East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Four Year Report
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—Building Resilient Communities with Children children unite for Four-Year Report Four-Year Emergency Relief and Reconstruction Support Japan Committee for UNICEF East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster ©日日日日日日日日/2013/satomi matsui Foreword Nearly four years have passed since the disaster. The traditional mission of the Japan Committee for UNICEF (JCU) has been to communicate information about the situation of children in developing countries and UNICEF’s various assistance programmes, and to fundraise to support those programmes. Unprece- dented damage caused by the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, however, forced us to ask ourselves what we could do to help, and we wasted no time in contacting UNICEF Headquarters in New York. UNICEF Headquarters decided to dispatch Japanese experts working at UNICEF offices all over the world to the affected areas in Japan, and JCU followed by launching a campaign to provide emergency relief supplies to shelters and other facilities in those areas. Thanks to the cooperation of countless companies, organizations, and JCU area associations, we succeeded in securing relief supplies and transportation for the affected areas, despite dire shortages of fuel and supplies that affected all of Japan, including the Tokyo Metropolitan region. We also received more than ¥4.8 billion in donations from across Japan and other countries. In the following half-year, we then expanded our programme to encompass six areas, including: 1) health and nutrition; 2) education; 3) psychosocial care; 4) child protection; 5) and child- friendly reconstruction plans. JCU continues to focus its assistance on locally-led reconstruction efforts while working closely with domestic experts, specialist organizations and local governments. Moreover, the experience and lessons learned through these activities are already beginning to be incorporated into reconstruction work under- way in the affected areas, as well as in preparation for the Nankai Trough Earthquake, which, according to forecasts, will very likely occur in the near future. With this report I express my deep gratitude to our supporters both in Japan and overseas. Thank you for supporting the Japan Committee for UNICEF. March 2015 Ryoko Akamatsu Chairperson Japan Committee for UNICEF Six Approaches to Emergency and Reconstruction Support Reconstruct, not Restore: Build Back Better Reconstruct child-friendly communities; places that allow children to feel safe and at ease when they return Psychosocial Support Goal: Strengthen the psychosocial support system Education for children. Activities: Donate books, furniture, and equipment to Goal: Rebuild and reopen schools, 4 preschools, and kindergartens as quickly as 3 create Child-Friendly Spaces; dispatch experts to study possible. provision of psychosocial care for preschool children; Activities: Distribute stationery and school and other related services. supplies; provide new facilities, furniture, and equipment; support transportation Child Protection services to and from schools and 5 kindergartens; and other services. Goal: Comprehensively strengthen child protection systems to protect children in vulnerable situations, Health and Nutrition such as orphans, children who have lost a parent, or 2 children in families suffering from poverty. Goal: Resume and restore health care Activities: Dispatch experts; awareness-raising and nutritional services for mothers and their children. efforts; host training sessions; conduct advocacy Activities: Dispatch experts; distribute food, activities at the national, prefectural, and municipal nutritional supplements, equipment, and levels*; and provide other related services. supplies; and disseminate information. 1 6 Child-Friendly Reconstruction Plans Emergency Relief Supplies Goal: Ensure the opinions of children are reflected in Goal: Provide supplies to emergency shelters municipal reconstruction plans, and expand the and other centers. support for children and child-rearing. Items supplied: Water, food, School-in-a-Box Activities: Mobilize experts and conduct advocacy Kits, Recreation Kits, and other supplies. activities.* Our focus in 2014 centered on the above-mentioned initiatives 4–6. * Advocacy activities target specific objectives and include working with partner organizations, information dissemination, awareness raising, and making policy recommendations to local governments. Play, Participation and Safe Place Three keywords for social development illuminated by the JCU assistance programme In December 2014, soccer star Makoto Hasebe visited Banda Aceh (Indonesia), one of the areas heaviest hit by the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami 10 years earlier. After his visit, Mr. Hasebe commented, “I was most impressed by how seriously the younger generation thought about disaster preparedness and reconstruction. It’s imperative that the experiences and lessons learned from a disaster be passed on to the next generation. I think that’s the most important component of disaster preparedness.” In an instant, the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami stripped all sense of normalcy from the lives of many children. It is our duty to provide them a place where they feel safe and can spend time like children, as well as psychosocial assistance through playtime, which is an essential component in their everyday lives. Since the March 2011 disaster, JCU has continued to implement assistance focused on children’s futures. JCU’s assistance is based on UNICEF know-how accumulated over many years of experience in disaster-affected areas and conflict zones around the world. Over the past four years implementing our assistance programme, JCU has uncovered three keywords: play, participation and safe place. To this day, JCU supports opportunities for children to learn, think about and communicate to their local communities the lessons learned from the disaster, ideas for local recon- struction and how to prepare for the next big disaster. These efforts take place at a wide array of venues, including play areas, schools and even within the local communities. Play and participation are all about children freely utilizing their creative spirits and bodies to fully exercise their potential. These opportunities offer children emotional protection and promote vitality—their resilience as human beings. That is why it is imperative that we as adults secure safe places for children where they feel a sense of belonging. This is essential for the areas affected by the East Japan Earthquake, as well as society as a whole. Photo: Ground raising work in Kesennuma (November 2014) Contents Play, Participation and Safe Place ..................................1 Child Protection ..............................................................9 Build Back Better: Building Resilient Communities .....2 Child-Friendly Reconstruction Plans ...........................10 Highlights of the Four Years ............................................4 Education .......................................................................13 Review of the Programme ..............................................6 Supporting the Children/From Support Sites ............14 Donations and Programme Areas .................................6 Four-Year Income and Expenses Report ......................16 Psychosocial Support .....................................................7 Programme Contributors ..............................................17 List of Supporters and Partners.................................. 17 1 Build Back Better: Building Resilient Communities In Japan and Overseas Natural disasters are common all over the world, and 50% to Jericho is a 12-year-old boy who had lived together with his 60% of their victims are children. But that does not mean grandmother in her bamboo home since his parents divorced that children should be viewed merely as vulnerable victims. when he was little. That bamboo home was blown away by In many of the areas affected by the East Japan Earthquake the typhoon, but Jericho participated in UNICEF activities put and Tsunami it was children who assisted disaster survivors on at a Child-Friendly Space. While receiving psychosocial at schools and other local facilities being used as shelters. assistance himself, Jericho supported the operations of the Natural disasters are increasing in number and frequency Child-Friendly Space as a volunteer. due to such factors as climate change. They are impossible to Jericho told us that: “There is a boy who lives nearby who prevent. However, it is not impossible to enhance our resil- hides in his home when a strong wind blows. His mom says ience to natural disasters by making social and lifestyle he’s suffering from trauma. Of course, I’m scared too when a changes that would limit the potential impact of disasters as strong wind blows.” much as possible. UNICEF advocates enhancing the resil- Jericho listens to other children’s stories. By listening to ience of children and society as a whole as an integral com- the stories of other children in his neighborhood he helps ponent for all forms of assistance, and not limited to only them overcome the trauma of the typhoon. Jericho says, disaster-preparedness and response. “What I like about this is the chance I get everyday to make the children around me stronger. Of course, this also gives From Survivor to Supporter me a great deal of strength, too, that I need to recover.” “Tsunami Tendenko”—this is a Japanese phrase that has been taught to the children of Kamaishi, Iwate for years. The Reconstruct, not