Japan
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Photo: Chris Cabatbat/Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Restore jobs and services to coastal towns heavily damaged by the March 2011 tsunami.
The context
One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded triggered a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people, spurred a nuclear crisis and caused an estimated $235 billion in damages — Japan’s worst disaster since World War II. Entire coastal communities were wiped out by the surging waters.
Our work
- Emergency response: Provided relief supplies to meet the basic needs of 42,000 people living in shelters and helped children heal from trauma after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami
- Economic opportunity: Delivering start-up grants, employment incentives and loan-interest subsidies to encourage new businesses and hiring in tsunami-affected towns
All stories about Japan
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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.
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Japan: Fun with "tacos" in Japan May 6, 2011
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Japan: Back to school again! April 23, 2011
This week brought an important step in the attempt to return to some sort of normalcy in the tsunami-affected area of Japan. School started again.
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Japan: Holding back the tears April 15, 2011
One of the most moving things for me on this job has been the number of people — almost all of them men of a certain age — we’ve spoken to who have seemed continuously on the point of tears, and yet instead of breaking down continued to do the unthanked, essential work they are doing.