We would like to extend our sincerest condolences to those who lost their lives to this disaster and to express our deepest sympathies to their families and all those who have been affected by this disaster.
The prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima (southwestern Japan) were hit by record heavy rains from the night of July 3. As the heavy rain continued across the region, extensive damage was caused in various places.
AAR began researching on aid needs from July 4th, sharing information with disability-related organizations. From July 5th, we started running soup kitchen in collaboration with another non-profit organization, Peace Project, at the evacuation centers in Ashikita Town and Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture.
"The water came up to the second floor of my house. I can't go home."
Many of the people who were evacuated seemed very worried. When serving the food, we received comments such as, "I feel relieved with warm meal like this. Thank you." 86-year-old woman at the evacuation center said "The water came up to the second floor of my house. I can't go home. I appreciate you for preparing warm handmade food for us. It was very nice and comforting. Thank you". We continue to run our soup kitchen hoping that the people at the evacuation center feel safer by our warm handmade food. |
| Japanese curry was prepared on July 7th. We ask for each person to come get their meal to reduce the risk of COVID-19. |
Supporting disability welfare facilities
From July 9th, we have started supporting welfare facilities and a nursery school in Yatsushiro City, Hitoyoshi City and Amakusa City. "Shiroi canvas fukushi kai, White Canvas Welfare Society" is a Social welfare facility in Hitoyoshi City, which mainly support people with intellectual disabilities for their employment opportunities. The facility suffered enormous damages from this disaster.We came to know about their damage severity while investigating the damage situation by sharing information with disability-related organizations and proceeded to distribute emergency relief supplies for facility restoration. We have provided commercial fan, work gloves, drum extension cord, work clothes, boots, alcohol disinfectant, and masks. The director of the facility, Mr. Takashi Imasaka said “All the staffs were out cleaning to restore as soon as possible, so it was really helpful to have the relief supplies delivered.”
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| "Shiroi canvas fukushi kai, White Canvas Welfare Society" on July 9th. |
In the event of such large-scale disasters, AAR prioritizes supporting disability welfare facilities and groups with disabilities, since their specific needs tend to go unmet. This time under the COVID-19 pandemic, we took all the measures to ensure that we won’t be the cause of virus spreading. We dispatched the minimum number of people from other prefectures and those dispatched from areas with high infections underwent PCR testing. And support activities are being carried out with the utmost care.
Please donate to supporting people in the disaster-stricken areas suffering from the double difficulties of COVID-19 and this heavy rain.
