Relief Assistance for Tohoku Earthquake Affected

By this September 11^th, four and a half years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, as it makes us realize how quickly time flies.

Ishinomaki, though worst affected by the earthquake, is now recovering. The renovation works on schools in the city have finished, and so children have moved from awkward makeshift classrooms to their renewed schools, returning to their normal school lives. The city’s key industry, fishery, has recovered to the extent that its fish haul reached as high as 80 percent of the pre-quake level. To support the industry Ishinomaki fish market was reconstructed and now the renewal into the world-class market. With the construction of coast infrastructure and housing for affected people proceeding at a fast pace, many supporting organizations are seen to take initiative to boost local development.

While efforts to construct 4,500 public housing units for affected people by 2017 are now underway in Ishinomaki, there are still 133 cramped temporary quarters where as of August 1st, 4,988 households are suffering from many inconveniences. Temporary quarters are becoming empty every day, as people continue moving to the public housing units to settle in new neighbourhoods. The difference between neighbourhoods that are ready to brace these people and ones that are not is becoming visible, which is presenting a new challenge.

It is said that the local government has no plan to integrate temporary quarters within this year, but the people fear that necessity impels it to hasten the plan.

You can see Ishinomaki continues developing day by day, but people living in the disaster stricken areas feel like “we have a long way to go to return to normal.” JEN will continue supporting those of the locals until they can live with peace of mind.

Next Support Activities to Move onto

Since setting up its liaison office in Ishinomaki, JEN has been making continued efforts to support recovering local communities, and has decided to close the office at the end of this October because the needs for on-site activities have changed. From November onwards,, our continued support to the communities will be delivered through recovery assistance organizations based in the disaster hit areas those of which are: Iwate Prefecture; Miyagi Prefecture, and Fukushima Prefecture in order to encourage local’s power to live.

Record-breaking rainfall in September breached levees in inland areas of Miyagi Prefecture, causing immense damages on the areas. Responding to calls by an organization working in the Oshika Peninsula after the earthquake, locals in Ishinomaki voluntarily joined clearing houses of sludge in the flood-ravaged areas.

These days, we can expect disasters caused by torrential rains, volcano eruptions, and landslides anywhere at any time. It is vital for us to do something to help disaster evacuees in corporation with others in times of emergency. What is heartening to us is that there are willing helpers among people who have experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, as we saw in the recent flooding where people in Ishinomaki took a prompt action in corporation with organizations.

The city of Ishinomaki was heavily damaged by the earthquake, but thanks to the support from all over the world. The city’s key industry has achieved to be reconstructed and the communities are gradually recovering, and also new innovative movements are found to be created.

52 Months on; Continued Efforts to Find Missing Persons

Four years and four months passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and efforts to restore crumbled infrastructure including roads and dikes continue in disaster-hit areas. Landscapes have changed accordingly with signs of the damage caused by the earthquake and the tsunami disappeared, leaving less and less traces that reveal the ravage of the disaster.

In the city of Ishinomaki, the worst hit area, as many as 3,453 people lost their lives either directly or indirectly by the disaster and 428 are still missing. Even now the search activities for the missing people are carried out on the 11th of each month.

Combing a vast area for missing persons began this month in Nagatsura district, Ishinomki. The areas situated at the mouth of the Kitakami River, Nagatsura district was inundated due to land sinking subsequent to the earthquake. While the Self-Defense Forces searched the district from boats right after the earthquake, no search activities have been conducted since then. The completion of dike restoration work accelerated the pace of draining the district, and made it possible to conduct full-scale search activities.

The tsunami destroyed dikes and submerged the right section of the Kitakami River’s downstream areas including not only Nagatsura district but Okawa district where a total of 2,489 people of 712 households used to live, killing 382 people including 84 pupils and teachers of Okawa elementary school and leaving 36 people including four pupils missing.

Disaster restoration housing is now ready to receive victims living in temporary quarters, signaling post-quake restoration is rolling forward. In this situation JEN continues helping disaster victims find their way back to normal as soon as they can.

Volunteer Work Turns into a New Style: 16th “Let’s go to the sea!”

“Let’s go to the sea!” a project launched in March 2014 as a new style of volunteer work so that you might support disaster stricken areas while enjoying hands-on opportunities in tour around fishing communities, has been hosted by “the executive committee of ‘Let’s go to the sea!’“ composed of locals in the Oshika Peninsula, Miyagi Prefecture with JEN’s support.

Supporting  the committee become more self-reliant, JEN opted to take only background role in 2015. Pleia Tourism, a non-profit organization established by the students of Ishinomaki Sensyu University, Ishinomaki’s only university, began to take part in hosting the project, young people uniting together with locals to promote the communities in the Oshika Peninsula.

The 16th “Let’s go to the sea!” was held on Saturday 23rd of May and following Sunday. Day 1: Ochakokai, a tea party with the staff members of “Why not stop by Oshika,” a mutual aid organization, at Kyubunhama on the Oshika Peninsula; a visit to eleven headed deity, a national important property. Day 2: fishing experience guided by local fishermen at Sasunohama, participation in the San Juan festival. A lot of plans were worked out at the tour. Participants came from many countries and regions, including, Taiwan, China, Tokyo, Sendai and so on.

The participants were heard to make such comments as “I visited many places, met and talked to various people. I’m really glad to have this opportunity. This tour offered experiences that I can’t have in Tokyo. I had productive two days.”

Just wait for the next framework of “Let’s go to the sea!” is finalized by the committee. The committee will take the initiative in planning and running.