DEMIRA - 100 Days after the Disaster in Japan

Munich, 18.06.2011. DEMIRA is continuing to provide assistance to the affected people one hundred days after Japan’s triple disaster. On the 11th March an earthquake followed by a Tsunami caused widespread damage in northern Japan. The disaster claimed more than 15,400 lives and a further 8,100 are still missing. It is estimated that as many as 90,000 people are still residing in emergency shelters three months after the disaster.

The Japanese government and the local authorities are well prepared for natural disasters such as earthquakes however, the scale of this multiple disaster is much larger than any they have encountered before; large areas of northern Japan were completely destroyed. DEMIRA’s relief aid distribution operation supports the aid efforts of the local Japanese authorities and emergency services operating the disaster area by ensuring a constant coordinated supply and distribution of aid to the affected areas. DEMIRA has focused much of its relief efforts around the city of Rikuzentakata in the heavily affected Iwate province. Since the 22nd of March DEMIRA has been providing 83 emergency shelters with water, blankets, clothes and food five times a week.

There are thousands of people still living in emergency shelters in Rikuzentakata since the Japanese authorities have only been able to clear parts of the rubble and debris to make way for new houses. Through the provision of regular aid deliveries DEMIRA has ensured the people of the city and its surroundings have enough to eat.
The aid distribution is being coordinated by DEMIRA’s project manager Kjeld Duits who lives in Japan. All aid supplies were purchased in Japan so that the specific cultural needs are catered for. The relief items were then loaded onto trucks and transported to the north of the country. DEMIRA will continue to assist the people in the emergency shelters as long as is required

DEMIRA e.V. is a humanitarian, charitable, non-governmental organisation (NGO), which is non-religious and politically independent. It was founded in 1996 in order to provide humanitarian mine clearance, EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), and emergency medical aid to people living in postwar countries and to victims of natural disasters and civil unrest. DEMIRA provides relief irrespective of race, sex, religion, or political orientation.

DEMIRA Deutsche Minenräumer e.V.
Hartmannstraße 8
80333 Munich
Tel.: 089/29165620
Mariem Pusina
mariem.pusina@demira.org
www.demira.org

This release was published on openPR.