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Japan
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan. The tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake washed away several coastal cities, causing widespread property damage and leaving thousands dead or missing. In addition, the tsunami caused an emergency situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where several reactors experienced core meltdowns as a result of damage and loss of power. The government instituted a mandatory 20-km (12.4-mile) evacuation zone around the plant. In total, as of September 2011, Japanese government statistics reported 15,844 people dead, 3,451 missing and up to 300,000 displaced.
Episcopal Relief & Development supported its local partner, Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK, the Anglican Communion in Japan) in providing emergency relief supplies to people who were displaced by the triple disaster.
Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK) is one of the many Protestant denominations in Japan. Christians makes up less than 1% of the population of Japan (less than a million of the 127 million total) and of that, Roman Catholics make up about half. NSKK has membership of about 58,000 with 279 churches and 243 clergy in 11 dioceses. The Diocese of Tohoku, which is headed by the Rt. Rev. John Hiromichi Kato, sustained the worst damage in the March 2011 disaster. The Diocesan offices in Sendai have become a base for relief and recovery efforts.
NSKK is building on their initial relief work within marginalized communities – including Filipino immigrants and the elderly – to develop their longer-term rehabilitation program, which is called Issho Ni Aruko (Let Us Walk Together). NSKK also continues to rehabilitate many diocesan structures (churches, parsonages, kindergartens) that were damaged by the earthquake.
In addition to assisting NSKK with their disaster response initiative, Episcopal Relief & Development is also supporting the relief efforts of Church World Service (CWS), an international ecumenical development organization to provide hot meals to survivors, control disease-spreading insects and support women survivors with a psychosocial help hotline.
Episcopal Relief & Development is also supporting the reconstruction of training facilities operated by the Asian Rural Institute, including classrooms, greenhouses and livestock compounds that were damaged by the earthquake and located within the nuclear fallout zone.
Creating Economic Opportunities and Strengthening Communities
- Offering Japanese language courses and vocational training for Filipino immigrant women
Responding to Disasters and Rebuilding Communities
- Providing emergency relief to those who were displaced by the disaster
- Reaching out to vulnerable populations, such as immigrants and the elderly, who were not accessing centralized relief services
- Supporting NSKK in identifying and filling gaps in service provision, and creating a strategic plan for long-term response
- Assisting other partner NGOs with relief and reconstruction activities
