Tsunami Response
In 2017, Ruom collaborated with UNDP documenting in photo and video, tsunami evacuation drills conducted in schools in the Maldives, Samoa, and Tonga. As part of the 'Partnerships for Strengthening School Tsunami Preparedness in the Asia-Pacific Region' program funded by the Japanese Government, Ruom was hired to travel to three countries to meet the students and teachers participating in evacuation drills. From small schools on remote islands to large institutions in busy coastal regions, interviewing students and their families on the importance of these drills as well as speaking with teachers and trainers on the importance of conducting each drill safely and regularly to prepare for eventual need.
Team
Director of Photography | Nicolas Axelrod
Editing | Florian Witulski
Samoa
Samoan students have vivid memories of the 2009 tsunami that claimed lives of family members, and wiped away entire villages. Samoa is located on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific Ocean, where most of the world’s tsunamis began. This is why people in Samoa have less than 15 minutes to evacuate before the tsunami wave reaches the shore.
Maldives
Until the 2004 tsunami, people in the Maldives did not know what a Tsunami was. Lying barely one metre above sea level and having no higher ground or inland to run to, tsunami response in the Maldives is unlike anywhere else. Identifying safe buildings in an island can offer a solution.