Petra Nemcova who describes herself today as a model, philanthropist and entrepreneur admits to spending more than two third of her time raising money and rebuilding schools in disaster-affected countries. 

“Last week, we were in Nepal, and we have just reopened five schools which were completely damaged after the 2015 earthquake. We are also involved in the reconstruction of five schools in Saint Martin and the rest of the Caribbean after hurricane Harvey hit the region.” 

“I thank UNISDR for designating me as tsunami advocate which I accept with a great honor, and I will continue working on raising awareness on tsunami risks but my action today goes beyond tsunami prevention as I do believe that we can only save more lives in the future if we have a multi-hazard approach.” 

The event at the Japan Society was co-organized by the permanent mission of Japan to the United Nations in New York, as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). 

The recognition of Petra Nemcova was announced after the opening remarks of Ambassador Koro Bessho, Permanent Representative of Japan followed by the interventions of Mr. František Ružička, Chef de Cabinet to the President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly and Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP , who stressed the importance of integrating tsunami education in the curriculum of all children to better protect communities and to have more efficient early warning systems in place to save more lives in the future.

Date:

2 Nov 2017

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - New York UNHQ Liaison Office (UNISDR NY)