Message from Japan Civil Network (JCN)

One year on, we continue our support!

At 14:46:18 on 11^th March 2011, a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale struck Japan. This scale of calamity is believed to occur only once every 1,000 years. While the epicenter was located at the bottom of the ocean floor, offshore from the Oshika Peninsula, Miyagi Prefecture, the earthquake's effects reached Iwate and Ibaraki Prefectures, running 500 km from north to south, and about 200 km from east to west. The giant Tsunami that ensued completely devastated the coastal areas of Northeast Japan.

By February 10^th, 2012, 15,848 were confirmed deceased, 3,305 missing. The number of houses destroyed either completely or partially totaled no less than 370,000. To make matters more complicated, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant was damaged by the natural disaster, releasing massive radioactive material into the environment. Many people in Fukushima, particularly those who lived near the failed power plant, were forced to evacuate from their homes. One year later, residents continue to leave their homes behind, in fear of long-term health effects of the nuclear accident. Survivors have cumulatively lost an estimated 23,600 hectares of farmland and 22,000 fishing boats. Furthermore, many have lost family members, their homes, and their jobs. After losing ties to people and the community they have built up over the years, it is not surprising that some individuals feel isolated and lonely.

In the face of a natural disaster of this magnitude, on March 30^th 2012 a number of volunteer organizations, non-profit organizations (NPOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private enterprises established a network called "Japan Civil Network (JCN) for Disaster Relief in East Japan" to support the disaster-affected people. The number of participating organizations has now grown to over 700. While central and municipal governments focus on the recovery of "lifeline infrastructures" such as electricity, water supply, communication, etc. in the affected areas, we are continuing with our efforts to support daily lives of the affected people. Although our supporting activities have progressively changed since the emergency phase, we continue to try to support individual survivors by taking into account their differing circumstances. We have been doing our best to support the affected people by trying to listen, understand and share their feelings of sorrow, despair and indignation. We are trying to build "helping communities", no matter how small, so that we can all assist each other, learn together and connect with each other.

Facing a still uncertain future without jobs or permanent settlement, people are still anxious even a year after the disaster. On this occasion, we renew our commitment to continue working together with the affected people, to support their ingenuity and resilience, to encourage them to have hope, and to reinforce in them the feeling that they are not alone.

We are comprised of many kinds of organizations, each with unique strengths ?some of us have gained experience with the Kobe Earthquake disaster, others of us are newly-joining organizations who have supported activities for this present disaster. Together, we whole-heartily hope to extend our best possible assistance to the survivors. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Japanese citizens and agencies/citizens around the world for their spiritual, material, and financial assistance in supporting our efforts. We cannot describe how much we were encouraged by your support. We pledge to do our best to collaborate in building local communities where people can have hope and a bright future, so that we can see as many smiling faces of the affected people as possible.

Finally, we would like to thank the affected people for inspiring us with your resilience and allowing us to work with you. We wish you the very best.

March 11, 2012

From all the members of Japan Civil Network (JCN) for Disaster Relief in East Japan