The Leading Disaster Relief Agency Civic Force

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2018/04/05

【News Letter Vol.14】

 

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Seven years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. What have we learned from the unprecedented disaster? How far have we made a progress in the recovery effort?

Civic Force started the emergency support the next day of the disaster. Our activities have been backed by the donations and many companies, which took advantage of their strength for supporting us. The new network with the companies which was established in the wake of the disaster recovery effort also functioned well for the support activities in Kumamoto Earthquake and Northern Kyushu Torrential Rain. The move led to the creation of the Social Emergency Management Alliance, SEMA in summer 2017. SEMA is expected to send the members’ supplies and services to affected areas, when a disaster happens, to reduce the victims’ and local governments’ burden and to facilitate the recovery process. As of March 2018, 23 companies and six organizations are the SEMA member.

In addition, the Common Benefit Investment Fund Japan, former the Fund for Supporting Revitalization of Business, which was established by the donations for Civic Force originally, is supporting to vitalize not only Tohoku region but also the disaster-affected areas in Kumamoto and the depopulated areas in Hiroshima. The Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management, A-PAD, which was established in 2013 in Asia-Pacific region – where people are suffering a lot of disasters, is developing its activity as a platform which promotes mutual cooperation, putting aside the difference of countries and institutions.

As Japan is a disaster-prone country, we have many public support systems for disaster victims. However, these support programs are not necessarily enough when a disaster scale they face is large. To cover the insufficiency, private sector entities involved in the public interests must empower and grow themselves. We are required to address digital divide issues and to distribute relief supplies evenly throughout the disaster hit areas by collaborating with public institutions. We will be trying and do our best to keep suitable to receive your donations.

NewsLetter Vol.14eng.pdf