Filipino students to take quake lessons home from Japan

Six Filipino students flew to Japan over the weekend to take part in post-quake research and field work and take home lessons on post-disaster management and reconstruction, the Embassy of Japan in Manila said.

The students, five from the University of the Philippines (UP) and one from De La Salle University (DLSU), are taking part in the Kizuna Project, a youth exchange program that “aims (to promote) global understanding of Japan’s revival efforts in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011,” the Japan Embassy said in a statement.

“The project will allow participants to understand and experience first-hand the ongoing reconstruction efforts and recovery initiatives at disaster sites,” the statement said.

The Filipino participants are DLSU’s Miles Justin Maranang and UP Diliman’s Myrtle Anne Zabala, who will do field work until December with the Japan Overseas Cooperative Association in Iwate and Miyage prefectures, respectively.

UP Diliman students Anna Patricia Saberon and Kristine Camia will do field work in Hiroshima until February 2013 on Japan’s multisectoral efforts on post-disaster human resource development.

Off to Tokyo University of Agriculture and Meiji Gakuin Daigaku, respectively, until February 2013 are UP Los Baños student Julius Ceasar and UP Diliman’s Zoila Gerente for a short-term study program on reconstruction efforts and industrial restoration.

The student exchange program was launched last year in hopes of involving the world’s youth in Japan’s efforts to rebuild following the deadly 2011 quake that triggered a massive tsunami and nuclear accident in Japan’s Pacific Coast, which plunged the country into its worst crisis since World War II.

The Kizuna program, which ends next year, is expected to bring to Japan 10,000 students from the Asia Pacific, including 285 Filipinos, “to  participate in earthquake recovery programs,” the Japanese Embassy said. Tarra Quismundo