Great East Japan earthquake and tsunamiEmergency response and recovery program

Six-month report

September 11, 2011

When the earthquake and tsunami hit thecoast of Japan on March 11, it was clear the scale of this disaster, compoundedby the nuclear crisis in Fukushima, wasunprecedented. This level of devastationin a country like Japan, where intertwinedrelationships between community groupsand the government are set against aunique fabric of tradition and culture, hasmeant the response has also beenunprecedented.

For one, the Government of Japan metmany of the population’s immediateneeds in the worst hit areas. Communitygroups and humanitarian organizationslike Save the Children stepped in to ﬁllthe gaps, addressing needs of speciﬁcaffected populations, like children –providing not only material support wherethe government wasn’t able, but alsoimportant services.

Through our response, Save theChildren has been able to meet theneeds of children and their families bygiving immediate and direct support,distributing essential materials andproviding services speciﬁcally tailored tochildren. We’ve also met needs indirectly,by working with community groupsalready on the ground, giving themsupport so they could respond. Albeitsmall, with limited resources and a heavyreliance on government subsidies, localcommunity-based and non-governmentalorganizations in Japan are also closestto affected communities and so arewell positioned to provide a local-levelresponse – especially with support frominstitutionally stronger, internationalNGOs like Save the Children.

Our response was enabled throughthe signiﬁcant support Save the Childrenreceived from Japanese corporations,major international donors, and anunprecedented number of individualsupporters. It is thanks to you that wewere able to respond so quickly, identifywhat needs weren’t being addressed, andset out to meet them.

In the days and weeks immediatelyfollowing the disaster, Save the Childrenprovided essential emergency items andhelped children to cope with emotionalstress, to return to school, and tovoice their hopes for the future of their communities.

Today, six months down the road, weare proud of our successes. We recognize,however, that the ﬁrst six months areonly the beginning, and serve in part asa period for building the foundation for long-term relief and recovery work.

From our experience respondingto disasters around the world – fromurban developed areas like Katrinaand Christchurch, New Zealand, tomassive ﬂooding and earthquakes inless developed countries like Pakistanand Haiti – we know that recoveringfrom a natural disaster of this scale isa long process that entails much morethan brick and mortar. Children and their communities need to recreate their sociallinks, regain their sense of comfort, andcope with the emotional wounds leftbehind by the disaster.

Save the Children has committed toﬁve years of work with the communities,so we can be their companion on the longroad to recovery.

This is a turning point for Japanese civilsociety. The emergency and its aftermathhave resulted in a shift in thinkingabout the role of non-governmentalorganizations, emphasizing the need for astrong third sector, in a country where inthe past the people had always expected– and mostly received – needed servicesfrom public sector.

Today, Save the Children is supportinglocal organizations and governmentofﬁcials to re-knit the social fabric of the affected communities and create anenvironment of active citizenship whereeveryone can participate in the recoveryprocess. Our main priority is to includechildren in this process, so they can helpdeﬁne the way in which their towns andcities will be rebuilt.

We are pleased to share the record of our work over the last six months with youtoday, together with our plans for the nextﬁve years. Through this report, we wouldalso like to express our deep gratitudeand appreciation to you for your supportand collaboration with us in our workresponding to the needs of children andtheir families.

Introduction

Hironobu Shibuya

Japan CEO, Save the Children

Photo: Ian Woolverton/Save the Children

Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami Emergency response and recovery program01

Japan is well known for its high capacity toprepare for and respond to emergencies, inparticular natural disasters. An estimated20% of the world’s earthquakes occur in Japan, and as a result extensivepreparedness has been put in place tobe ready, minimize damage, and respondto immediate needs. School children runthrough earthquake drills at the beginning of every school year, buildings are constructedwith deep foundations, some with shockabsorbing rubber and steel pads to minimizethe impact of the moving earth. Citizensparticipate in regular evacuation drillsand coast towns often have seawalls toprotect them from water surges after aquake. However, the massive scale of theearthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011was unprecedented – even for Japan. Astrong earthquake measuring 9.0 on theRichter scale struck off the Paciﬁc coast of Japan, followed by severe aftershocks. Theearthquake triggered a powerful tsunamiof over ten meters high, which causeddevastating human and physical damage innorth-eastern Japan. The earthquake andtsunami together destroyed entire cities inthe coastal prefectures of Fukushima, Iwateand Miyagi. The impact of the two crisesbecame evident in the weeks followingthe disaster, with an estimated

15,760people dead, and another 4,282 missing.

The disaster damaged or destroyed morethan 700,000 commercial and residentialproperties, leaving thousands of familieshomeless. An estimated

387,000 survivorslost their homes

in the middle of winter and had no place to shelter from the lowtemperatures.

The disaster also damaged a

nuclear power plant

in Fukushima, causing the plantto lose power and resulting in a failure of the reactor-cooling systems – leading toexplosions, fire and the release of radiationinto the environment. The longer-term impactof radiation in the environment has yet to beclearly measured.“In the 65 years after the end of WorldWar II, this is the toughest and the mostdifficult crisis for Japan,” said Prime Minister Naoto Kan days after the disaster.The government of Japan estimated thecost of recovery from this triple crisis couldbe as much as 25 trillion yen (309 billionU.S. dollars), making it the world’s mostexpensive natural disaster. The World Bankhas said that Japan may need five years torebuild the affected regions, consideringthe extensive damage to housing andinfrastructure.

March 11 2011:Triple crisisin north-eastern Japan

“I’m really worried that having to live like this is going to have a toll on Aoi”, says Kumiko Shitotomi, mother of two year-old Aoi. “There’s no telling what is going to happen to us. We have no concrete plan- we can only wait” she says in the days following the disaster. “Life here is harder than I could ever tell you, or you could ever write,but we must be grateful that the family is together and everyone is safe.”

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