Japan

On Friday 11 march 2011 a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northeast Japan spawned a ferocious tsunami that caused massive destruction; flattening whole cities, starting raging fires, and killing hundreds. The final death toll was 13,778, there were 4,916 injuries and 14,175 people are still missing.

RescueNet had two reconnaissance members in the Sendai prefecture, who also worked with CRASH and Samaritans Purse.

Sadly and yet understandably, the Japanese Government did not open its doors to the Non Government Organisations (NGO) because logistically it would have completely drained their resources and personnel who were desperately engaged in the relief effort.

Added to that, there was one major road into the area handling all incoming and outgoing traffic. Had the NGOs gone in, it would have only added to the already mounting chaos.

Added to that was always the radiation concern coming from the four damaged nuclear reactors. After a very hectic and sometimes frantic 7-10 days of trying to obtain an official ‘invitation’ to enter the country, it was decided to stand our Team down from this event.

The work to rebuild the damaged area will continue for a very long time – entire cities and towns need to be re-built, let alone the re-building of the numerous shattered lives.

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