9 September 2011, Tokyo / Geneva - Six months on from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated huge areas of north-eastern Japan, the future remains uncertain for thousands of survivors, particularly those displaced by contamination from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor.
“Given the enormous scale of the destruction and the massive area affected, this will be a long and complex recovery and reconstruction operation”, says Tadateru Konoe, President of the Japanese Red Cross Society. “It will take at least five years to rebuild, but healing the mental scars could take much longer”.
The Japanese Red Cross has played a key role in emergency response and recovery efforts. 800 medical teams were deployed immediately after the disaster to run mobile clinics for survivors. The Red Cross is continuing to provide psychosocial support to people remaining in evacuation shelters and in their homes, especially the elderly.
One of the priorities has been to restore a sense of normality in the lives of people who have lost family members, homes and livelihoods. The Japanese Red Cross has already provided a package of household appliances to 82,000 families who have moved in to temporary homes. The programme will be expanded to reach around 110,000 families.
Meeting the needs of families evacuated from the vicinity of the damaged nuclear reactor in Fukushima continues to be a major challenge. For now, like the majority of survivors – except for about 8,000 who are still in evacuation centres in the three worst-affected prefectures - Ayako Yamada and her family have started a new life in a temporary house. Given the complicated challenges and uncertainty about the future, it’s likely they will remain there for a few years.
“On the one hand we really want to go back, but on the other, we know we can’t, “says Ayako, as she sits sombrely with her mother and son in the family’s new home about 60 km from the damaged reactor. They have been able to pay one brief visit back to their house, now within a 20 km exclusion zone, dressed in protective clothing to retrieve items such as a photo of her deceased father. But that is it.
Red Cross volunteers are organising regular events to make life for survivors like the Yamada family more sociable by helping them get to know their neighbours and preventing a sense of isolation. Also, Japanese Red Cross teams are offering medical assistance and first aid for those in Fukushima making temporary visits back to their homes in the exclusion area. The Red Cross is also planning to provide hospitals in the area with whole-body radiation measuring equipment.
With donations totalling 40 billion yen (410 million CHF, 369 million EUR, 510 million USD) received (of a total 51 billion pledged) by Red Cross Red Crescent societies abroad, another key part of the Japanese Red Cross reconstruction plan is to support the building of temporary hospitals. It’s expected to take around five years for new permanent hospitals to be built as part of the re-building of devastated towns around the disaster area. Such temporary facilities are seen as essential as prefabricated temporary hospitals are already becoming overcrowded.
Contact information
In Japan:
• Bjorn Eder, IFRC Representative in Tokyo
Mobile: + 81 90 31550320 E-Mail: bjorn.eder@ifrc.org
• Saya Matsumoto, officer - Japanese Red Cross PR office
Mobile: + 81 9061289100 E-mail: s-matsumoto@jrc.or.jp
• Asuka Suzuki, officer - Japanese Red Cross PR office
Mobile: +81 904095 8553 E-Mail: as-suzuki@jrc.or.jp
In Beijing:
• Francis Markus, IFRC communications delegate for East Asia
Mobile: +86 139 10096892 E-mail: francis.markus@ifrc.org
Kuala Lumpur:
• Patrick Fuller, communications manager, Asia Pacific, IFRC
Mobile : +60 122 308 451 E-mail : patrick.fuller@ifrc.org
In Geneva:
• Paul Conneally, public communications manager, IFRC
Mobile: +41 79 308 98 09 E-mail: paul.conneally@ifrc.org
• Jessica Sallabank, senior media officer
Mobile : Mob. +41 799481148 E-mail: jessica.sallabank@ifrc.org
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 mil¬lion people each year through its 186 member National Societies. Together, the IFRC acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. It does so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions. For more information, please visit www.ifrc.org. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.