster management especially from a Mass media point of view. The crew will report their learning in Japan to Image Channel, and would like to organize a lecture for the staff to improve their awareness on disaster prevention. They also promised to work on raising awareness of disaster prevention among general population in Nepal through their TV programs.
 

 

Examples of Nepal TV Crew's Learning in Japan

When the participants from Nepal Image channel visited affected areas in Tohoku, they were impressed by the prompt response of Japanese government. Japanese government provided temporally housing and subsidies for all affected families within four months. Currently, the government is working on moving residential areas to new and safer regions in the highlands to help affected people realize their hope of living again in their hometown.
 
In Nepal, although seven months have passed since the earthquake, many of the affected people are still living in tents and daily necessities such as clean water, electricity, fuels and food items are still not provided enough. Tons of debris’ are still waiting to be removed. It is estimated that it would take Nepal 15 to 20 years for a full recovery from the earthquake. To promote the improvement in living conditions of the affected people, Nepal TV crew would like to report the current reconstruction situation in Japan to Nepali people and the government and bring hopes to the affected people.
During their visit to Tohoku, they also visited AMDA Otsuchi Health Center and heard about their reconstruction programme, Nepal TV crew realized that having a place for the affected people to interact and communicate with each other helps to prevent affected people from isolation. Offering activities such as physical exercises and pastry baking will help the affected people, who lost significant others and memorable items, to go out and interact with others.
 
In Okayama, in collaboration with Western Okayama City Fire-brigade, Nepal TV crew had a chance to learn the roles of Japanese fire and rescue service during disaster management. The basic idea of disaster management is (a) self-protection, (b) support each other among neighbors and (c) support by government. The first and most important step is to promote awareness of disaster prevention among citizens. The crews noticed that the involvement of children in disaster drill and disaster prevention education at schools from a young age are crucial to enhance awareness among citizens in the future. In Nepal, fire stations are only located in major cities and respond only to fire related accidents. However, after learning various responsibilities and seeing special equipment used by Japanese fire and rescue services, the crews identified the importance of rescue skills and equipment for saving lives. During Nepal earthquake, many people trapped under debris and lost their lives due to lack of rescue machineries. The crews strongly felt the need for high quality rescue skills and equipment in Nepal.

Finally, the Nepal TV crew visited AMDA HQ and talked with some of the dedicated AMDA volunteers. Their story of Volunteerism remained in the crew's mind. Hanshin-Awaji Great Earthquake in 1995 led people to change their mentality on volunteerism. Many people were willing to work together for the affected people without considering their time or money, and this was the start of volunteerism in Japan in 1995. There were similar situations in Nepal. Nepal citizens voluntarily supported the affected people soon after the earthquake rather than waiting for the support from Nepal government. The crew felt volunteerism is not limited to goods distributions but also sharing feelings and sympathy.