『Government Approved NPO JAPAN HABITAT ASSOCIATION 』

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The earthquake that hit east Japan at 14:46 on March 11 registered a magnitude of 9.0,
the highest ever recorded in Japan.

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　Bank Transfer：

　 ・Account Holder: Japan Habitat Association　　　
　　Account Number: 015-1519563
　　Bank Name: Kojimachi Branch
　　Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, LTD.
　　Bank Address: 4-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku,
　　Tokyo, Japan
　　Bank SWIFT CODE: BOTKJPJT

━━━On September 12th
Photos: Cleaning work was conducted in a closed space without windows and with the help of special lights.

• On September 12, a total of 13 volunteers consisting of Habitat Friends Mishima members visited Ishinomaki Culture Center to clear mud and debris. The Center was located in Ishinomaki City a little over 40 kilometer northeast of Sendai and used to include a theater space, meeting rooms and museums. Built near the sea, the Center suffered almost complete destruction. A number of organizations have been involved in efforts to restore works of arts as well as archives of historical importance.
• One of the volunteers commented: “We are all students and did this volunteer work during our summer holidays. Many of us were shocked to find that even after 6 months there was so much work we had to do. The tsunami　destruction was so disastrous. Yet, our overwhelming impression was that the area was definitely recovering and we were convinced that full recovery was certain.”

On July 31th

Shiogama is a city located to the east of Sendai, facing Matsushima Bay with a countless number of tiny rocky islands covered in beautiful pine trees. Shiogama is also known for its long prosperous history. Although the city was hit by both the earthquake and the tsunami, the extent of damage was not as severe as other cities reported on in this website.

Shiogama City Education Committee sponsored an event called “From the World to Shiogama” at Shiogama City Multipurpose Hall to pray for the successful recovery of the cities, towns and villages in northeastern Japan that have suffered from the disaster. JHA was invited to co-sponsor the event and Ms. Mari Christine, UN-HABITAT Goodwill Ambassador, shared with the audience messages that were sent in from all over the world expressing concern and conveying wishes for a quick recovery. She also explained the activities of JHA aimed at helping disaster victims, including the work of the “Habitat Friendship Trucks” which delivered goods to evacuees from the very early stages of evacuation. Photos of the Habitat Friendship Truck were exhibited in the foyer of the hall.

Ms. Christine’s speech was followed by a piano concert

Ms. Christine’s speech was followed by a piano concert by a well-known pianist from Shiogama City and a performance by women’s choir. The event was attended by over 300 people including disaster victims.

On July 8, Ms. Mari Christine, UN-HABITAT Goodwill Ambassador, and Mr. Hiroshi Tekuramori, former head coach of Vegalta Sendai Professional Soccer Team, visited Ogatsu Primary School in Ishinomaki to encourage the children there.

Ogatsu Primary School was destroyed by the tsunami, which consumed the 3-storey building completely. The school principal and other teachers and staff helped children go up the steep hill behind the school, saving the lives of all but one child who had left school early and had gone home.


The primary school is presently operating temporarily at Kahoku Middle School in a neighboring town and most of the children now live in evacuation centers and temporary shelters. Although the new semester was scheduled to start with 91 pupils, only 42 children are currently studying at the temporary facilities at Kahoku Middle School because many children whose families had lost homes and jobs transferred to other schools.

Mr. Tekuramori took the children to a sports center and divided them into 4 teams to play soccer.

The principal was concerned that the children who had suffered enormous stress from the earthquake and tsunami were often expressionless and asked Ms. Mari Christine to come and help out. Ms. Christine responded immediately by inviting Mr. Tekuramori to join her in encouraging the children.

After Ms. Christine explained to the children about the concern for the disaster victims expressed by people all around the world, Mr. Tekuramori took the children to a sports center and divided them into 4 teams to play soccer. All the children—both those who played and those who watched—were very excited. The principal commented: “It was the first time to see the children laugh so hard since the disaster. I am overjoyed to see them happy. Thank you very much, Mari-san and Tekuramori-san.”

Minami Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture, was devastated by the tsunami. Shizugawa Nursery School in this town and its children fortunately escaped damage from the tsunami because the school was located on a hill and also because the teachers provided appropriate directions. About 90 children attend this nursery school. Although the water supply appeared to have returned to normal in July, the quality of water was found to be unfit for drinking. As the summer was fast approaching, the children urgently needed safe drinking water.

