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What are aid workers doing after the Japan quake?

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:02 GMT

Source: alertnet // Emma Batha

An evacuee closes her eyes at an evacuation center set in a gymnasium in Yamagata, northern Japan March 18, 2011, where many are from the vicinity of Fukushima nuclear power plant. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

LONDON (AlertNet) - Despite the high death toll and shocking devastation caused by last week’s quake and tsunami, aid workers are not pouring into Japan.

By and large Japan, as one of the most developed countries, has the capacity to respond and it has only accepted international support in a few specific areas, such as search-and-rescue teams, medical help and nuclear specialists.

About a dozen international aid agencies are offering help in the northeast of the country. Most are focusing on getting to especially remote areas or on providing specialist help to the elderly or children.

At least 6,539 people are confirmed dead, more than 10,000 are missing and over 410,000 people are in shelters. The disaster is unusual in that a disproportionate number of the displaced are elderly. 

Here is what some of the agencies are doing:

The Japanese Red Cross has had 171 teams on the ground since the disaster, 48 of which are still active. They are helping treat injuries, illnesses and provide psychosocial support. A Red Cross psychosocial team is also based at Ishinomaki Hospital in Miyagi Prefecture where a lot of the bodies have been taken.  Red Cross doctors are seeing an increase in influenza and diarrhoeal diseases among the displaced communities and cases of hypothermia and pneumonia among people who have survived long periods in water. Most injuries were caused by the tsunami rather than the quake so there are not as many horrifying crush injuries as doctors commonly see in quakes. Like other aid agencies, the Red Cross says a severe fuel shortage is hampering its ability to get supplies to survivors. The organisation has also delivered 92,000 blankets. The International Federation of Red Cross Societies has sent an assessment team to Japan and is discussing with the local Red Cross in what ways it might help.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has 50 staff in Japan, compared to 5000 deployed after the Haiti quake. Twelve staff are in the field running mobile clinics and assessments in Miyagi. It says a major problem is that elderly people with chronic diseases have had their treatment interrupted after losing their homes.  One MSF doctor estimated as many as 200,000 elderly survivors needed medication for diabetes or hypertension.  MSF is helping to locate them before their conditions become acute. Some elderly are also dangerously dehydrated. And the extreme cold has triggered cases of hypothermia. But MSF says there are working hospitals in the disaster zone, with doctors and medication.

Save the Children  has launched a £1 million ($1.62 mln) appeal to help children affected by the quake and tsunami. It is setting up child-friendly spaces with teachers to provide a protective environment where children can play with each other. The service also enables parents to spend time finding food, work and accommodation and locate family and friends. The agency will deliver psychosocial support as well.

Plan International is focusing on providing child care and protection programmes through Japanese partner NGOs and local authorities in the northeast Sendai region. It is providing clothing, heating equipment, water and sanitation, food, healthcare and is supporting community kitchens. It is also providing child-friendly spaces. The first stage of the response is expected to last three months with a 15-month recovery programme which will provide what it calls “emotional first-aid” for children and get them back into school.

World Vision  is distributing blankets, bottled water and hygiene supplies in Minami Sanriku, one of the worst affected towns in Miyagi where temperatures are below freezing. The agency says many evacuation sites do not have enough food or blankets. "We are now facing the most tragic (natural) disaster in our country's history," said Kenjiro Ban, World Vision's emergency affairs manager in Japan. "I've served on disaster response programmes in Kenya, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Haiti, and the needs I'm seeing in my own country are as bad as anything I've seen globally."

Malteser International is supporting a children’s home in the town of Ichinoseki in Iwate prefecture which was badly damaged in the quake. The home’s director, Caelina Mauer, said: “The younger children are trembling with fear with every aftershock, they are crying and hiding themselves … There is not enough fuel oil so that the children have to freeze at night when the temperature drops to below zero.” The government has asked the school to take in orphans and other children made homeless by the quake.

MercyCorps is working with its local partner Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) which is delivering large emergency shelters known as balloon shelters, tents, blankets, instant rice and fresh produce to families evacuated from homes in the tsunami-devastated city of Kesennuma in Miyagi. PWJ has also set up satellite telephone services and mobile phone charging services to help survivors contact family members. Heavy winds in the area have created problems in setting up the balloon shelters.

CARE is sending a convoy of vehicles packed with relief items to Iwate. It will distribute toilet paper, water, face masks, sanitary tissues, biscuits, fruit and rice. It plans to help in the region for the next 12 to 18 months.

The United Nations’  World Food Programme (WFP) is helping transport 60,000 blankets to the disaster zone.  It is also sending logistics experts to help Japan deliver relief items swiftly.

The U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says it has dispatched emergency telephone equipment to the region, including satellite phones with GPS devices. Some 37 broadband global area network terminals have been sent and more are on the way.

Map Action has put together a detailed map showing the numbers of dead, missing injured and evacuated in each affected province.