Four months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, volunteers are still desperately needed in the hardest-hit areas for jobs ranging from clearing debris from homes to delivering relief materials and food.
Four months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, volunteers are still desperately needed in the hardest-hit areas for jobs ranging from clearing debris from homes to delivering relief materials and food.
About 483,000 volunteers have helped reconstruction in disaster-hit prefectures in the three and a half months since the March 11 disaster, compared with 1.17 million volunteers who pitched in over the same period after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
The Japan National Council of Social Welfare surveyed the number of volunteers in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures between March 11 and June 26.
In terms of volunteers per day, the greatest number, about 11,500 people in three prefectures, performed volunteer work on May 3. Since then, volunteer numbers dropped to 6,000 on average on weekends and 3,000 on weekdays.
"We need many helping hands," a local volunteer organization member said.
In 1995, following the Great Hanshin Earthquake, the outpouring was so great that it has been called "the first year of volunteerism in Japan."
By comparison, while many people commuted to the devastated area from nearby Osaka and other cities, the March earthquake struck areas far from the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Gasoline shortages and and difficult road conditions in early days hampered volunteers from making the trip.
In addition, many municipalities were not prepared to deal with volunteers and limited the number.
Some municipalities still restrict volunteers to groups of five or more people to avoid the risk of injuries and other problems.
Regardless, volunteers are still in great need.
Many households in the tsunami-stricken areas are still clearing debris from their houses. Many need help as they move to temporary housing and there are plenty of relief supplies and food that need delivering.
The volunteer liaison office of the Cabinet Office requested government agencies and companies to encourage workers to take volunteer leaves. The office also asked tourism agencies to organize "volunteer tours" to the disaster areas.
"We want to encourage students--who will soon go on summer break--to volunteer in cooperation with municipalities in the disaster areas," an official said.
In the disaster areas, local volunteer organizations are actively exploring needs and providing support. Some have started supporting stay-at-home evacuees and the elderly living in temporary housing.
Amid the continuing decline in volunteers from outside the prefecture, the number of victims needing aid is on the rise.
Takuma Abe, a member of an NPO in the Watanoha district in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, knocked on the door of a 68-year-old woman who lives alone in her damaged house on June 24.
"Hello. Here are some vegetables," Abe said to the woman, who invited him in for tea, smiling.
While chatting in the living room, Abe asked if she had asthma or if she had missed any meals.
When he first visited the woman more than 40 days ago, she did not even try to leave her bedroom, which still had a layer of mud on the floor, nor did she utter a word.
It wasn't until his fifth visit that she invited him inside.
"She is developing a positive attitude," Abe said happily.
Another group, Fair Trade Tohoku, was helping young people with developmental and psychological problems before the earthquake.
Now, about 15 members of the group are aiding victims of the earthquake and tsunami.
In the beginning, the group's main activity was collecting relief materials from across the country and delivering them to offices and isolated communities.
However, about a month ago their mission changed.
They learned that elderly people had increasingly been leaving evacuation centers, with some returning to their damaged homes. To make sure the old people were OK, they group began "close watch" activities.
Now they visit elderly people living in temporary housing who are susceptible to isolation.
The group's main purpose is to provide a forum for communication so residents can build mutual relationships.
Some younger victims of the disaster were inspired to join the group's activities. Aki Kikuchi, a 21-year-old resident in the Watanoha district, is one. Every day since mid-June he has sorted relief materials and made deliveries to victims.
On the other hand, volunteers from outside the prefecture are almost gone.
"Interest gradually dies down," said Ryuichi Fuse, a 35-year-old representative of the NPO. "We want to build a framework to support the earthquake victims, working with organizations outside the prefecture."
Tono Magokoro Net, a group based in Tono in Iwate Prefecture, dispatches volunteers to the coastal cities of Miyako and Rikuzentakata in the same prefecture, an hour bus ride from Tono.
The group plans to build community center in between temporary housing complexes.
A vegetable garden would be created and vegetables would be grown by residents of the complexes. At harvest time residents will get together to cook and eat.
It is part of an attempt to build a new community.
The group is asking for help from companies. They also hope students will join them during their summer holidays.
For more information, see: Japan National Council of Social Welfare (www.saigaivc.com/); and Tono Magokoro Net (http://tonomagokoro.net/). To contact Fair Trade Tohoku, send a message to (ft.bora@gmail.com).
(This article was compiled from reports by Kosuke So and Koji Kise.)