In attempts to bring more attention to how individuals in Tokyo can help out disaster survivors up north, I asked my dear friend, Tom, to write a guest post. Tom was located in Fukushima prefecture at the time of the earthquake and tsunami. In the week after the disaster, he cranked out loaves of bread alongside a family of bakers in Fukushima, providing sustenance to the devastated community. Now in Tokyo, Tom has been making regular trips down to the Iwaki City Donation Center located in the Minato-ku area. I asked him to share his knowledge on how we can help out the Tohoku region from Tokyo:
“For one week, after my world was turned upside-down, I supported the local community of Motomiya City in Fukushima Prefecture by making bread. People around us were looking for their families, seeking water, and evacuating their homes. In spite of all this, the calmness and sense of community of the Japanese people in the face of unimaginable trauma was inspiring.
This guest post, however, is not about how I survived the crisis in Fukushima. It’s about the situation people are facing as I write this. It’s about how we can help.
Fukushima Prefecture is in a horrific bind in that it is being greatly harmed by the nuclear power plant… but not because of the bodily dangers of radiation. Minami Soma City, Iwaki City, and all of the other towns along the coast of Fukushima were utterly devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. Namie Town was completely destroyed, and all search and rescue attempts were immediately cancelled due to its proximity to the plant.
In these areas, evacuees are in the tens of thousands. Yet, a few days ago, the evacuees in Iwaki City were told that they would receive no food. There simply was not enough.
Fear of the radiation has caused panic, enough that aid is not being brought into some of the hardest hit areas. A lack of gasoline makes it nearly impossible for the unharmed citizens of Fukushima to travel and find food in far away supermarkets. While food can be found in areas like Koriyama City and Fukushima City, both at least an hour drive away from the coast, transportation is all but broken and gasoline is a luxury hard to come by. That is, of course, if you have a car left.
People in Tokyo are worrying about where they can find milk and bottled water. In coastal Fukushima, there are no open stores. Evacuees are worrying about how can they stay warm, not catch diseases, and survive without food and running water.
They need our help.
All donations to the Japanese Red Cross are greatly helping the people of Tohoku get back on their feet. You can donate directly on their website or through the touch-panel displays at FamilyMart.
If you want to aid the people of Fukushima with goods, Iwaki City has set up a donation center within Tokyo in an effort to deliver food and goods directly to the evacuation centers. Here’s how you can help:
Iwaki City Donation Center (in Japanese)
Address: Minato-ku Sports Center Arena, 3-1-19 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Bringing goods by hand/car preferred.
Seeking:
-Canned goods (meat, fish), things that do not spoil and can be eaten as is.
-Rice (in small packs)
-Water, tea, juice, anything in PET bottles
-Diapers (adult and child)
-Powdered Milk (expires after three months from now)
Note: They have told people that because there is electricity available, they can microwave foods.
It will remain open every day, 9am to 6pm, until Thursday, March 31st.
Thank you very much for your help. It means so much to everyone affected by this disaster.”
As Tom said, the donation center will be running through the 31st, which isn’t for much longer. If you are able to do so before then, please bring any goods you can down to the donation box. After that date, I will be updating on where we can shift our donations to with the assurance that the goods will reach those in need.
