UNITE FOR CHILDREN

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Emergency Relief

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Emergency Relief (5th Report)
Japanese Experts from Somalia, Afghanistan, and Tokyo Office Are Dispatched to Work with the Japan Committee for UNICEF

[Tokyo, March 17, 2011]

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0427/Dean
A girl surveys the wreckage of her home, which was destroyed by the March 11th tsunami, in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture

With some 500,000 evacuees still taking temporary shelter, the 2011 Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake has become a disaster of unparalleled global scale. As the Japan Committee for UNICEF stands ready to provide support for the victims in disaster hit areas, a staff member of the Committee who had been deployed to Miyagi Prefecture, one of the hardest hit areas, has returned to Tokyo this morning.

According to the staff member, the prefectural government and partner organizations there most urgently need gasoline, food, sanitary products, and psychological support for children. In cooperation with UNICEF headquarters, the Tokyo office, and partner organizations and corporations, the Japan Committee for UNICEF started to work on the specifics of immediately workable aid and means of support, procurement of materials, and securing of logistics. Support activities will begin as soon as possible.