Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
The recent (though comparatively not severe) earthquake in Touhoku is a wakeup call for disaster preparedness here in Ishikawa. Here’s a quick roundup of earthquake and emergency posts and helpful websites.
Your CO should have provided you with a map to the nearest evacuation center. If you have not received this, take this as a good chance to ask.
News and Info in English
Preparedness
Earthquake Warnings via Yahoo!Keitai
Ishikawa JET Wiki General Emergency Page
72hours.org Emergency Kit planning site is a good resource if you have not yet assembled an emergency kit in your apartment.
If you do not already have an emergency kit made, please do so. Ishikawa is relatively disaster-free as far as Japan goes, but it never hurts to be ready.
If you’re filled to the brim with holiday spirit and are looking for an outlet, Mayumi Hoshi, Professor Emeritus of Chuo University, has started a campaign to write holiday greetings to the approximately 400 children and volunteers living in temporary housing in Shichigahama Town in Miyagi Prefecture. She’s soliciting cards from all over the world, so even if you can’t write a greeting in Japanese, the thought will be appreciated by the kids who are experiencing their first holiday season in the tough post-tsunami conditions.
Cards are being accepted with no apparent deadline at the following address:
c/o Mrs. Mayumi Hoshi
Shichigahama-cho Saigai-Volunteer Center
Noyama 5-9, Yoshidahama
Shichigahama-cho, Miyagi
〒985-0802 JAPAN
ATTN: Boys and Girls
〒985-0802
宮城県 七ヶ浜町吉田浜 字野山5‐9
七ヶ浜町 災害ボランティアセンター
星真由美様 宛
少年少女達へ
For more information, check out the JET AA post on their website, http://www.jetaausa.com/2011/11/18/xmas-cards-for-tohoku-kids/.
Joanna Clark is a second-year ALT in Kahoku City. She plans to spread holiday cheer with Christmas cards and nengajō.
100% of the proceeds from 2:46 – Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake will be donated to the Japan Red Cross. The Kindle e-book is available for purchase at the US and UK Amazons. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download a FREE Kindle app for your Mac, PC, or smart phone with your purchase.
The 2:46 Quakebook project started with a tweet and is on the verge of something great, a way that we can help all those hit by the the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and its aftermath.
Led by OurManInAbiko, a call went out across Twitter for contributors to create a book to raise funds for Red Cross Japan. The idea was to share the stories and experiences of people actually on the ground during the earthquake, whilst raising funds for the Red Cross.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by this event; from those directly in the earthquake zone, the path of the tsunami, in the evacuation area around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, to those in many other areas of Japan, whose lives have been disrupted by rolling power blackouts, poor road conditions, food and water supply difficulties, and more.
The contributions in 2:46 Quakebook have come from a wide variety of sources, and include photographs, personal accounts, drawings; each telling their own tale.
All revenues from sales of the book goes directly to Red Cross, Japan. We urge you to buy the book, buy a copy as a gift, promote it, share it, tweet about it, review it, blog about it, link to it, etc.
The tale of the evolution of QuakeBook can be found under the hashtag #quakebook on Twitter.
The earthquake that just hit Sendai was measured at 7.4 (tenki.jp).
Update: all tsunami warnings have been canceled.
There are tsunami warnings issued for COASTAL regions of Miyagi, east Aomori, Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaraki. Stay up to date on the latest tsunami warnings at the Japan Meteorological Agency.
We felt the earthquake in Ishikawa at a 3 in Noto-cho, 2 in the rest of the Noto, and 1-2 in the southern regions.
For the latest news in English, check NHK World online.
This information comes to us from Marc McCrum, CIR.
With the weather improving slowly but surely and cherry blossom season just around the corner, I hope you’re all doing well despite recent events.
While already a number of projects and activities have been organized to help the people of the disaster stricken Tohoku and Kanto regions, I would like to let you all know of another charity event you might be interested in attending.
On Sunday April 17, from 18:00~21:00, Nomi-city International Friendship Association (NIFA) will be hosting a charity concert to raise funds for ongoing Tohoku/Kanto disaster relief.
Alongside local Nomi musicians, fellow JETs Creighton Hofeditz and Colin Gale have been kind enough to volunteer their time and talents and will be one of the four groups performing at the event. Please come and support them as well!
