STUDENTS and teachers of All Saints Secondary School in Labasa yesterday walked more than two kilometres to a set-up evacuation centre in Vaturekuka as part of a tsunami drill.
School principal Seru Tabakece said the exercise was the first of its kind to be undertaken in the bid to prepare them for natural disasters.
"This is part of the school's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) week as we educate students and teachers on how they should prepare themselves for disasters," he said. "We usually have fire and hurricane drills in the school but with climate change being a national issue, we have decided to include tsunami drills because disasters do happen at any time of the year.
"Students usually undergo natural disaster drills in every school term and we want them to take heed of this exercise because it will help them when mishaps occur."
Mr Tabakece urged other schools in Vanua Levu to embark on the drill for their own safety.
"This is for everyone's safety and we are calling on students in other schools to engage in the drill because it will help them."
"It took 13 minutes and 45 seconds for the first lot of students to reach the centre and about 20 minutes for the last lot and this is really a good response to such disaster.
"I thank the school OHS committee and its chairman Solomone Seru for their undying effort in trying to educate students on preparedness for disasters," said Mr Tabakece.
More than 700 students and 40 teachers took part in the drill.