Happy Holidays 2021/2022: Looking back international projects
As the end of the year is fast approaching, Peace Boat Disaster Relief (PBV) would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to our donors, supporters and volunteers who have made great contributions to our activities throughout this year again. Thanks to your generous support, we have managed to continue carrying out disaster relief projects and training programs despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. Thank you very much!
Looking back on our international projects this year, PBV successfully implemented various relief projects outside Japan through working alongside local organizations. At the beginning of this year, we continued our fund-raising efforts from last year to support communities in the central region of Vietnam where residents experienced seven storms in October and November 2020. We managed to deliver food packages to 200 families in challenging situations in the city of Da Nang, through Da Nand City Youth Union. The packages arrived just in time for these families to prepare for the Lunar New Year, which Vietnamese people consider to be one of the most important festivities of the year.
Travel restrictions not only posed challenges to Japan, but also affected countries relying on tourism. The PBV has been supporting local NGOs in Mauritius where a Japanese bulk vessel ran aground and caused an oil spill in the summer of 2020. During the first phase of our project, we supported the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to boost their environmental recovery efforts. The prolonged impact of the pandemic became an extra burden on the coastal communities where majority of the population rely on fishery and tourism. We are currently working with another local NGO, Environmental Protection and Conservation Organization (EPCO), in Mauritius to carry out the second phase of the support program. Although the project’s progress has slowed down for now due to the restrictions on social gatherings and travel, the EPCO team has already reached 8 out of 17 targeted villages along the coast. We expect to share more updates in the new year.
While we were looking forward to the holiday season, nearly 70 tornadoes outbroke in the US on December 10th and 11th. They made landfall across ten states and caused devastating damage in communities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and several other states. In a partnership with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the PBV set up an emergency relief fund to support the local efforts for recovery of the affected communities. We seek your continued support through donations.
In addition to these projects abroad, this year, we launched a series of disaster preparedness planning workshops for international residents in Tokyo. The series was supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for the fiscal year 2021/2022, and was conducted to raise awareness about the Tokyo Inland Earthquake which has been predicted to occur in high possibility. The workshops offered practical information about the potential challenges associated with mega-quakes and guidance on how to reduce the risks when such an event occurs.
Without help from our donors, supporters and volunteers, none of the above projects would have been possible We express our sincere gratitude to each and every one of you for your generous contributions. Thank you very much for your continued support to PBV.
We look forward to working with you again in the new year!