Therefore, on July 6, JHA donated two water servers and a large supply of safe, bottled drinking water for the servers. The teachers were particularly delighted because the water will help protect children from the effects of summer heat. Without being told, the children quickly learned that they should fill their cups with just the amount of water they needed and not let any water go to waste.

On May 18, a total of 18 volunteers consisting of Habitat Friends Mishima members and their acquaintances cleared mud and debris left behind by the tsunami on March 11. They left Mishima at night on May 17 on a bus which drove them through the night to their work site in the Akai Area of the tsunami-devastated Higashi Matsushima City in Miyagi Prefecture, well over 300 miles away.
Because the mud and debris had been left clogging up the gutters for over two months, clearing them was no easy task. However, the team successfully completed their assigned task by the end of the day.

Comments from participants:

• □The wreckage I saw with my own eyes was completely
• 　 different from the disaster scenes I saw on TV. I could
• 　 not believe that the place I went to,　where you could
• 　 not see the sea at all, was engulfed by tsunami.

• □This is the first time for me to participate in volunteer
• 　 recovery work for natural disasters. I found the work to
• 　 be extremely worthwhile and emotionally rewarding—
• 　far more so than paid work. I am grateful that I had the
• 　opportunity to take part in this volunteer program.

On April 10, 24, 29 and 30。

• 
• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, On April 10, 24, 29 and 30, members of Habitat Friends Youth—an organization created by young people to support the activities of JHA—collected donations from passersby in front of Sakuragi-cho Station in Yokohama to help the earthquake and tsunami victims. Although it was unusually cold and rainy for April, 14 volunteers, including a 9-year-old girl, solicited donations from people walking to and from the station carrying donation boxes. The young girl proved to be the most successful fundraiser. On April 29 and 30, the volunteers asked people to write messages to encourage the victims. The messages were sent to an evacuation center to be delivered to the evacuees.

Habitat Friends Mishima Collect Street Donations

Members of Habitat Friends Mishima took to the streets in Mishima on March 24 through 31 to collect donations to help the East Japan Earthquake victims. Mishima is located a little over 100km west of Tokyo with a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji. A total of 37 young members participated.

One of the participants commented:

This was the first time for me to collect donations on the street. Frankly, I had been nervous before starting. Shortly after, however, I was impressed when a child came running to me to donate. The middle school child placed a 1000 yen bill to the box I was carrying. That would be a huge amount for him! I was impressed that people were so helpful and considerate. Indeed, people do not live alone. I want to tell the victims, ‘You will never walk alone.’

-Delivers goods/tools for reconstruction to Miyagino, Sendai on March 30-

• On March 30, Habitat Friendship Truck No. 4 delivered goods and tools to Okada Primary School in Miyagino in Sendai. This area faces the sea and was devastated by tsunami, and about 600 evacuees live in the primary school. Because of the severe destruction, it has taken a long time to restore the infrastructure. Electricity only resumed two weeks after the disaster.
• In addition to the daily necessities, Habitat Friendship Truck No. 4 delivered such items as wheelbarrows to carry debris, shovels, dust cloths, outside brooms, inside brooms, squeegees, rubber boots and plastic and rubber gloves. They have become very important to evacuees for cleaning and restoring their homes.
• The only sources of information at the evacuation center are newspapers and radio. The evacuees also need information to give them personal encouragement. JHA has received a number of messages of encouragement from all over Japan as well as from overseas such as Hawaii. Those messages were printed and sent to the evacuees together with a DVD with music that we hope the recipients will find encouraging.
  

━━Delivers Relief Goods To Kahokucho on March 21

• On the morning of March 21, the Habitat Friendship Truck departed from Yamagata to deliver relief goods to Kahokucho Town Hall. This was the third relief truck operated as a result close coordination among Habitat Friends Yamagata, Habitat Friends Sendai and Japan Habitat Association headquarters.
• Kahokucho, a part of Ishinomaki City and directly facing the sea　to the east and spreading along Kitakami River to the west, was virtually washed away by the huge tsunami. Its main industry is fisheries and agriculture both of which were devastated. It is 80 miles away from Yamagata from which the truck was operated.
• Kahokucho Multi-Purpose Hall, 2 middle schools and one primary school now serve as Kahokucho’s evacuation centers. They accommodate a total of 1,250 evacuees, including those from neighboring townships of Ohkawa and Ogachi, which were both damaged as much as Kahokucho. It appears that the evacuees will have to live in this center for a rather long time because of the extensive destruction.

Many relief goods arrived at Habitat Friends Yamagata from all over Japan.

