One year since the Kumamoto earthquake Voices from the affected area

It has been one year since the Kumamoto earthquake which caused devastating damage: a death toll of 206 which includes related deaths and second disaster deaths and 187,771 buildings damaged by twice occurring intensity 7 severe tremors (as of March 21st). Construction of all temporary houses has been completed and disaster victims are starting to rebuild their lives. However, it is still a challenge for local recovery, such as reconstruction of houses, which will be the main problem from now on. The Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS), will continue to support the affected area through donation to enable many people to cope with the struggle of reconstruction.

JRCS deployed Medical Emergency teams to JRCS Kumamoto Chapter on April 14th during the phase of foreshock. By the end of the operation, June 2nd, JRCS had set up 3 Domestic Emergency Response Unit (dERU) and 207 teams, composed of 1,600 personnel worked on providing medical assistance and relief operations at the aid stations and mobile clinic. The number of sick and wounded people they have seen amount to about 7,000.

JRCS has also dispatched about 300 doctors and nurses from all over Japan to Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto hospital which accepted seriously injured patients in the affected area as the prefecture's key disaster base hospital. The hospital played the crucial role of supporting local healthcare of the affected area where medical infra-structure had been damaged.
Besides medical relief activities, they provided support for the affected population with a wide range of activities, such as relaxation techniques, psychological support, health consultations, mother and childcare, and environmental improvement of shelters there.

Volunteers who supported medical emergency team activities

The JRCS Kumamoto Chapter disaster volunteer center was set up by the members of the Youth Red Cross on April 17th, soon after the day following the main shock. A total of 261 volunteers carried out the uploading and distribution of aid supplies, such as blankets, and sleeping sets (mats, pillows, eye masks, etc.), and undertook a navigation to shelters for medical teams, and conducted needs assessment at the shelters. The volunteers whose core members are Red Cross Volunteer members played　an important role of administrative support of cash from all over Japan.
About JPY 27,951,960,000 of public donations was delivered by March 20th of this year. All donations will be delivered to the affected people, depending on the degree of damage, through the donation distribution committee which is in Kumamoto and Ooita prefectures.
99.8% of donation, JPY 27,885,060,000 was certainly delivered to the committee at the end of March.

Report on JRCS response to the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes - one year on

The interim report on the JRCS response to the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes is issued and now available.
The report includes the overview of the various activities implemented by the Japanese Red Cross Society in response to the earthquakes. After one year, the JRCS is currently at the final stage of the implementation, which focuses mainly on recovery and improvement of its local capacity in order to respond to future disasters in the region.

Here is The interim report on the JRCS response to the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes

Newsletter, April 2017 by JRCS