Japan

PERIOD OF REPORT: May 8th – 21st, 2011

1. BENEFICIARIES
Approximately 6,905 individuals and 101 households were reached by JEN’s activities during this reporting period.

2. ACTIVITIES

1) Sludge Removal Volunteer Dispatch
Supported by 1,307 volunteers, JEN has completed removing the rubble and sludge from a total of 134 houses in the Watanoha area and Oshika Peninsula of Ishinomaki City. The number of volunteers dropped drastically after the end of the Golden Week holidays in Japan (2 May – 8 May). Securing enough volunteers, especially on weekdays, will be an issue moving forward.
Needs are shifting from the rubble and sludge removal of homes to the cleaning of sludge from roadside ditches, an urgent task before the rainy season begins at the end of May.

Volunteers for sludge removal are greatly needed in Oshika Peninsula where assistance is delayed, but the lack of means of transportation has restricted the number of people we can send there in a day. During this reporting period, with the help of a micro-bus provided by Mitsui Bussan, we were able to send more volunteers to the area.

2) Soup Kitchen Volunteer Dispatch
JEN has been providing hot meals for lunch and dinner to the earthquake / tsunami victims taking shelter in their own houses. During this reporting period, JEN volunteers provided 6,344 hot meals.  In addition to the two sites where JEN has been providing meals, an agricultural group from Saitama prefecture distributed meals in 4 other locations between the 13th and 16th May.

3) Psychosocial Care through Community Café
JEN is providing spaces called “Community Cafés” where evacuees can gather for activities and share their experiences as a form of psychosocial care. There are currently 2 Community Cafés in operation.

During this reporting period, JEN finished repairing the building provided by a local company in the neighborhood of Nakayashiki. A group of hair stylists came to cut hair for local evacuees, and another group of volunteers came to listen to evacuees talk about their experiences as a way of providing emotional relief. An organization of clinical psychologists called ‘Recovery for Japan’ has also been conducting activities once a week at the Nakayashiki Community Café. They combine counseling sessions with physical activities such as yoga and massage, with about 25 people attending in one week. The soup kitchen is also continuing in this location, with plans to hand it over to the people in the neighborhood.

JEN started a soup kitchen at the second Community Café location in the Kazuma area. About 6 members of the local neighborhood community association came every day to help serve hot meals. In the coming week, JEN will discuss future plans on how the locals can take over the activities. In terms of the renovation of the Café building, the volunteers cleaned the inside, fixed the toilet facilities, and installed a washing machine to be used as a service for the surrounding communities.

JEN is also planning to provide a community bus service (a van with a capacity of 8 passengers) for local people who have lost their vehicles and are unable to carry out many of their necessary daily tasks (grocery shopping, hospital visits, etc.). Preparations are underway to establish an affordable car-sharing service. We are also searching for a third location to establish as a Community Café.

4) Rubble Clearance through Assisting Local Waste Management Contractors
There is still an overwhelming amount of rubble in Ishinomaki. Although the clearance work led by the city has started, the local waste management companies cannot participate because they lost their resources due to the tsunami. JEN will create a system by which companies can rent waste management vehicles for free so that they can take part in this clearance work. The aim is for these local businesses to resume their activities and create income-generating opportunities for their employees.

JEN is making preparations to rent about 60 vehicles for this project, and conduct a meeting with select local waste management companies. JEN has identified 7 potential companies based on the selection criteria that: (1) Their offices were in the affected areas within Ishinomaki City; (2) They conducted their business within Ishinomaki City; and (3) They used the same types of vehicles that JEN can procure and waste collection was their main activity before the disaster. During the meeting with these 7 companies, JEN will collect information and check on the level of destruction of these companies’ offices in order to make a final selection.

The vehicles will be available as free rentals from JEN during the project period, but upon completion of the project JEN plans to transfer the vehicles to the association consisting of local companies after a 2-year probationary period. JEN has also approached the Ishinomaki Chamber of Commerce to participate in the selection of the companies in order to ensure fairness in the process.

5) Assistance for People in Transitional Shelters
On the 12th of May, JEN distributed household items for 101 households at transitional temporary shelters in Ishinomaki City. The items included hangers, washbasins, bedding, dishes, etc. JEN’s activity was complemented by city officials who also distributed consumable goods such as food and shampoo.

JEN assisted 137 households on April 29th, 104 households on May 3rd, and 101 households on May 12th, reaching a total of 342 households that have moved into the transitional shelters. JEN plans to distribute items to an additional 167 households moving into the shelters on May 20th. The city has begun or completed the construction of 2,989 transitional shelters to date. Recently, Miyagi Prefecture announced that the total number of transitional shelters in Ishinomaki will be reduced from 10,000 to 8,000, and JEN will continue to assist people moving into these shelters.

6) Assistance of small to mid-size local businesses
JEN will begin projects to encourage the revitalization of small to mid-size local businesses over the next year. Currently, JEN has secured funds to start a project supporting fruit and vegetable sellers. The plan to connect local grocers with farmers in Ibaragi Prefecture has been canceled because it was found that it could interfere with the local systems of distribution. Instead, it has been decided that the greengrocery union will cooperate with JEN and solicit members as beneficiaries of a business revitalization project. JEN and the union will hold a meeting in June, and ask interested fresh produce sellers to present a project proposal and to submit data comparing the situation of their businesses before and after the disaster. A separate selection committee will be established in order to ensure fairness in the selection process.
A group of women from Oshika Peninsula proposed a project in which they would make lunch boxes and sell them to construction workers working in the infrastructural recovery of the peninsula. This will help generate much-needed cash income for local fishing communities that have lost their means of livelihood. JEN will conduct a needs assessment to find appropriate ways to respond to this request.

3. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS
Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture

4. PLANNED FUTURE ACTIVITIES
Field needs assessment by Director of Overseas Department is on-going.

1) MAIN ISSUES OR CONCERNS IN THE FIELD
There has been a drastic decrease in the number of volunteers, but a lot of help is still needed in rubble and sludge removal, clean-up of houses, and the moving of people into transitional shelters. Securing the necessary number of volunteers for upcoming tasks will continue to be a challenge.
The city’s clearance of rubble is lagging, and it seems impossible to accomplish the task without help in terms of heavy machinery and manpower from outside the city and prefecture. As of 11th May, the amount of rubble was estimated to be 6,160,000 tons and 270,000 tons have been cleared from the city, a mere 4%. The clearance of completely destroyed houses is set to begin at the end of May. JEN will continue providing the heavy machinery to local contractors.

2) ANY OTHER COMMENTS
JEN has hired 13 local staff. They will gradually take over the management and operation of all activities located in Ishinomaki. JEN also plans to hire a minimum of 15 evacuees as part-time employees to help in the distribution of items at transitional shelters, creating income opportunities for local people.