We invite students to participate! For information on the schedule and location of NDYS 2008 in Trinidad, view this web site.

Check the newly revised NDYS web site.

We NDYS were asked to work with Global Map. This project is organized by Japanese government. What we do is to use the global map and introduce how we used them for our project.

We can use the global map! Global Map Website:

http://www.globalmap.org/english/index.html

You may use this site for your research or use the map for your presentation.

Warmly,
Yoshie

Hi, members of iEARN,

Greetings from Natural Disaster Youth Summit project.
There are a lot of disasters in the world, NDYS students are working to mitigate the disasters in the world. As one of their activities, NDYS youth group started to issue NDYS Newsletter.

Here is the first newsletter. This newsletter is edited by volunteer students from Argentina and Japan. They plan to issue the newsletter every 15 days. Hope you enjoy reading it.

http://ndys.jearn.jp/news/index.html

Warmly,
Yoshie Naya

Hello,
I am Lisbon Brown, a sixth grade teacher at Port Allen Middle School. The students at our school will be working on an animation project to help our community to be prepared in the event of a natural disaster. The students and I are exicited about the upcoming events this spring.

Lisbon Brown
Port Allen Middle School
Port Allen, Louisiana

My name is Layla Dupuy, and I am a female middle school English teacher at Devall Middle School in Louisiana, USA. I teach approximately 150 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. I am currently attending my first iEARN workshop with Diane and Farah here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Today is the last day of our workshop, and it has been very interesting. Please look at my side by side that I created in the workshop yesterday. Our topic was disaster preparedness. In March, my students and I will be creating animations on this topic which will be posted in gallery. I hope to speak with many of you in the near future.

Best regards,
Layla Dupuy

My name is Joseph Meaux I am a High School Computer Science and Technology teacher in south Louisiana. I am looking forward to sharing our NDYS projects here!

Joe Meaux

Hi. I am Laurie Williams, a female teacher at The Louisiana School for the Deaf in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. I first found out about iEARN through the Red Stick International Film organization. Each year my students participate in the film festival by making a 30 second public service animation announcement. This year we will be making an animated anouncement about Natural Disaster Youth Summit.

Hurricanes, floods and the severe effects of natural disasters cause loss of life and economic instability in small island states each year. This disaster risk-reduction project, initiated by a young man from Trinidad and Tobago who was a delegate to the 2nd Children’s World Water Forum at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico, is making a difference both locally and globally with project support from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The International Education and Resource Network, Trinidad and Tobago (iEARNTnT) Global Disaster Safety Map Project allows students to learn about past disasters and the present state of disaster management in their community. It also empowers them to take measures for mitigation and preparedness. Many factors that exacerbate the impact of natural disasters are easily identifiable and avoidable, including indiscriminate dumping into waterways, improper or illegal land developments, and unsustainable agricultural practices.

Therefore, national reforestation and watershed rehabilitation programmes are aimed at managing surface and groundwater resources and protecting watersheds to maintain an adequate level of water supply. The process is implemented by students, who create a map of their community including specific measures for mitigation and preparedness. These community disaster safety maps are then joined to form a national safety map, which in turn is combined with other nations’ maps to create a global safety map.

Within schools, training programmes train teachers to empower students with environmentally friendly habits.

–Abraham Fergusson, age 16, Natural Disasters Youth Summit Ambassador,

Trinidad and Tobago

UNICEF will send a representative to Trinidad to interview Abe Fergusson and Mrs Gaspard-Taylor for the UNICEF video on the preparations of youth towards climate change and natural disaster.

Also they have honored Abe by requesting that he send a message to all the youth that will attend the next Global Youth Summit in Bali.

See the previous post for Abe’s write-up on Safety Maps, which helped draw attention to related projects.

Visit UNICEF main web site

See the video interview on YouTube