JAPAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DISASTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE –
ECUMENICAL SOLIDARITY MEETING – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 6-7 May 2011.
We all by now know the magnitude of the earthquake and disaster that hit Japan on the 11 th
March 2011 and we heard testimonies of the situations from yesterday’s presentations by
the churches and the NCCJ in Japan. In additional to the human tragedy, the disaster
destroyed massive critical infrastructure, including churches, hospitals, schools and business
concerns. Currently, in addition to the above loss of lives and damage to property, there is a
new phenomenon of soil liquefaction, where the soil literally becomes soft like liquid. This
phenomenon has further damaged around 12,000 homes in the Chiba prefecture alone. And
then there has been the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant which led to thousands
of people to be evacuated from their homes in a 20 km radius from the plant.
This type of disaster is not only mind bogging, but hard to imagine how to respond. We have
been informed that the Japanese government has estimated the economic cost at 305
billion US Dollars. The livelihood of the affected communities have been massively
destroyed and especially the fishing and farming activities. Not to mention the big industries
like the motor vehicle industry which employs thousands of people.
According to the figures given to ACT by our member Church World Service, there are still
150,000 people living in evacuation sites across Japan. To make sure the evacuees have
access to basic food, sanitation, medical and psychosocial care still remain a massive
challenge to the government and humanitarian actors. Again, we heard yesterday the
important response by churches who are among other actors. A question was asked
yesterday by one of the participants as to how long the relief phase would last, and we
heard a response that it could take up to three years. The truth is that rehabilitation has to
start now. This is one of those disasters where Linking Relief to Rehabilitation and
Development need to work together. Humanitarian and development actors with the
government in lead, have to work together to ensure an effective LRRD.
Moving From Emergency to Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
We need to realize that the transition from emergency aid to rehabilitation and
development programs is a dynamic process. It requires all actors involved to work on an
interdisciplinary basis. In practice it is not easy to connect short-term relief measures with
long-term development programs. The integration has a high chance of success if
emergency aid supports survival strategies of the affected population and attempts to
recover their economic basis. Rehabilitation will not be successful if the affected people are
not involved in the planning and implementation of the programs.
In the case of Japan, contrarily to what most people think that Japan had no robust disaster
risk reduction, Japan is one of the most advanced countries in the world in the area of
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Disaster Risk Reduction. The current disaster that happened however, was not something
many people and government could have imagined, and especially given the complexity and
magnitude of it.
A brief perspective of Japan’s history in emergency preparedness, given the multiple
disaster vulnerability to the country, Japan has taken lead on various innovative disaster risk
reduction (DRR) approaches and strategies. Historically, Japan has not only been concerned
of DRR within its own geographical boundaries, but also took lead and contributed
significantly on global initiatives for risk and vulnerability reduction and improving
institutionalised capacity of disaster preparedness and response. Japan was the strongest
supporter when the UN started its first International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction
(1990-1999). Japan hosted the first World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Yokohama in
1994. Japan also hosted the Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction in 2005, which
coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Kobe earthquake. During this conference the
Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was adopted as the global instrument and guidelines for
disaster risk-reduction.
Japan, being one of the most developed and also advanced on disaster preparedness is
assumed to be capable of taking care of the needs of its people through internal resources
and capacities in responding to disasters. However, in this current disaster, the government
of Japan seem to be unable to timely provide required assistance to its people. Debris is still
uncleared in most affected communities and without this happening, rehabilitation for
affected communities will be hard to undertake. As we heard again from our Japanese
friends, it is the affected communities working with volunteers that are assisting in clearing
most of the debris manually. Given the magnitude of the situation, clearing by hand would
take a very long time and hence the government needs to move in with machinery to do
this. We hear most of the roads have been done, but not the homes and areas around
homes. The international humanitarian community needs to ask this question whether
Japan is capable to manage the devastating earthquake, tsunami and radiation leakage, or
needs external support. There are many who argue for no external support to Japan. But the
principle of humanitarian imperative should be observed when the situation is so severe.
Furthermore, a humanitarian response does not mean mobilising financial resources only.
The recent earthquakes in New Zealand and now in Japan are compelling us to redefine the
humanitarian perspective and look beyond the financial support. A humanitarian response
also needs to be inclusive of intellectual resources, plans, policies, strategies, innovative
solutions, volunteerism and last but not least a human touch to provide psychosocial care to
the affected communities. If we consider this broader picture, then no country, including
Japan, is self-sufficient to manage mega disasters like this earthquake and Tsunami.
1. Requirements of moving from emergency to relief and rehabilitation
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As mentioned above there are still more than 150,000 evacuees living in evacuation sites
and waiting for restoring normality in their lives. These evacuees lived in strong
communities, which are now on the verge of collapse, and thereby posing a serious problem
to the previous social cohesion and kinship. Massive devastation to the properties, assets,
livelihoods and family members has seriously impacted the psychosocial health of these
people, which can be revived only by bringing back normality in the daily lives, and hence
the need for a quick shift towards recovery and rehabilitation.
It seems from different assessment reports that despite vulnerability from multiple
disasters, the country was not prepared for this level of disaster.
2. Long term reconstruction considerations and
Again, let me come back to this perception that Japan can take care of all the needs its
people in any disaster. We should always remember that every country in the world has
people living on the edge. There are marginalised and unseen people in each community
and they tend to get overlooked, if the policies are framed on the basis of those who have
high visibility then, certain people in communities would always be left out. For instance,
there is extensive damage to the fisheries sector. Not everyone, engaged in fisheries, had
insurance cover. The recovery process needs to pay attention to these people, otherwise
there will be long-term adverse impact on the food security of the country.
There are several other issues that need attention in the coming days, including
environmental issues, contamination of soil and water and the impact on the food chain.
The government of Japan has assumed the entire responsibility of reconstruction, leaving
little room for other humanitarian and development actors like the churches and the NGOs
in this sector. However, there is a lot that the churches can and should do like monitoring
the government programmes with special focus on the weaker section of the affected
communities and people, including children, elderly and the economically marginalized. It is
evident, by and large; money would not be a constraint in reconstruction, but money in not
solution to all the problems. Churches can play greater role on the psychosocial recovery of
the affected population.
Churches can also play a key role in organizing volunteers who could work for extended
periods of time with affected communities. Again we heard from the churches in Japan how
useful volunteers programs have been with affected families.
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With all these examples and justifications, it is substantiated that even a country like Japan
needs assistance in different sectors including volunteer management, health risk reduction,
prevention of environmental degradation, shelter management, strategic planning,
coordination and policy direction. According to Rajib Shaw - an Associate Professor in the
Kyoto University “Japan is known for its reserved nature, dignity and modesty, Japan has
been generous to support several countries in different disaster situations, mostly without
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drawing attention to itself. It is now time to reciprocate that support and to assist Japan in
its time of crisis with non-monetary resources”.
John Nduna
General Secretary
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