Humanitarian - Australian Red Cross

Kimie Yamada visits the apartment building where she once lived with her two
young daughters. Their apartment was destroyed by the tsunami. Photo: IFRC
Devastation in Japan
On 11 March, one of the
largest earthquakes and
most powerful tsunamis
in recent history wiped
out towns and villages
in north-east Japan.
The largest wave reached approximately
38 metres high. More than 27,000
people were killed or are missing and
thousands more were injured.
Many affected residents like Kimie
Yamada are struggling to make sense of
the devastation, yet there is still a strong
will to rebuild their communities.
Kimie Yamada points at the small
apartment building that just last month
she shared with her two daughters.
Today, like many other structures in
Rikuzentakata, only the shell remains
following the tsunami that swept
through it on 11 March. This coastal
city of 30,000 people was decimated
by the tsunami. The only signs of
houses that once neighboured Kimie’s
apartment building are the foundations
they once stood on.
Since that day, Kimie and her
daughters have been living with her
parents. It’s crowded and Kimie feels
she is burdening them, but that is
about to change. The family has been
selected as one of the first to receive a
newly built pre-fabricated house. The
government is constructing 70,000
of them across the three hardesthit
prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and
Fukushima. The Japanese Red Cross
Society, using funds donated from
overseas, is fitting each of these prefabricated
houses with a package
of six appliances, a project that will
benefit more than 280,000 people.
‘We have been receiving donations
from other Red Cross and Red
Crescent societies around the world,’
says Atsuhiko Hata, the Japanese
Red Cross Society’s public relations
director. ‘We wanted to use these
donations to meet the needs of
tsunami survivors. The six appliances
we are providing are the bare minimum
needed to help them start a new life.’
The appliance package includes
a refrigerator, washing machine,
microwave, rice cooker, hot water
dispenser, and a television; items that
help make a house a home, and, in the
case of the television, a valuable tool
for providing information before, during
and after disasters.
A life-changing disaster
A senior international Red Cross team
undertook a successful assignment
in Japan, not long after the tsunami.
They were assisting Japanese Red
Cross to develop a comprehensive
plan for the response.
When Head of International
Programs at Australian Red Cross,
Donna McSkimming, arrived at the
earthquake area, the devastation was
shocking. ‘Essentially the scenes that
we saw were just piles of tsunami
debris that were bits of houses,
reduced to splinters. Cars were just
tossed around like toys hanging off
fences and buildings,’ Donna says.
The Japanese response was impressive
says Donna. ‘It was incomprehensible to
imagine how the devastation could be
cleaned up and restored yet everywhere
we went we saw evidence of that.’
Schools are being opened and Red
Cross is working towards restoring
normal life for the hundreds of thousands
of people affected.
There is still a terrible tragedy of the more
than 12,000 people who are still missing,
Donna says. ‘In order to bring some
comfort and surety to the family, it is very
important to find out as much as we can
about individuals not yet accounted for.’
The Australian fundraising effort has
been inspiring for Japanese people,
Donna adds with a smile. ‘This is the
worst disaster to hit Japan since World
War II. And as one of my Japanese
colleagues said, “it will change
us forever in ways we can’t even
anticipate at this point in time”.’
How you can help
The New Zealand Earthquake Appeal
2011, run by Australian Red Cross
is now closed. You can continue to
support our work by donating to our
ongoing Disaster Relief and Recovery
work in Australia. To make a donation,
visit www.redcross.org.au or call
1800 811 700.
– Kathy Mueller, IFRC
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