• The relief goods were first delivered to Kahokucho Town Hall. They included blankets, disposable diapers, powdered milk, jellies, puddings, large wet tissues and cotton gloves. They were sorted at the Town Hall so that each evacuation center would receive the goods needed by evacuees.
• We would like to express our sincere appreciation to those who offered or collected the relief goods, those trucking company staff who delivered them and all other people who made Habitat Friendship Truck delivery possible.

━━DELIVERS RELIEF GOODSTO EVACUEES AT RIKUZEN TAKATA

• On March 16, a Habitat Friendship Truck delivered a full load of relief goods to evacuees at Rikuzen Takata. This was the second delivery following the first one on March 13.
• Infrastructure in and around Sendai is gradually being restored in the past couple of days. However, there still were many remote towns and villages which are desperately waiting for relief in their evacuation centers. Through consultations among Habitat Friends Sendai and city halls/welfare councils, it was decided to operate the Habitat Friendship Truck from Yamagata to Rikuzen Takata. Over 80% of this city was engulfed and perished by tsunami, and those who barely escaped to higher grounds now live in evacuation centers.
• Packed with a full load of blankets, zabuton floor cushions (most people were evacuated to schools or town halls and live on wooden floors), disposable diapers, clothes, etc., the truck left Yamagata at 10:30am on March 16 to Ichinoseki, about 90 miles away.

The truck being prepared for departure on March 16 morning. The banner reads “RELIEF”

• The truck driver was joined by an official from Ichinoseki Town Hall to guide the truck on the risky mountain road which was undergoing repair work. It was a very cold day with snow falling since early morning, yet the truck managed the drive of over 40-miles on the mountain road and safely arrived at Rikuzen Takata at a little past 3pm.
• The relief goods were duly handed over to evacuees by Rukuzen Takada Town Hall.
• JHA expresses its sincere thanks to all those who made this truck transportation and delivery possible.

-Relief Goods Delivered to Evacuees on March 13 Evening—

• Within only 53 hours after that fierce earthquake and tsunami struck, we were able to deliver relief goods to the evacuation center at Wakabayashi in Sendai. Wakabayashi was one of the most devastated areas in Sendai. JHA wishes to express its sincere thanks to all those people who made this possible.
• After long and frequent attempts on the mobile phone to speak to the Habitat Friends Sendai staff, JHA Tokyo was finally able to speak with her at the evacuation center at Wakabayashi in the morning of March 13. Habitat Friends Sendai is a volunteer organization which supports JHA activities. Through the phone conversation, it became immediately clear that the evacuees desperately needed blankets, warm meals and drinks, diapers, batteries, etc. The lack or shortage of those goods made life in the evacuation center difficult.
• It was impossible to dispatch those goods from Tokyo because the road on the way to Sendai was damaged in many places. JHA, therefore, telephoned Habitat Friends Yamagata, a city about 60 km west of Sendai. Although the earthquake also hit Yamagata, the damage there was less than that in Sendai. Habitat Friends Yamagata staff contacted a number of supporters there through PTA’s, community as well as business contacts. Very quickly a very large amount of relief goods was collected. The CEO of a transportation company kindly offered the use of a 2-ton truck.
• The first telephone contact with Yamagata was made at 10:30 am on March 13. At 5:00 pm the truck with a full load of relief goods left Yamagata. In the meantime, the Habitat Friends Sendai staff cleared the way for the truck to proceed without difficulty through consultation with the ward office, volunteer centers, etc.
• 
  

Transportation company drivers who carried out the delivery and Director, Wakabayashi Volundeer Center

Although the road was not in a good condition with risky points here and there, the truck safely arrived in Sendai at a little later than 7:00pm. By 10:00pm all relief goods were handed over to people in the evacuation center.
We wish to call the truck “Habitat Friendship Truck.”
JHA wishes to express its sincere thanks to all those who collected relief goods within such a short time as well as drivers and all others of the transportation company for delivering the goods in spite of adverse driving conditions.

━━━Please find below a letter from Habitat Friends Sendai staff:

Thank you very much for delivering a full truck load of relief goods. I was almost crying /weeping with joy when I touched the warm rice bowls which were a part of relief package.
Thank you, Mr. Driver, for driving in the evening on the road full of danger. Thank you, all of you at the transportation company for making the delivery of relief goods to the evacuation center.
Thank you, Mr. Director, Volunteer Center of Wakabayashi Ward, for riding on the truck to show the way to the evacuation center.
Please send our appreciation to all who enabled this thoughtful delivery.
All the people in the evacuation are extremely delighted and grateful.

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