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: Cardboard and creativity April 5, 2011
Our own truck turned into the parking lot and pulled up to where we were waiting at the gym.
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Japan: A disaster unlike any other April 5, 2011
Over the weekend I visited the tsunami-devastated zone of Japan's northeastern coast, and wanted to share the following observations with you. They're excerpted from an internal email I sent earlier today to Mercy Corps' global team — of which I consider you a integral member.
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Japan: Life in a high school displacement camp in Kesennuma, Japan April 4, 2011
I spent two years working in junior high schools in Japan as an English teacher, so stepping into the foyer of the Kesennuma Junior High School had a familiar feeling. What was inside, however, was anything but normal.
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Japan: Starting to build after Japan's tsunami April 2, 2011
It's hard to describe the desolation left by a tsunami, because there is so little left that is nameable.
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Japan: Final impressions of Japan April 1, 2011
As I prepare to leave Japan, there are so many impressions of this disaster and the Japanese people that stick in my mind. I’d like to share a few.
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Japan: Q&A with Peace Winds' Natsu Nogami March 30, 2011
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Japan: “We have bread and rice” March 28, 2011
Northern Japan is struggling to get back to business. Riding through Kesennuma town in Miyagi Prefecture, we saw checkered activity: some stores destroyed, others being gutted and cleaned, still others with doors wide open and — in some very lucky cases — their lights on.
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Japan: Three-year-old Rin Suzuki, displaced tsunami survivor March 26, 2011
Rin Suzuki, age 3, has been living in the Kesennuma gymnasium with her parents for two weeks.
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Japan: Helping the Japan tsunami’s littlest survivors March 26, 2011
The youngest survivors of disasters are often the most resilient, but also the most fragile. While earthquakes and tsunamis rob children of the same things that most adults hold dear — homes, families, friends — kids lack adult coping mechanisms. The emotional toll can be devastating.
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Japan: Neighbors for 33 years March 25, 2011