Overview
w There was an M9.0 (Official announcement of Japanese government) earthquake at 14:46 (GMT+9) on March 11, 2011, about 130km east-southeast of Ojika Peninsula, Miyagi prefecture, northeast of Japan.
w There have been more than 10 major aftershocks, and the M9.0 earthquake caused some other earthquakes in other area, such as Nagano prefecture where is about 300km away from Miyagi. This earthquake was M6.7, hit Nagano at 3:59 AM (GMT+9) on 12 March.
w To avoid second suffer from aftershocks and another tsunami, local governments announced people to stay near their house or shelter.
w Prime Minister announced that the government has sent 20,000 army for immediate response, but will be increased by 100,000.
Disaster situation
w Electricity: more than 2 million house hold black out in north and central Japan. There will be rotation power but in Tokyo from 14th.
w Shelter: 1,610 shelters are provided in 6 prefectures, Iwate, Ibaragi, Aomori, Fukushima, Tochigi, Miyagi. There are 275,700 people staying. Government announced that they are going to provide temporary housing for 30,000 household in two month.
w Food: In general, there is shortage of food in affected area. People who evacuated to shelters, they get food there but not enough. Public and private sectors are rushing to bring food to shelters.
Casualties - Police announcement as of 19:30 on 13 March (GMT+9).
w Death toll: 1,217. Chief constable of the Miyagi Prefecture Police announced that the death toll in Miyagi prefecture will be at least 10,000.
w Missing: 1,086.
w Injured: 1741.
w Evacuee: At least 34 million
Ø Those are officially counted number so the reality is much bigger than those.
Damages
Earthquake
w There has been some information that buildings collapsed, bridges broken down, houses sunk in tsunami, fire at petrochemical complex and many other buildings.
w Fukushima Atomic Power Plant No.1 was exploded at 15:30 on 12th.is in danger of meltdown. Government called for an evacuation to the people who lives within 20km from the plant. There is the possibility of 90 plus people were exposed to radiation. Government announced that they are going to form several teams to run a special clinic for those people.
Tsunami
w In a biggest scale, about 10m tsunami hit northeast coastal area. In Miyagi and Fukushima prefecture, some cities, towns and villages are totally washed away. Number of demolished cities is increasing. Sendai airport was also washed away.
w At 17:58 on 13th, the Meteorological Agency canceled the tsunami warning.
Communication
w Line and cell phone is still not in full operation still now. Particularly, in Sendai, line and cell phone connections are very poor.
Response of Catholic Church
w There are mainly four diocese affected by the earthquake and tsunami, namely Sapporo, Sendai, Saitama and Tokyo. The most affected diocese is Sendai diocese.
w In Tokyo, a parish provided their hall as a shelter for the people who could not go back their home because trains were not in service. Food was also provided.
w Saitama Diocese started to register volunteers who wish to help victims in and out of the diocese.
Information from Sendai
w Finally we could talk with the chancellor of the Sendai Diocese in the afternoon today.
w They got electricity back just at 22:00 on 12th. Phone connection is still very poor. They themselves have very few information with such a limited means.
w A priest died on the way back from Sendai to his city Shiogama. He was swallowed by tsunami.
w There are still some priests and many parishioners unknown their safety.
w Some parishes celebrated Sunday mass.
Response of Caritas Japan
w Keep collecting information from affected area.
w Started a donation campaign to all dioceses in Japan.
w Formed a team to respond to the disaster.
w Will see the needs and provide relief items.
w Since immediate response is taken by army, CJ will concentrate more in rehabilitation phase.
March 13, 2011, 21:30 (GMT+9)
Daisuke Narui
Executive Director, Caritas Japan
No comments:
Post a Comment