Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund

This is a personal message from Mari Kuraishi, President and Co-Founder of GlobalGiving.

To the generous donors of GlobalGiving's Japan Relief Fund,

This coming March 11th will mark the two-year anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.   A year ago, Britt and I visited our partners' project sites.  While we were happy to see that the projects were making remarkable progress, we were also overwhelmed by the sight of the damage that the earthquake and tsunami brought to Tohoku.

Japan still has a long way to recover, and our partners on the ground are working hard to help rebuild the communities affected by the disaster.  With your donations, children in Fukushima can go to summer camps and play outside without worrying about radiation.  We supported our partner who ran special career sessions for junior high school students in Tohoku, so that they will continue to be motivated about their future.  We sent young entrepreneurs like Naoko to Tohoku so that they can start businesses to revitalize local economic growth.  I believe that the youth that you have helped through our fund will become  the next generation of leaders.  

I personally would like to thank you for supporting the recovery effort.  I am touched how you continuously contributed to the fund throughout these past two years.  Today, I'd like to ask you to consider giving again.  To honor the two-year anniversary, GlobalGiving is running a special matching campaign for projects that are working in Tohoku.  We are matching your donations 100% from March 1st to the 15th, and on March 11th, we are matching the donations 200%.   

I appreciate you standing with us for supporting the Japanese people.  On this day, I hope that you will join me reflecting on the loss the people have gone through and the ongoing recovery efforts.

Warmly,
Mari

Dear GlobalGiving donors,

We work with 20 organizations that are helping Japanese people recover from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  For example, ETIC helped Naoko rebuild a shopping area that had been destroyed. The new shopping area is now revitalizing the local economy.  In Minamisanriku-cho, Architecture for Humanity is about to finish up rebuilding a workplace for fishermen in the tsunami-stricken area.  You can read more updates directly from the field here.  Your donations have made it possible for our partners to restore the communities.  Thank you!

Links:

• Click here to find projects participating in Japan Matching!
• More Updates from Our Partners!

Summer has come and gone in Tohoku, and our partners made a lot of progress in the field.  Their activities included providing fishermen oars, running a summer camp for children in Fukushima, and rebuilding community houses.  We'd like to thank you once again for your generosity in donating to the Tsunami Relief Fund that is supporting our partners to do incredible work in Tohoku.

Here are some of the activities our partners accomplished over the summer:
Peace Winds America
Peace Winds is restoring livelihoods and accelerating economic recovery by supporting fishing cooperatives and their members.  In 2012, Peace Winds and cooperatives in Minami-Sanriku are working to support the seasonal needs of fishermen.  Most recently, Peace Winds and the cooperative leaders developed a plan to enable abalone and sea urchin fishermen to return to work. Peace Winds and the cooperatives are targeting fishing equipment support to 500 Minami-Sanriku abalone and sea urchin fishermen.  To support Peace Winds’ activities, GlobalGiving awarded them an additional $150,000 to provide fishing sheds to families in Minami-Sanriku.

Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR Japan)
AAR Japan has been working in Tohoku area to support the disabled, rebuild communities, and provide medical services.  Recently, GlobalGiving funded AAR with a grant of $500,000 to support these activities in the nuclear-affected area of Fukushima as well. In Fukushima, AAR Japan runs activities such as organizing community events at temporary housing complexes for young and old to get together and overcome isolation, preparing contamination-free playgrounds for children, and reconstructing social welfare facilities for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and the elderly.  To learn more about their project in Fukushima, please click here. 

Safecast
Safecast is a global project working to empower people with data, primarily by mapping radiation levels and building a sensor network, enabling people to both contribute and freely use the data collected. After the 3/11 earthquake and resulting nuclear situation at Fukushima Daiichi it became clear that people wanted more data than what was available. Safecast has been building a radiation sensor network comprised of static and mobile sensors actively being deployed around Japan.  They installed 3 million data points so far, and planning on installing more.  Safecast received an additional grant of $100,000 to help them scale the production of radiation monitoring devices.

ETIC
ETIC is training and matching 200 young aspiring entrepreneurs (fellows) with 100 social business leaders that are heading reconstruction efforts to rebuild Tohoku through economic empowerment in three years (from Jun 2011 to Mar 2014). ETIC recently summarized fellows’ activities into a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q643Ls1Ti40&feature=youtu.be.  GlobalGiving is continuing to support these young entrepreneurs for the next two years with an additional $500,000 from the fund.

If you would like to read additional updates, please visit our Japan Relief and Recovery updates page. Thank you so much for your support and your continued interest!

We would like to thank you for your continued support; grants are still going strong! Because of donors like you we are excited to announce the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund’s recent allocation of $425,000 to 3 projects working to reconstruct and strengthen communities affected by the earthquake and tsunami.  

Here are some project highlights:

Fukushima Kids Executive Committee

Due to the dangers caused by the damaging of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant children in the area are unable to play outside. The Fukushima Kids Executive Committee is working towards restoring playtime by hosting summer camps in Hokkaido for children in the Fukushima area. Getting kids outside during their vacation time and restoring play lightens the children’s spirits in a time of uncertainty. Having opened in 2011, Fukushima Kids’ Summer Camp is excited to open again for the summer of 2012 and is hoping to reach 1,000 kids. Thanks to your generous support Fukushima Kids Executive Committee is receiving $200,000 in funding!

IsraAid

After the events of March 2011 persons living in danger areas were forced to move to temporary housing communities (kasetsu-jutaku). IsraAid continues to work with people of all ages living in temporary housing areas and is launching an exciting new youth leadership project, Rebuilding Lives-Investing in the Future, in Tohoku, Japan. The project aims to empower participants and build leadership, social innovation and social responsibility through a series of trainings, seminars and workshops, which focus on areas such as, leadership training, social program structuring and mentoring. We are excited to announce that IsraAid is receiving $100,000 in funding!

Telecom for Basic Human Needs 

During times of disaster radio often becomes an integral communication tool. Radio stations provide vital information to communities and lessen feelings of isolation. Though reconstruction of Japan’s devastated areas is under way the support and information radio provides is still valued in many communities. Having seen the effectiveness of radio stations and the important role they play in the recovery and rebuilding process of communities, Telecom for Basic Human Needs is working to turn disaster stations into permanent community-based radio stations. Thanks to your support Telecom for Basic Human Needs is receiving $125,000 in funding!

If you would like to read additional updates, please visit our Japan Relief and Recovery updates page. Thank you so much for your support and your continued interest!