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Japan’s Christians active in quake relief Linda Bloom, Mar 26, 2012
UMNS PHOTO BY MELISSA HINNEN
Thomas Kemper, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, greets a boy during a visit to the earthquake damaged region of Japan last November.
By Linda Bloom United Methodist News Service
When Noriko Lao left her elderly mother’s home in Tokyo after a visit last March, she was unaware of the devastating earthquake that would strike her native country just a day later.
Centered some 230 miles northeast of Tokyo in the Tohoku region, the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that occurred March 11, 2011, triggered a 23-foot tsunami and led to damage in reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Nearly 20,000 people died or were missing in the wake of what some call “the triple disaster” in Japan.
In the year since, Ms. Lao, a disaster response veteran, has returned to Japan numerous times as a volunteer consultant for the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
As of February this year, UMCOR had received more than $12 million in donations for Japan relief, of which $2.26 million has been allocated so far to Japanese and international partners. The Japanese church also has set up a volunteer center in Ishinomaki, which can now receive small volunteer teams from outside Japan.
Ms. Lao was ideally suited to become a liaison between UMCOR and Japanese Christians who had little experience with large-scale disaster response.
Once a member of UMCOR’s U.S. domestic disaster response team, she now is the disaster action team coordinator for the Mount Baker chapter of the Red Cross in Bellingham, Wash. She also is active in United Methodist Women, serving as the Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference UMW treasurer.
However, her home church in Japan is the United Church of Christ in Japan, also known as the Kyodan, an interdenominational body that is the biggest partner in the National Christian Council of Japan.
A May gathering of regional Christian partners in Seoul, South Korea, resulted in the creation of the Japan Ecumenical Disaster Response Office, known as JEDRO, a consortium led by the National Council of Churches of Japan.
In the earthquake region, JEDRO supports Tohoku HELP, which has expanded from the initial work of the Sendai Christian Alliance Disaster Relief Network to an interfaith organization with active participation by Buddhist groups.
Thomas Kemper, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, visited Japan last November. He said he was impressed by Tohoku HELP’s “creative response” to the crisis.
The Tohoku center, based at the Emmaus Center in Sendai, has served as a channel for donations, volunteers and information with an understanding of local needs and the ability to support churches and denominations carrying out long-term projects. The center registered 1,727 volunteers between March 15, 2011, and March 4, 2012.
One of Ms. Lao’s big tasks has been showing Japanese groups the logistical steps needed to obtain disaster relief funding.
“In Japan, they have a totally different working pattern, based on trust,” she explained. “I help them to write their business plan or grant request in a way that will be acceptable to the steering committee of JEDRO so they can send it on to the international community.”
Last July, UMCOR provided two grants totaling $102,470 to the Kyodan to support the expansion of the Tohoku Disaster Relief Center in Ishinomaki through staff salary support and the purchase of furniture and office and communications equipment. The center offers coordination, support and care for both volunteer workers and the local community.
Known for fishing and tourism, Ishinomaki, about 85 miles north of the Daiichi nuclear plant, was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. More than 3,000 people died, and over 600 remain missing. The Kyodan has two churches there.
Residents of Ishinomaki were considered more open to help from outsiders, so Ms. Lao recruited two bilingual Japanese-American United Methodists to coordinate volunteers at the center during 2012.
Bob Fujimura, a member of University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle, started in Feb. 15 as coordinator. In a March 1 blog entry, he wrote that he was impressed by the amount of debris already removed in Ishinomaki. “However, there are still many condemned houses that had to be removed. Many of those houses that were judged to be saved need extensive repair; these were still untouched due to the shortage of carpenters. Perhaps those carpenters and construction workers of the houses in the U.S. could come here to work.”
The Rev. Taka Ishii, a retired clergy member of the United Methodist New York Annual Conference who was born in Tokyo, will succeed Mr. Fujimura on June 1 for a six-month stay.
Mr. Ishii noted that many first floors in buildings and homes were damaged by the tsunami in Ishinomaki. “A lot of volunteers go there to clean,” he said. “The government has done a good job of removing all the big debris. But, if the house can be used, they have to clean their own. That’s where a lot of work is required.”
Heather Wilson, Western Jurisdiction Volunteer-in-Mission coordinator, is handling the placement of U.S. teams in Ishinomaki. Because the use of outside work teams is unusual in Japan, she is trying to be sensitive to cultural differences. “It’s been a process of trying to be very respectful of what the people of Japan and the center want,” Ms. Wilson said. “They have asked that we keep our teams that go very small, (up) to five people.”
A team from Japanese United Methodist Church in Sacramento, Calif., was in Japan Feb. 26-March 9, and two more teams are scheduled. Ms. Wilson is encouraging interested volunteer teams to contact her. “Those numbers will grow,” she predicted. “The doors just opened, really, for teams to come in.”
The largest UMCOR allocations, totaling $1.35 million, have gone to the Asian Rural Institute, which has received no government assistance for its earthquake damage. “The whole campus has been restructured a bit,” reported Jonathan McCurley, a United Methodist missionary assigned to the training ground for international grassroots leaders.
The institute’s damaged two-story main building was torn down, and a one-story, environmentally friendly replacement is projected to be finished by June. Other building plans include a new dining hall and separate chapel. Offices were moved to part of a new farm shop storage area.
Because the institute is close to the southern border of the Fukushima prefecture, where the damaged nuclear plant lies, radiation remains a concern. “In our area, the government says it’s not a problem; it’s not dangerous at all,” Mr. McCurley said. “But a lot of people are very concerned that’s not necessarily true.”
While the recovery is slow, Mr. McCurley believes the relief work by Japanese Christians has had an impact. In his area, he finds more people willing to go to church and discuss questions about God.
“Spiritually, a lot of people have had questions,” he said. “People we’ve been working with have begun baptism classes or have been baptized.”
To volunteer in Japan
Volunteer teams interested in working in Japan should contact Heather Wilson, the United Methodist Volunteer in Mission coordinator for the denomination’s U.S. Western Jurisdiction. Her email is umvimwj@Hotmail.com and the office phone is 818-333-6730. Information also can be found at www.umvimwj.blogspot.com.
UMNS PHOTO BY MELISSA HINNEN
