A Japanese high school student who made a name for herself trying to restore hope to her community after the tsunami disaster two years ago has been invited to United Nations headquarters to talk about her experiences.
A Japanese high school student who made a name for herself trying to restore hope to her community after the tsunami disaster two years ago has been invited to United Nations headquarters to talk about her experiences.
Honoka Miura, 18, will give her speech in New York on March 6, probably in the presence of Crown Prince Naruhito and government officials from around the world.
She watched helplessly as her home was swept away in towering tsunami generated by the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
The disaster that devastated northeastern Japan turned her hometown of Minami-Sanriku in Miyagi Prefecture into a wasteland, forcing the Miura family, like countless others, to live as evacuees.
Invited to speak at the "Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters," Miura first caught the attention of U.N. officials after they heard of the efforts that she and fellow students made to restore hope in their community.
"It is our generation that will revive our hometown," Miura said, adding that she wanted the world to know about her resolve to help rebuild Minami-Sanriku.
"I want to bring smiles back on people's faces," Miura recalled thinking as she watched dazed survivors go about their daily lives.
She and liked-minded volunteers around her own age and younger got together and began to discuss ideas on how to restore their community's sense of civic pride.
After conducting a questionnaire of local children attending schools up to senior high, they suggested to town officials that Minami-Sanriku open a community cafe as a venue to exchange ideas and simply have fun.
Miura will talk in a hall more commonly associated with diplomatic efforts to resolve global issues about efforts to restore her community.