Together We Stand

[ 75 ] AAR Japan’s partnership in megadisaster: the Great East Japan Earthquake Sayako Nogiwa, Programme Manager; Atsushi Naoe, Representative of the Tohoku office; and Miho Fukui, Research Unit, Association for Aid and Relief, Japan T he Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011 caused a complex crisis comprising an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, followed by a tsunami causing flood- ing over 500 square kilometres of land, and a nuclear power plant accident. It left some 20,000 dead or missing, mainly caused by the tsunami, and created up to 470,000 evacuees. The Government’s decision was to respond to the disaster primarily by itself. This meant there were no familiar faces from the emergency relief community, United Nations funds and programmes, ornon-Japanese based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and no cluster system in the initial phase. As a result, emergency relief management was mainly left with local governments, private enterprises and NGOs, and their partnership was key to the successful operation. Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR Japan) entered the devastated area two days after the disaster hit and has been one of a few working in the three worst-hit prefectures, Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate, where 99.6 per cent of the dead or missing had lived. There follow two examples of partner- ships with local government, private enterprises and other organizations in response to the megadisaster. Distributing non-food items to Fukushima evacuees Among all the calamities suffered by victims of the disaster, the reality faced by survivors in Fukushima was uniquely tragic. The residents of Fukushima prefecture were forced to endure not only severe damages caused by the earthquake and tsunami, but also threats posed by the nuclear accident that occurred at Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station. Due to high radiation levels, every family residing in a 20-kilometre radius around the power plant was given an evacuation order by the government. Even beyond the 20-kilometre radius, the estimated risk of large amounts of accumulative radiation over the year following the accident led to the designation of several municipalities as part of the mandatory evacuation zone. A considerable number of those living outside the mandatory evacuation zone also decided to move out for fear of the effects of radiation leaked throughout the prefecture. Every local municipal body in Fukushima was struggling to handle the emergency situation. The Disaster Management Office, which was established by the Fukushima prefectural government soon after the disaster took place, decided to seek assistance fromNGOs tomeet the immediate needs of the people. Most of those who fled their homes had to leave without taking Traffic ban on the road at Minami-Soma city from entering the 20-kilometre zone around the nuclear power station Staff members of the Haramachi Commerce and Industry Association packing relief goods in Minami-Soma city Image: AAR Image: AAR T ogether W e S tand