Preparing to help the recovery efforts in Tohoku

Tonight I attended the preliminary briefing meeting for my planned trip to northern Japan to help out as a volunteer, July 1-3. We will spend the weekend doing whatever clean up work is required to help the people of the City of Ishinomaki in the Miyagi Prefecture (石巻市). The city was among the most seriously affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. A tsunami about 10 meters high traveled 600 meters inland and destroyed around 80% of the 700 houses in the coastal whaling port of Ayukawa and district of Hiyorigaoka. Approximately 46% of the city was inundated by the tsunami. As of 17 June 2011, a total of 3,097 deaths had been confirmed in Ishinomaki due to the tsunami, with 2,770 unaccounted for.

Participating in volunteer relief efforts, especially as a foreigner, is not an easy task. One cannot, or perhaps should not, simply travel up to the affected region and expect to dive into clean up and restoration. The towns and cities are just not able to organize these efforts on their own and rely heavily on NGO's to provide the necessary organization. Just not having volunteer insurance is a quick route to rejection. I chose to get involved with Peace Boat due to their record of quick action and emphasis on safety.

Peace Boat explained tonight that, since early May, volunteers to the region have dropped significantly as many Japanese believe recovery efforts are well underway and most of the work has been done. The truth is that there is a lot of work yet to be done and the people remain dependent on outside help. As summer approaches and temperatures rise, it remains imperative to continue the clean up work.

We expect to have time for a short tour of the Onagawa area (女川町), which was also heavily damaged by the quake and tsunami. We are told much of the district is now uninhabited and the damage from the fires on 3/11 is still evident.

I feel invigorated to finally be able to make a useful contribution "in person" to the most affected areas of northern Japan. I expect to see all of it firsthand will be quite an experience for me. In the meantime, there is lots of preparation work to be done.

This is Japan. We are strong and we will survive.