Tohoku/Kanto Disaster Relief Charity Concert in Nomi
When: Sunday April 17, 2011 (18:00~21:00)
Where: Mirai Bako Coffeehouse, Nomi-city Tokuyama-town
(石川県能美市徳山町子5−2)
Tickets: 1500 yen (1100 to charity, 400 for a drink at the venue)
Contact: Marc McCrum mccrum[AT]gmail[DOT]com if you would like to attend or for any questions.
This post is by Megan Lam, Charity Representative.
The date has been changed to Friday, 15 April!
Hope you are all enjoying spring break or already had some time off! It is finally SPRING and we’ll get to see the sakura come out soon. NEXT weekend is the Daishoji hanami and AJET would like to kick off the weekend with a chill open mic event Friday night at Apre.
We were waiting on Apre’s response and finally got the okay this weekend. We will be holding a charity fundraiser to support the AJET Relief Fund and Red Cross of Japan. We will be splitting the donations between the two charities.
Performers: Anyone is welcome to perform! This time it will be more low-key, so we won’t have a set schedule, but we would appreciate if you could e-mail us to let us know if you are interested. Please invite your friends to come perform as well!
Donations: An anonymous donor will be MATCHING however much is collected during the event up to 100,000 yen!!! Every bit counts and every yen will go towards charity for the Japan disaster relief.
Hope you can all make it this Friday.
AJET Open Mic Charity Fundraiser
Donations collected for AJET Relief Fund and Red Cross Japan
Date: April 15, 2011
Time: 9PM-11PM
Location: APRE in Katamachi
Performances: OPEN to everyone. We will have some music playing as well in between performances.
This information comes to us from Rohan, CIR PA.
If you are interested in registering yourself as a ‘disaster relief volunteer’ through Ishikawa Prefecture, you can do so by sending your information to npo[AT]pref[DOT]ishikawa[DOT]lg[DOT]jp OR fax it to 076-225-1363.
Your information must include the following details:
Your name, address, telephone number and the duration in which you can help with the aid & relief efforts. Please make a mention of your Japanese language level, too.
Please remember that the situation in the affected areas is still far from normal and it will be some time before the local administration or NPOs start accepting volunteers from outside. You may not get a chance to volunteer in spite of your registration, as volunteers will be selected based on the requirements of the affected areas.
You can find the updated information on: http://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/kenmin/saigai/vol.html
Reposted from NAJET:
For Ishikawa please visit: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/29984502
Been wondering what all the facebook statuses were about? Ready to find out what 5toSurvive is really about?
5toSurvive is an International walking/running event organised by Tom Cole, and English teacher in Ishikawa. Please see his message below to see how you can get involved, or even organise your own event!
As someone who lives in Japan, I have been both shocked at the destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami, and amazed at how people are coming together to help those in need. Watching these events unfold, I’ve had one continuous thought on my mind, ‘How can I help?’. And when I sat down to think about what I could do, I turned to what I know best: running.
As a keen runner from a young age, I have entered many races and seen what charity runs can do. Each year the London marathon raises millions for charities, and now its our turn to make a difference for Japan.
So…here’s your chance. On Sunday, April 10th, at 3:11pm I am challenging myself to run 5toSurvive — 5kms to benefit earthquake/tsunami relief — and I’m asking all of you to join me. This is an event created for everyone, no matter who or where you are, to join forces and help.
If you’re a serious runner then go for it, if you’re not then have fun! Invite some friends, put on a costume, and walk the distance with a bucket for donations along the way. The great thing is you can decide the details of your event, but you’ll be doing it with others from around the world.
The idea is to run or walk 5km and raise money by doing it. Trust me, this really is where you can make a difference. There are 47 prefectures in Japan. If one person can raise 10,000 yen per prefecture, it will be 470,000 yen. Imagine what a group of 5 or 10 of you can do! (And now imagine runs in New York, London, Toronto, LA and you see what we are going to achieve!)
It’s easy to raise money — just join the 5toSurvive team on justgiving.com and your friends and family can easily donate to GlobalGiving’s earthquake relief efforts. Here’s how you get started in a few easy steps:
STEP 1:
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Many thanks to our crack team of JETs who have been working tirelessly to get this information out: Julia Caffrey, ALT; Sophie Bocklandt, CIR; Megan Lam, AJET Charity Rep & ALT; and Bill Smith, PA. 誠にありがとうございます!
Below is a list of locations accepting donations of goods; includes restrictions and maps.
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From Dipika Soni, former JET, and Megan Lam, AJET Charity Representative:
Japan Volunteers is gathering information on how to help: gathering donations, volunteering, and a list of resources. See the site here.
Upcoming Events
