Emergency response
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Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Life can change for millions of families in an instant: natural disasters can take loved ones and the outbreak of war drive families from their homes. When the unthinkable happens, Mercy Corps delivers rapid, lifesaving aid to hard-hit communities.
All stories about Emergency response
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Japan: A very large surprise party May 23, 2011
It was my first time in Kamaishi, a three-hour drive north from the city of Ichinoseki where the Peace Winds Japan team is based.
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Japan: Epilogue: the temporary world May 19, 2011
There is a place that seems neither here nor there, but somewhere in between. It's a worried place: sometimes uncomfortable, and often lonely. It's the temporary world in which displaced tsunami survivors in Japan are living right now.
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Japan: Taking back the sea May 18, 2011
Kesennuma, Japan is a city of the sea. Before the tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, more than 85 percent of its 73,000 citizens were involved in the fishing industry in some way.
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Japan: The tree and the photograph May 16, 2011
Once not long ago, in the city of Rikuzentakata, there were 70,000 Matsu trees. These trees were planted more than 300 years ago along the city's ocean coast to keep salt water and spray from inundating precious rice paddies.
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Japan: Keeping a space safe May 15, 2011
I was really excited about today's possibilities for stories here in Japan; we were going to see Comfort for Kids activities in the city of Kesennuma. But, as soon as we arrived at our destination, everything changed.
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Japan: Roger Burks and Mao Sato amid ruins of Rikuzentakata May 14, 2011
Mercy Corps' Roger Burks (left) and Peace Winds' Mao Sato stand where some of the city of Rikuzentakata used to be.
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Japan: Forty families, forty minutes May 14, 2011
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Japan: Darkness and daylight May 13, 2011
My plane landed at Tokyo's Narita Airport at five o'clock in the afternoon. The sun set around 6:30, as we were driving into the city — and it just kept getting darker.
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Japan: Returning to Touhoku May 13, 2011
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Japan: More than a glimpse of Japan May 11, 2011
Today — two months to the day after Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami — I'm on the way to check on the progress of our emergency relief efforts. I'm writing this from an airplane; I'll land in Tokyo about 18 hours from now.