Typhoon #12 Wakayama: End of Volunteer Activities
Peace Boat is wrapping up its volunteer activities following the typhoon in Wakayama Prefecture.
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Nov 2011
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08
Nov 2011
Turkey Earthquake Emergency Relief Donations
Peace Boat has started collecting donations for the purpose of providing emergency relief to people suffering in earthquake affected areas of Turkey. See here for details.
28
Oct 2011
Volunteer magazine “Ishinomaki Tsuushin”
The Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Centre has started a monthly magazine of information from Ishinomaki, to share with people who have joined volunteer activities in Ishinomaki to date.
Although only available in Japanese, the magazine is now available online here: “Ishinomaku Tsuushin – Omoi Tendenko”
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Oct 2011
Team from Malaysia hard at work!
A volunteer team from the Malaysian Association of Youth Club (MAYC) spent five days in Ishinomaki between 18-22 October, working together with the local community to help support the recovery of the local fishing industry.
To date, international volunteers from 49 countries have worked together with Peace Boat.
The 20 members of the Malaysian Association of Youth Club were in their 20s-40s, and came all the way from Malaysia to contribute to supporting Japan. Having experience in disaster relief activities in their own country, they were able to play a large role in the activities, particularly supporting the recovery of the local fishing industry.
26
Oct 2011
Newspaper delivery to temporary housing
Peace Boat is now creating a weekly newspaper to be delivered to temporary housing throughout Ishinomaki as part of its relief activities. Currently it is being delivered to around 4000 households in 70 different locations. (The newspaper itself can be downloaded at the bottom of this report.)
26
Oct 2011
7 months on – the closure of the Ishinomaki evacuation centres
As of October 11, 7 months since the disaster, all evacuation centres of Ishinomaki City have been closed. This report introduces the situation as people move into evacuation centres, and Peace Boat plans to continue supporting the local community such as through provision of newspapers to temporary housing.
23
Oct 2011
The Orahono Recovery Festival – Ishinomaki, Onagawa, Higashi Matsushima
On Sunday October 16, the “Orahono Recovery Festival – Ishinomaki, Onagawa, Higashi Matsushima” was held at the Ishinomaki City General Sports Park. Many people attended and enjoyed the lively booths and performances.
“Oraho no” translates to “Our” in the local dialect. The day was blessed with beautiful weather, and around 8,000 people joined the events including Mayor Kameyama Hiroshi of Ishinomaki, as a step taken together towards recovery. This was the first large event to be held by all three cities together in the aftermath of the disaster. When the Kawabiraki Festival was held 2 and a half months ago, volunteers were involved in coordinating much of the preparations and operations. Yet this time, this was reversed and volunteers served only a small role, with the local community taking full initiative. While much time is still needed for life to return to as it was before the disaster, the Orahono festival really demonstrated that energy, courage, and life is returning more and more to the area. The efforts of the local community to coordinate this festival are certainly going to play a great role in encouraging recovery efforts.
19
Oct 2011
Ishinomaki Light & Art Festival
From October 8 to 10 the “Ishinomaki Light & Art Festival – Light a Candle in Prayer for Recovery” was held in the Kashima-miko Shrine grounds at Hiyoriyama Park.
Candles laid in the shape of the Kashima-miko Shrine’s crest in the temple grounds overlooking the coastline which suffered catastrophic damage in the disaster.
Please enjoy this report about the songs, dances, musical performances and light displays.
18
Oct 2011
Disaster relief volunteer leader training program
It has been seven months since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami occurred, and the situation in the disaster affected area has gone through many changes during this time. Peace Boat will continue our relief efforts in the Ishinomaki area while learning from the disaster so as to minimize the amount of damage suffered in the event of another disaster in the future.
The Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Center will commence running the “Disaster Relief Volunteer Leader Training Program,” a human resource development and capacity building program aimed at disaster relief volunteers in Ishinomaki.
18
Oct 2011
Report on emergency relief efforts – ‘Creating a system to utilize volunteers’
On October 13 the “Report on emergency relief efforts 7 months on from March 11 – ‘Creating a system to utilize volunteers’” report session was held at the JICA Global Plaza in Hiroo, Tokyo. Many guests attended the event including people who came all the way from Ishinomaki. This report covers the report session which included information from the mid-term report.
Approximately 500 people including, including representatives of media organisations, embassies and corporations, attended the event at the JICA Global Plaza. Many of the individual participants were people who had experience as volunteers in Ishinomaki and there were joyful reunions here and there prior to the commencement of the event.