{"id":534,"date":"2011-05-30T09:31:59","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T00:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/?p=534"},"modified":"2020-07-17T11:56:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T02:56:19","slug":"srilanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/news\/srilanka\/","title":{"rendered":"International Cooperation – volunteer team from Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volunteers taking part in relief efforts with Peace Boat include many international volunteers, including both foreign residents in Japan and people coming from abroad to take part. A delegation from Sri Lanka is now on the ground in Ishinomaki symbolising this international cooperation. In 2004, Sri Lanka experienced an enormous tsunami, which caused immense damage to the country.\u00a0 All fifteen members of the group were involved in the relief efforts following the disaster which hit their own country. According to a member of the Sri Lankan group, \u201cthe damage from the tsunami is the same.\u00a0 We have experienced the same tragedy,\u00a0 so we understand the distress and the needs of the survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The delegation arrived in Japan having been dispatched as civilian volunteers by the Sri Lankan government.\u00a0 All\u00a0 from different regions of the country, they are experts in various fields such as heavy machinery,\u00a0 communications, electronics, as well as chefs and guitar and drum players.\u00a0 This combination of skills allows the team to handle and support any situation on ground.\u00a0 Two volunteer interpreters and a representative of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also assisting the team.\"\"<\/p>\n

On this day, the Sri Lankan group were working to support the Omori family’s home in Ishinomaki-Nakaura-Ichome. Shortly after the earthquake, Mr Omori rushed to a facility where his family awaited him, yet upon later returning home found out that the first floor of their house had been completely flooded, leaving masses of debris and sludge behind.<\/p>\n

Mr Omori requested support to remove the debris from his home, however it was in such a severe condition that it was not possible to send inexperienced volunteers to clean his property. However, given their prior training and experience in disaster hit areas, the stalwart Sri Lankan group were able to remove the debris from Mr Omori’s house.<\/p>\n

Before beginning the difficult job, the national flag of Sri Lanka and Japan were placed together to signify the cooperative work ahead.\u00a0 In the back of the house \u2013 after getting through all of the rubble in the front of the house \u2013 a warehouse that had been washed in from their neighbours’ yard was fallen. The volunteer team worked to carry the endless rubble out with wheelbarrows, then began the actual removal of debris. The work was precise, piling rubble on top of a carpet that had\u00a0 washed up into the area to be taken out to the areas where rubble was being collected.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

Upon finally reaching the warehouse, they found drawers, washers and sludge mixed with housewares, which were weighing down the warehouse.\u00a0 With everyone’s cooperation, the team was able to remove the warehouse after 7 hours’ hard work.<\/p>\n

Mr Omori, who manages a construction company, said that \u201cI have been concentrating on assisting other houses which were affected.\u00a0 If we leave the houses covered in sludge, they will rot.\u00a0 I thought we would have to give up on our house as well, but to see it cleaned up, I feel like I can actually start over.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan team travelled to Japan with the support of the Embassy in Tokyo. Earlier during the week, the Sri Lankan Embassy also organised a concert of Sri Lankan music at an evacuation center inside a local elementary school.\u00a0 At that time the ambassador stated, \u201cI remembered that the Japanese medical team was the first to arrive at the scene of the the Asian tsunami. I wished to return the courtesy.\u201d\u00a0 The Sri Lankan group are now continuing their aid efforts in Ishinomaki, and the people of Japan are sure to remember Sri Lanka as a country who supported Japan with much strength and dedication.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A delegation from Sri Lanka is now on the ground in Ishinomaki symbolising the importance of international cooperation. In 2004, Sri Lanka experienced an enormous tsunami, which caused immense damage to the country. All fifteen members of the group were involved in the relief efforts following the disaster which hit their own country. According to one of them, \u201cthe damage from the tsunami is the same. We have experienced the same tragedy, so we understand the distress and the needs of the survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[311,31,8,14,35,7,16,9,29,28,5,13,54,230,15,6,41,20],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-activity-reports","tag-cleanup","tag-disaster-relief","tag-earthquake","tag-international-volunteers","tag-ishinomaki","tag-japan","tag-kanto-tohoku-earthquake-and-tsunami","tag-mud","tag-mud-removal","tag-peace-boat","tag-relief","tag-sri-lanka","tag-tohoku","tag-tsunami","tag-volunteer","tag-volunteering","tag-volunteers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5449,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions\/5449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbv.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}