2011 will be remembered for the devastating earthquake and tsunami which devastated the Tōhoku region of Japan. The magnitude 9.0 (Mw) earthquake was the fifth largest recorded since 1900 and is estimated to have jolted the island of Honshu east by 2.4 metres. The disaster claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 people and damaged or destroyed over 125,000 buildings. More than 9 months on, the Daily Yomiuri reports that nearly 335,000 people are still living as evacuees. In the first of a series of articles looking back at the disaster and how alumni have responded in 2011, JETAA explores how some former UK JET participants have rolled up their sleeves and travelled to the disaster hit areas to offer a helping hand.
Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck the north-east coast of Honshu in March this year, JETAA was inundated with emails from UK Alumni asking how they could help. As well as raising money for the relief efforts, some even expressed an intention to travel to Tohoku to help with the clean up and rebuilding efforts. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, prevailing advice was that relief efforts on the ground should only be undertaken by experienced personnel.
Six months after the disaster, five UK-based JETAA members spent a day volunteering in the city of Rikuzentakata (陸前高田市) in Iwate prefecture. The Alumni from the London, Scotland and Northern Ireland chapters were in Japan for the JETAA International Meeting held in Tokyo. They collaborated with local JET participants in Iwate Prefecture to assist with the post tsunami clean up and also paid a courtesy visit to the City Mayor Toba Futoshi (pictured right - courtesy of JETAAi).
At the time of the 2010 census, Rikuzentakata city was recorded as having a population of 23,300. However, an article published earlier this month in the Wall Street Journal estimates that the disaster killed almost one tenth of the town’s population. An American ALT, Monty Dickson was amongst those who lost their lives in the town on the 11th of March.
Other British JET Alumni have also been returning to Iwate Prefecture. Alan Mockridge was an ALT from 1992 to 1994 in the coastal town of Ohtsuchi. He revisited the Iwate in September as part of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Japan Tourism Agency's (JNTO) programme to understand the current conditions and recovery efforts. You can read his five day blog and see his photographs here.
Opportunities also exist for those British Alumni members wishing to roll up their sleeves to support Tohoku. Inside Japan Tours recently organised a 4-day volunteering tour in collaboration with RQ Citizens Disaster Relief Network Japan (RQ-CNJ). Project volunteers participating on the tour are able to assist with various cleaning tasks alongside local Japanese volunteers. Tasks may include cleaning and restoring damaged houses and schools, shoveling rubble from roads and clearing parks and rice paddies. The £450 package includes 3 nights accommodation and a chartered coach from Tokyo to Miyagi prefecture and back. It also includes all meals and equipment (rain boots, rubber gloves, cap, dust mask and dust proof goggles). Volunteers will have to pay for international flights, airport transfers and accommodation in Tokyo. No dates for further tours have been organised at present for 2012, but if you are interested you can find out more information here.
Another option is working for one of the three international volunteer groups being supported by UK-based charity Helping Hands for Japan. Helping Hands for Japan is a Charitable Organisation set up by staff at Into Japan Specialist Tours in collaboration with the Japanese community in Oxford to provide much needed help and assistance to the people of the tsunami hit regions of Japan. You can volunteer for one of the following projects;
- It's Not Just Mud (based in Ishinomaki restoring houses, helping businesses to repoen, making furniture for evacuees and building playgrounds near to temporary housing)
- Save Minamisoma (delivering supplies to Minamisoma and supporting events at temporary housing)
- Team Heal Japan (assisting clear up operations in Iwaki)
Into Japan are happy to make travel arrangements on a non-profit basis for anyone wishing to spend at least five days as a volunteer. You can find out more information here.
If you are an ex-JET who has returned to the tsunami hit regions of north-eastern Japan, we would like to hear from you. Please send us your accounts of volunteering along with any pictures that you are happy for us to publish.
The next article in this series will provide an overview of fundraising activities of JETAA UK following the tsunami in March.
Please note JETAA UK does not have any affiliation with the organisations listed in this article. The details are provided for information purposes only.
