Friday, March 11, 2011

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan - Please Help



Buildings burn in Yamada town, Iwate prefecture (state) after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake hit  Friday March 11, 2011. (AP Photo/The Yomiuri Sh03/11/11 - JAPAN - My friends, as most of you know, a ferocious tsunami unleashed by Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it carried away ships, cars and homes, and triggered widespread fires that burned out of control.
Right now Japan is in the life-saving, immediate-response mode, not the recovery mode. In the next several days as it moves to recovery mode, Japan will have to take care of its citizens and meet the basic needs of food, water and shelter.

A well-done, yet sobering summary can be found here -CNN World.
The recovery and rebuilding effort will be collossal, and they need our help. The following agencies have set up funds specifically to aid in the relief effort resulting from the earthquake and tsunami. As your heart leads, please give generously. 
The Japan Society of Northern California
Salvation Army: The Japan branch of the Salvation Army has been working in Tokyo to offer shelter to stranded commuters and they are reportedly organizing a team to send to Sendai Friday night. They also have their Hawaii branch standing by, ready to help. You can help their relief efforts by texting JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to make a $10 donation.

And to donate via your cell phone:
•To donate to American Red Cross Relief, text REDCROSS to 90999
•To donate to Convoy of Hope, a faith-based organization that does community outreach and disaster response, text TSUNAMI to 50555
•To donate to GlobalGiving, which focuses on “grassroots projects in the developing world,” text JAPAN to 50555
•To donate to World Relief Corp., the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, text WAVE to 50555
 
Thousands of people need our help, now.

japanreliefefforts

4 comments:

Laurie said...

Great information Michael, thank you. Donation . . . Done!

Unknown said...

Thank you Michael, I will forward all the relief information to my friends and family. Do you know if people are able to fly out of Japan? If so is there something set up to host families if they could get out?
Bless you and your spirit for caring.
Holly and Sophia

Michael J Downey said...

Thank you, Laurie.
@ Holly and Sophia, as of mid-day Saturday, both Tokyo airports are partially open - Narita and Haneda. Sendai airport remains closed. Kansai (KIX) airport near Osaka is partially open.
If families fly out and have no place to go, the Red Cross would be the first line of defense in finding them shelter.

Michael J Downey said...

For those of you interested in possibly hosting earthquake/tsunami victims, I found this website:
http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=39703