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Emergency Alert: JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the northeast of Japan at 14:46 on 11 March 2011, followed by a number of severe 6.4 magnitude aftershocks. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which caused devastating damage in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures, in the northeast of Japan.
In addition, the nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, south of Miyagi Prefecture have been damaged resulting in a hydrogen explosion. The government have declared a State of Atomic Power Emergency and created an evacuation zone with a 20km radius around the plants. More than 200,000 people have been evacuated and the government has sent 100,000 troops to help with the emergency.
What Save the Children has responded?
- We are in contact with the Social Welfare Councils at Prefecture level, the Japanese Red Cross and Japanese local charities for joint emergency operations.
- Developing plans focusing on psychosocial care of children affected by the disaster and setting up child friendly spaces in evacuation centres.
- Deployed an assessment team in the afternoon of the 13th March to Asahi city, Chiba Prefecture, one of the affected areas near Tokyo. The team spoke with municipal authorities at the city hall and welfare centre, as well as families and children in the evacuation centre’s.
Save the Children needs an urgent HK$40 million appeal for children in Japan to:
- Deliver psychosocial support to help children overcome the shock and stress that the disaster and devastation left in its aftermath.
- Establish child friendly spaces in the worst affected Prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwata, and Ibaraki to provide a protective environment where children can spend time with other children and trained teachers. This service also allows parents much needed time that they can dedicate to investigating food sources, work, accommodation and locating other friends and family.
- Monitor the nuclear power plant and prepare contingency plans for any future changes.
This is a Matter of Life and Death in Japan. Please DONATE NOW to help us meet the urgent needs of disaster survivors & affected children.
Save the Children has vast experience in responding to disasters in Asia and worldwide – including our response to the epic 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. Our work following that disaster benefited an estimated 1 million people inmore than 1,000 villages in five countries.
