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Amid complex problems, Red Cross stands by tsunami survivors

5 Comments

Three years on from the earthquake and tsunami which battered the Tohoku region in March 2011, the Red Cross continues to support many of the thousands of survivors still in temporary housing as they try to return to normal life. Support is also being provided to thousands of people forced from their homes by the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which was triggered by the tsunami.

"There is still a continuous need for us to stand by the affected populations and the problems that evacuees in Fukushima face are very particular," said Tadateru Konoe, President of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) and of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

"It's difficult to see any future in some of the areas which have had to be abandoned due to the radiation," he said, speaking on a visit to the restricted area around the nuclear plant.

Since the Fukushima disaster, the JRCS has focused both on providing support, such as health and psychosocial visits by nurses to those displaced by the Fukushima meltdown and on increasing preparedness for nuclear accidents. The Red Cross also established a nuclear disaster resource center at its headquarters last October, aimed at collecting information and experiences in a digital archive system and creating an operational manual for use in the event of future disasters.

Across the area worst affected by the earthquake and tsunami, JRCS has played a key role in reconstructing hospitals, clinics, kindergartens and other facilities. On the whole, rebuilding damaged and destroyed infrastructure has been moving much faster than the building of new permanent homes, although a number of those housing projects which the Red Cross has supported are now completed and the mainly elderly residents have moved in.

Japanese Red Cross staff and volunteers have also been providing a variety of welfare services focusing on the needs of an aging displaced population, including organizing activities through which residents of prefabricated housing can socialize.

While most of the large-scale earthquake and tsunami recovery programs will soon end, local Red Cross chapters in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi will continue locally-led recovery projects and provide a range of services, including psychological support to survivors.

The Japanese Red Cross has received over $600 million from sister societies around the world. By the end of December 2013, more than 74.7% of these funds had been spent or committed on specific recovery programs that benefit survivors of the disaster.

© (c) 2001-2014 by Kyodo News PR Wire All Right Reserved

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5 Comments
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$600 million must not go far in Japan, because only 3.5 percent of the cramped temporary housing has been built in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. With 270,000 evacuees, 100,000 are in temporary housing.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Come on, Utrack, they've got an Olympic stadium and all the frills to build. You can't expect them to bother about some hicks in the hills north of the Great Capital, can you?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Fukuppy, I hear You...... Sad state of affairs....

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No, the funds have not been specially donated to Fukushima-monies have made their way to Hokkaido and Okinawa....

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This article was brought to you by the Red Cross. Other charities are also available but don't spend as much on marketing.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

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