Support is Still Strongly Needed – Relief Effort in Ishinomaki No. 1

My name is Shibata, and I am a member of the Ishinomaki Relief Effort team. I am presenting a report on our relief effort in Ishinomaki. This is the first part of my report, and I will report on the rest in later articles.

Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) started food supply to Ishinomaki right after the 3.11 disaster.  Since then 2HJ has been delivering relief supplies donated from individuals and companies to the Self-Defense Forces temporary warehouse in Ishinomaki City Athletic Park (until June), NGOs and NPOs based in Ishinomaki Senshu University, evacuation centers, and survivors living in temporary houses or in their houses every weekend until now. Since survivors living in their houses receive little relief supplies from the local government, 2HJ has been regularly holding supply-distribution events in areas such as Minato, Kazuma, Watanoha, and Shiotomi, where lots of residents suffered serious damages from the tsunami.

In having the distributions for people living in their houses in these areas, 2HJ has collaborated with Fare Trade Tohoku, a local NPO, which has been supporting survivors since March 11.

2HJ’s 4-ton truck has been very useful for our relief efforts in Ishinomaki. In this picture, the truck had just arrived at the WFP warehouse built in Ishinomaki Senshu University (April, 2011).

Unloading relief supplies in the Self-Defense Forces temporary warehouse in Ishinomaki City Athletic Park

Preparing for a supply-distribution event in Kazuma area in April, 2011

After eight months since the disaster, most debris has been cleared, and disaster areas are relatively clean now. More and more stores are reopened, and local people can enjoy shopping. But in areas devastated by the tsunami, local businesses have not recovered yet. Survivors there have difficulties in going for shopping without cars or bicycles. Furthermore, many people have lost their jobs. Food supplies for them are still strongly needed. 2HJ wishes to ask for your unfailing support so we can continue to provide relief supplies for survivors until they rebuild their lives and stand on their feet.

2HJ Comic - Costco Run

A cartoon artist, Roberto De Vido, created great comics explaining Second Harvest Japan (2HJ)‘s disaster relief. (Visit Roberto’s site here.)
In this comic, one of our volunteers, Mr. Sonoda, went to our partner, Costco, to pick up food donated by them and deliver the food to agencies.
After reading this, you must feel like volunteering at 2HJ! Please contact us at volunteer@2hj.org! You can be the next Costco driver!

You can view the whole comic here!

We delivered Häagen-Dazs ice cream!

We delivered Häagen-Dazs ice cream 

From September 29 to October 2, we delivered Haagen-Dazs ice cream to people who had been relocated to temporary housing and those still staying in their collapsed dwellings. These people depend almost entirely on donations and aid-assistance.

Haijima, the 2HJ staff member currently stationed in Sendai City, worked with a local organization to best decide the areas where we were to distribute the ice cream. In Sendai, staff members from Personal Support Center patrolling around the temporary housing development helped us with our ice cream distribution.

One member said “Even people who usually stay at their homes during distributions came out for the ice cream, which gave us good opportunities to talk to them.” When we asked those who had received ice cream how many residents other houses had, they tried to remember by saying, “How many people are at Mr. so-and-so's place?” A junior high-school student who helped with the distribution said, “It was fun because I got to talk to the other people in our neighborhood!” I could see the circle of local community grow a little bigger thanks to our ice cream distribution. 

We also distributed in the areas where people were still living in their collapsed houses. Even though these people’s houses have been recognized by the authority as "completely collapsed," they cannot be relocated to temporary housing as their house still remains. Many of these people rarely receive aid deliveries.

Everyone there looked forward to the ice cream distribution. One family came with all their family members to the community center where we distributed the ice cream. One child, surprised, with his eyes wide open said, “I never had ice cream as aid distribution before!” That made me smile!

Häagen-Dazs Japan, thank you very much for your donation!