In addition to its continuing operations in Kesennuma (Miyagi Prefecture), Peace Winds Japan starts to expand the area in which it is distributing emergency materials to include the cities of Ofunato and Rikuzentakata (Iwate Prefecture). AAR Japan has sent 10 staff to the affected area and … Read more
NICCO‘s survey team found that the town of Rikuzentakata lost roughly half of its employees in the disaster, making it difficult for the town to respond to the emergency. Accordingly, NICCO personnel joined with doctors and experts in electrical and water supply and headed to … Read more
JEN sent its third team to Miyagi Prefecture, where they joined other teams conducting surveys of the northern part of the prefecture. In addition to JEN’s ongoing efforts in Sendai, they are planning to expand their efforts to this hard-hit northern area that has not … Read more
In Iwate Prefecture’s Kamaishi City, the larger evacuation centers have been receiving relief supplies and medical services, but AMDA reports that the management of aid stocks needs to be improved. They also report that communication lines to the town of Otsuchi are still out and some evacuation … Read more
Various sources indicate that Japan has experienced over 900 aftershocks with about 60 over magnitude 6.0 and three over magnitude 7.0. Also in the news on the 12th was the announcement by the Japanese government that the nuclear crisis was even more serious than previously indicated. It … Read more
The Association for Aid and Relief (AAR) Secretary-General, Yoshiteru Horie, wrote twice to thank JCIE for supporting their efforts. He said that he had just returned from a visit to hard-hit areas such as Soma, Sendai, and Rikuzentakata, noting that “the extent of destruction is so immense … Read more
In the Chinomori district of Ofunato (Iwate Prefecture), construction was completed on 71 temporary homes last week, which will house 188 people. With the help of local volunteers, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) delivered household items to help make those families’ new lives a bit easier. … Read more
This week is the traditional “Golden Week” holiday in Japan, and many Japanese people are taking advantage of their time off to volunteer in the Tohoku region. As described in a recent Japan Times article, many groups are trying to organize the outpouring of concern into practical assistance … Read more
As described in an AFP article on May 9 , the cleanup task in Tohoku is immense and volunteers have been helping local residents to remove the massive amounts of debris and the foul-smelling sludge that was left by the tsunami. A British resident of … Read more
The Japan Association for Refugees (JAR), which is one of the Japan Platform member organizations, has been organizing groups of volunteers to go to Tohoku and help with the clean-up and other needs. What is unique about these groups of volunteers is that they include … Read more