Reports on Help disabled and elderly disaster survivors

Project Report | Apr 20, 2011
Activity Report (March 27th, 2011 - 2)

By Sayako NOGIWA | AAR JAPAN Senior Programme Coordinator

Rikuzen-Takata City after the tsunami

AAR JAPAN Enters the Demolished City

On Sunday, March 27, AAR JAPAN’s Emergency Relief Team made an expedition to the city of Rikuzen-Takata, one of the most heavily damaged towns along the Pacific coast, visiting two welfare facilities for people with disabilities for delivery of relief items.

Most part of Rikuzen-Takata city lies in a state of obliteration. Few buildings except those in the heights survived.

People with Disabilities Stay Together

Out of 4 welfare facilities in Rikuzen-Takata, only two survived the catastrophe; the other two were swallowed by the Tsunami. “Hikami-no-Sono” and “Asunaro Home”, two remaining facilities now serve as refuge centers.

At “Hikami-no-Sono”, a total of 50 people with disabilities and staff members are taking shelter. The small building, located in the heights, evaded the devastating Tsunami. In contrast to relatively bigger refuge centers nearby where consistent provisions of relief items have recently started to arrive, small places like “Hikami-no-Sono” are still experiencing severe lack of material support. Despite the suffocating inconvenience, many of people with disabilities have no other option but staying in the familiar facility. For them, sharing time and space with many others at bigger refuge centers is simply unrealistic.

Yoshiteru HORIE (left), Secretary General of AAR JAPAN presents a box of bananas to the director of "Hikami-no-Sono". He was very happy, saying the fruit was easy to eat and nutritious.

AAR JAPAN’s Relief Team handed out bananas, grapefruits, futon mattress, toilet paper rolls and 20 liters of gasoline. Vehicles at “Hikami-no-Sono” were completely out of gas when the Team arrived, hindering them from going out to procure necessary items. “Now we can go to shops far away from here and buy things”, said the worker at the facility.

List of Destinations on March 27

Rikuzen-Takata City, Miyagi Prefecture

-Hikami-no-Sono (Welfare facility for people with disabilities, 50 survivors)

-Asunaro Home (Welfare facility for people with disabilities, 15 survivors)

AAR JAPAN Secretary-General to deliver donations

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Apr 20, 2011
Activity Report (March 27th, 2011)

By Yoshifumi KAWABATA | AAR JAPAN Programme Coordinator

AAR JAPAN staff search for a welfare facility

No Shortcut to Finding Those Who Need Help

On Saturday, March 26, AAR JAPAN’s Emergency Relief Team visited three locations in Miyagi prefecture for delivery of food and fuel. This day the Team surveyed 12 additional welfare facilities for the aged and people with disabilities.

Relief Team Faces Tough Realities

The elderly and people with disabilities, around whom AAR JAPAN’s relief operations are conducted, are often considered the most vulnerable to natural disasters, and are often the last ones to receive assistance. The Team literally calls up each welfare facility in the affected area one by one to assess the level of damage and to grasp the immediate needs before setting out to actual delivery. Sometimes the AAR staff have to directly visit those facilities where no one is answering the phone or no e-mail response is coming from.

On March 26, the Team headed to one of such welfare facilities for the aged, Sasae-Ai (“Supporting Each Other”) Day-Care Center in a town of Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture.

Roads in the vicinity of Sasae-Ai were closed off to regular vehicles because of heavy traffic of big construction equipments mobilized to remove piling debris. The Team had to consult a road map to find a detour, only to find a signboard left at the facility’s address. Patrolling policemen had no clue about what happened to Sasae-Ai.

Go IGARASHI and Toshiyuki KOGA of AAR JAPAN searches for a welfare facility. No trace of building was found.

The Team was later able to talk to the director of the facility, who told that his house was lost in the Tsunami, and three out of 23 employees were found dead. Even he did not know whereabouts of the elderly who had been in the building at the outbreak of the Quake.

The Team’s path gets often blocked by cruel realities like this, but the entire staff are determined to continue searching for people who are still waiting for the arrival of helping hands.

List of Destinations on March 26

Yamamoto Town, Miyagi Prefecture

-Sakamoto Junior High School (Refuge center, food & water delivered)

-Seiwa-en (Welfare facility for people with disabilities, gasoline/kerosene/diesel fuel delivered)

Higashi-Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture

-No.2 Kyosei-en (Welfare facility for people with disabilities, gasoline/kerosene/diesel fuel delivered)

AAR JAPAN staff unload relief items from Tokyo

AAR JAPAN staff unloads relief items from Tokyo

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Apr 20, 2011
Activity Report (March 25th, 2011)

By AAR JAPAN | Tokyo HQ

AAR JAPAN member delivering locally produced rice

Local Farm Donates Rice through AAR JAPAN

On Thursday, March 24, the AAR JAPAN’s Emergency Relief Team visited Higashi-Matsushima City in Miyagi Prefecture and a town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, stopping at six locations for delivery of relief items.

“Survivors First”

At “Hamanasu no Sato (Land of Rugosa Rose)”, a nursing home for the aged in Higashi-Matsushima, approximately 100 survivors are taking refuge, which include the inmates of other welfare facilities. The entire staff, none of whom has gone home since the outbreak of the disaster, is taking care of the group. Here the AAR JAPAN’s Relief Team distributed rice, water, towels, clothes, etc. Rice had been donated from “Farmin’” an organic rice farm in Tome City in Miyagi, an area well known for its rice production. Their clients had expressed to the Farm that their portion of rice be sent to the survivors, and the Farm had entrusted AAR JAPAN with the delivery of 300kg of their rice. In order to save precious water, all of the donated rice had been specially processed so that no pre-cooking washing, which is a common practice in Japan, is necessary.

Staff member of "Hamanasu no Sato"receives locally produced rice from Sopana HAGIWARA (left), Board Member of AAR JAPAN.

The survivors at “Hamanasu no Sato” have not had an opportunity to take a bath since the Quake. “Electricity got back on recently, which is a great relief. But we still do not have running water. We cannot take a shower; we even have difficulty brushing our teeth. Some of the people here are starting to show the early symptoms of pneumonia. The situation is unnerving because we cannot take them to hospital”, the Team was told.

IKEA JAPAN, a global furniture company, donated bags of potato chips through Japan Mothers Society, an NGO for working mothers. "This will make both inmates and staff members very happy" said an employee at "Hamanasu no Sato" with a smile.

List of Destinations on March 24

Higashi-Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture

-No.2 Kyosei-en (Welfare facility for people with disabilities, 100 survivors)

-No.2 Kyosei-en Annex (Welfare facility for people with disabilities, 20 survivors)

-Izumi no Sato (Welfare facility for the aged, 32 survivors)

-Hamanasu no Sato (Welfare facility for the aged, 100 survivors)

Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture

-Kozuchi Community (Survivors staying at home, 50 persons)

-Board of Education, Otsuchi Town (through Emergency Headquarters, Otsuchi Town: a focal point of delivery of relief items to over 40 refuge centers and its 5,000 survivors)

Sopana HAGIWARA carries towels donated from Bonheur Group, an amusement company, into "Hamanasu no Sato". The floor in front of the main entrance had a big crack.