Response to the Earthquake / Tsunami in Northern Japan
2 May 2011
Update on HOPE for Tohoku
HOPE International Development Agency, Japan (HOPE-JP) has been continuing to deliver supplies throughout the devastated communities in the Tohoku region and assessing the needs of communities for the reconstruction phase.
Since days after the crisis HOPE-JP has been working alongside city governments, communities and local organizations to provide direct help to the survivors by delivering desperately needed supplies by truck and helicopter, with the help of JAPAN MERCY FLIGHTS, to shelters and community centers in hard-hit areas. They now have a convoy of trucks permanently stationed in the area making daily distribution from two warehouses (in Fukushima City and Kurihara City).
Thanks to the support from individuals, corporations and partnering organizations, HOPE-JP has been able deliver the following items in the month of April:
Since days after the crisis HOPE-JP has been working alongside city governments, communities and local organizations to provide direct help to the survivors by delivering desperately needed supplies by truck and helicopter, with the help of JAPAN MERCY FLIGHTS, to shelters and community centers in hard-hit areas. They now have a convoy of trucks permanently stationed in the area making daily distribution from two warehouses (in Fukushima City and Kurihara City).
Thanks to the support from individuals, corporations and partnering organizations, HOPE-JP has been able deliver the following items in the month of April:
- Solar Generators –3 to Kyubunhama and 7 to Minami-Sanriku Cho
- Pallets of water – over 100 to Minami-Sanriku-Cho and 30 pallets of water to Soma City
- 7 pallets of Long-lasting milk – Kesennuma City and Minami-Sanriku Cho
- 1,650 Snuggies (Blankets) – Oshima Island
- 692 True sleepers (Mattresses) – Otsuchi Cho
- 38 pallets of food – Miyatojima Island, Utatsu, Ofunato City, Kyubunhama, Minami-Sanriku Cho
- Hygiene products – Miyatojima Island, Ofunato City, Kesennuma City, Minami-Sanriku Cho
- Cleaning supplies – Ishinomaki City
- 10 bicycles – Higashi-Matsushima City
- Reconstruction tools – Miyatojima Island
School supplies, hygiene products from overseas, clothing, bicycle and water purification systems are in the process of being delivered to the HOPE-JP warehouses.
Faithful to HOPE-JP’s philosophy, harboring relationships of trust with neglected communities has been key to all activities. During Golden Week a small team of volunteers headed by Prof. Yoshi Masuda, HOPE-JP Board Member, will be visiting many communities in the affected area with the “HOPE Café”, a mobile café that will be serving coffee in shelters and community centers in the hope of bringing a small sense of normalcy and in an effort to build long lasting relationships with the people in the region.
HOPE-JP activities in Tohoku are made possible by generous donations, monetary and in-kind, and in services from supporters, especially the Oak Lawn Marketing, Inc. and their OLM X HOPE = GENKI JAPAN Fund. More than half of the raised funds will be used for the long term economic reconstruction of the region.
HOPE-JP has established a local branch office in the city of Kurihara, located 45 minutes from the coast in Miyagi prefecture. It will serve as a base for our reconstruction projects in the future and serve as a distribution warehouse. We are now studying the local needs for economic reconstruction. Lowell Sheppard, Director Asia-Pacific, and Harry Hill, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, will be traveling this week to the affected areas to conduct a survey and speak to local leaders to assess their needs for, what HOPE-JP deems to be the most important phase, reconstruction.