Kiwi Disaster Specialist off to Japan

Kiwi Disaster Specialist off to Japan

Nichola Costley, an Emergency Management Officer from Greymouth, is heading to Japan this month to represent New Zealand at a regional disaster prevention exchange.

Nichola was selected as one of twenty disaster prevention professionals from East-Asia, Australia and New Zealand to spend two weeks discussing best practices from around the region.

Nichola works for the West Coast Civil Defence Emergency Group and hopes to utilize knowledge gained in Japan upon her return.

“New Zealand is faced with similar hazards to Japan – earthquakes, tsunami, flooding – and experiencing the prevention methods utilized in a much better resourced country will be an excellent opportunity to identify possible options for our own future resilience work.”

Nichola arrives in Tokyo on 21 June and begins by presenting New Zealand’s country report to the other participants. While in the capital, she will take a field trip to learn firsthand about the city’s flood control measures.

Participants will then travel to Kobe where they will discuss pioneering disaster prevention techniques developed after the city’s 1995 earthquake which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.

During the final leg of the programme, Nichola will visit Niigata Prefecture where she will learn about responses to the earthquake and floods that have hit the region in recent years.

The all-expenses-paid “Disaster Prevention and People” exchange is funded by the Japanese Government and is part of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youth (JENESYS) Programme. JENESYS has a budget of NZ$315 million and will invite approximately 6,000 youths to Japan over a five year period. Information about future programmes is available from the Embassy of Japan in Wellington.

ENDS

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