7 Years On From The Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami
11th March 2018 marked 7 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Below are some photos from Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, taken on the day of the anniversary.
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Mar 2018
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Oct 2017
Shinjuku Disaster Prevention Festa 2017
The second annual Shinjuku Disaster Prevention Festa was held on Sunday, September 3rd. The weather was extremely pleasant and 3,200 people attended the event, surpassing the number of attendees of the previous year. PBV served as the secretariat for the organizing committee and worked together with the government, NPOs, corporations, schools, and volunteers to plan and organize this event. There were many events encouraging children to participate. One popular event was titled “Kaeru (Frog) Caravan”, where children were able to trade toys, and experience and learn about disaster prevention in a fun way. There were also many international events including a first aid class held in English and a household […]
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Aug 2017
Fukushima Youth Ambassadors Project: Summer 2017
At 6.30am on July 27, a group of children from Minami-Soma in Fukushima Prefecture gathered in a local hall. Eleven middle and high school students from Minami-Soma participated in the Fukushima Youth Ambassadors Project Summer 2017, a joint project started in 2011 by international NGO Peace Boat and PBV. The project aims to provide children affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster with care and an international study experience, as many of the children of Fukushima have not been able to play outside due to dangerous levels of radiation. *For more information about PBV’s activities in Fukushima, please refer to this link. In collaboration with local organisation Wings of Minami-Soma, the children joined the 12-day […]
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Jul 2017
Northern Kyushu Flooding and Landslides: Emergency Response
Record-setting rainfall since July 5, 2017, has hit the northern part of Kyushu, centered on Fukuoka and Oita prefectures. This unprecedented amount of rain has caused massive flooding over wide areas, and landslides. Heavy rain continues to fall intermittently in affected areas, roads have been flooded, and homes severely damaged. Hardest hit include the mountainous areas of Fukuoka and Oita prefectures, and the Disaster Relief Act will apply to these areas as enormous damage has been reported. Overall, the full scale of damage is yet to be determined, but there are areas where utilities have completely stopped, and many residents have been forced to evacuate. As of July 6, […]
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Jun 2017
Disaster Resilience Leadership Training For Youth in Kobe
On 3-4 June 2017, PBV conducted a training programme for a group of young alumni of the TOMODACHI program. 21 university students and young professionals gathered for the “TOMODACHI Disaster Resilience Leadership Training” in Kobe. Within this group, more than half of the participants were from Tohoku and had experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake as junior high school students. The TOMODACHI Initiative, in the wake of the 2011 tsunami, started conducting programs for education, cultural exchange and leadership to connect youth in Japan and the United States. They have reached over 5,700 young people in the past 6 years. PBV, alongside partner JISP (Japan IsraAID Support Program), implemented this project to enhance alumni leadership skills specifically relevant […]
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Jun 2017
Stronger Together: Building a Nationwide Disaster Prevention Network
In Japan, there is a growing momentum to promote cross-sector partnerships between government, private sector, and civil society organisations to respond to and prevent national disasters. Japanese Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (JVOAD) gathers together actors from all parts of society to not only share information, but also respond more effectively to disasters. After the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, a large number of volunteers mobilized to help communities in affected areas around Kobe. As a result, this year is often referred to as Japan’s “birth of volunteerism”. At the time, there was no framework in place to take in so many volunteers from across the country. Following on from the Chuetsu Earthquake, it was […]
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Feb 2017
Haiti: Emergency Response Phase 2
On 4th October 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti, leaving a trail of destruction across the island nation. The hurricane brought about the country’s most severe humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake. In the weeks and months following the disaster, there was a spike in cholera, diarrhea, and other water-related illnesses. One of the reasons for this is that many sanitation and water systems were destroyed, leading to contamination of water sources. Having consulted with local partners and gathered extensive information from UN agencies and other credible sources, PBV identified this need and decided to launch a phase 2 project focusing on clean water and community sanitation. Following on from the […]
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Jan 2017
Haiti Emergency Response: Launch of Phase Two
On 4th October 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck the Republic of Haiti, leaving a trail of destruction across the island nation. The hurricane brought about the country’s most severe humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake, causing loss of life, extensive flooding and mudslides, damage to critical infrastructure, and devastation to agriculture and other sources of livelihood. PBV launched emergency response operations in Haiti in the weeks following Hurricane Matthew, providing assistance to communities in Jeremie, one of the most severely impacted areas on the country’s coastline. Please see a full report of PBV’s Phase One Project via the link below: Haiti: Hurricane Matthew Emergency Response Phase One Project Report (PDF) ===================== […]
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Dec 2016
Disaster Preparedness Training For Dutch Embassy Tokyo Staff
On 2nd December 2016, PBV was invited to the Embassy of the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo to train Embassy staff in disaster preparedness. PBV conducted two workshops, attended by a total of 45 embassy staff. The participants explored the following key workshop themes: – Understanding your household and surroundings – Visualizing a disaster – Disaster preparedness and response PBV’s trainer covered practical skills in how to prepare one’s home, protect one’s self and loved ones, and minimise disaster impacts. The participants not only learnt tangible methods to make their homes safer, but also identified evacuation routes in their communities and learnt how to make effective disaster plans for […]
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Nov 2016
Haiti Emergency Response: Phase One Complete
PBV began gathering information and contacting local partners immediately after Hurricane Matthew struck the Caribbean region in the first week of October 2016. During the week of 17th October, PBV established a formal partnership for Hurricane Matthew Emergency Response New York-based nonprofit, World Cares Center, with whom PBV partnered to respond to Hurricane Sandy in the USA in 2012/2013. Emergency Response Operations A PBV staff member departed for the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince with Lisa Orloff, Founder and Executive Director of World Cares Center, arriving in the morning of 29th October. After liaising with local staff and preparing emergency supplies, PBV and World Cares Center departed for Jeremie, approximately 280km drive […]