Direct Relief and the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) today released an online, interactive map detailing the expenditure of $3.9 million on more than 250 projects that have been supported with the Japan Relief and Recovery Fund established by the organizations immediately following the devastating earthquake and tsunami 12 months ago with a commitment that 100% of the funds received would be used solely for the support of people and communities affected by the tragedy.
Direct Relief and the JACL have channeled the funds to nine (9) Japanese NGO’s providing relief and recovery services working across the tsunami-affected areas on activities ranging from immediate emergency response feeding and shelter programs to long-term recovery and specialized rehabilitative care for seniors and persons with disabilities.
The interactive map provides both a comprehensive overview of tsunami inundation areas and specific site-level information about expenditures, activities, rationale, and progress related to the work conducted by the in-country nongovernmental partner organizations supported by the jointly administered Direct Relief-JACL fund.
The interactive aid map can be viewed at: https://cloud.directrelief.org/map/japanaid/
Reflecting upon the past year, Floyd Mori, the National Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizen League said, “The resilience shown by the people of Japan has been an inspiration to our young people and strengthened the pride of those of us who can trace our ancestry back to Japan. In my communications with Japan, there has been an outpouring of gratitude for all the progress that has been made, specifically all the work that was achieved by the thousands of people who contributed to the Direct Relief/JACL Relief and Recovery Fund. The generous donations to this effort are a testament that we have not lost the value of generosity and the principles which guide us to help our neighbors in need.”
Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe said, “The outpouring of generosity from people and businesses following this enormous tragedy has enabled so much important work and progress for thousands of people in Japan pushing forward to rebuild their homes, lives, and livelihoods. The precise detailing of where, how, and why funds have been used is important to honor the generosity of each person and business who stepped forward to help and also for people in Japan for whose benefit these funds were contributed. We continue to stand with the people in Japan one year after a profoundly sad moment and will continue to do so.”
As demonstrated on the map, the 250 projects that Direct Relief and the JACL have funded cover a vast array of support services, including:
- basic needs such as food (>75,000 meals provided), water, and temporary shelters in the early stages of the response;
- care for elderly and people with disabilities, including mobile healthcare units;
- emergency services in the Fukushima prefecture where more than 100,000 people were displaced around the power plant;
- debris, mud removal and infrastructure repair;
- support for orphanages in the region most affected by the disaster, including therapy, tutoring, rebuilding of the radiation affected playground at the orphanage;
- mobile library services; and,
- jobs for unemployed disaster workers, many who lost their jobs in fishing industry which was largely wiped out in Ishinomaki- one of the hardest hit areas
