Update on the Japan relief efforts – Don’t send stuff or volunteers
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:35 am
Good news out of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today.
“One of Japan’s biggest oil refineries in Yokohama, which had been shut down after the earthquakes, has
resumed operation today. It has capacity to provide 270,000 barrels of oil per day, which is expected to ease the current fuel shortage in the affected areas.”
The fuel shortage has been one of the biggest issues hindering the relief efforts. So this is predicted to greatly speed up the relief efforts. Roads and ports are being cleared and repaired which also helps in the relief efforts. From the same situation update:
“MSF says the situation in Minami-Sanriku and the communities between Kesennuma and Miyako on the coastline of northern Miyagi is improving rapidly as the delivery of a large number of relief items is now possible with the restoration of major roads.”
There is also the coordinated collection and distribution of goods from the private sector:
“Japan’s Federation of Economic Organisations has a relief items transportation hotline scheme to support the affected populations. The Federation is appealing for its 1,600 member companies and organizations to send specified items such as food and hygiene products to designated location.”
A coordinated distribution effort is far better and more effcient than individuals sending over and distributing goods themselves. If you must send goods, I urge you to coordinate this through that network instead of through the post. But bear in mind that most goods are available in Japan. As one insider noted:
I work for a rather large “Gov. NGO” and our Japan teams are already having problems with the postal system becoming clogged…This isn’t “stopping the relief effort” because relief has priority over Yubin post, but it is creating dependency on it because it clogs the normal delivery system with SWEDOW (no need for US socks) and delays shift back to non aid supply. And all these little efforts add up badly: I’ve already had 12 NGOs in Japan talk to me about doing similar thing from Taiwan, UK, Canada…
Finally, the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC) and the Japan Platform have released a joint statement to nonprofit coordinating platforms. Their main messages in their statement can be summarized as:
- Don’t come right now, as it is still the emergency response phase.
- Check before you come to find out if your help is needed and what type of help is needed the most.
- If you do come, stay in close communication with the local authorities and organizations.
- Consider supporting the local institutions set up to respond to disasters as many of them have lost their resources in the disaster.
- Don’t bring over volunteers, there are thousands of Japanese volunteers ready to help.
—–
Related posts:
Giving to local organizations in Japan
6 questions you should ask before sending donated goods overseas
Don’t go to Haiti – could also be Don’t go to Japan
Well-intended attempts to help after a disaster may make a confusing situation worse
The problem with stop and droppers
« Charitable Advertising, Media, and Public Perception • Giving to local organizations in Japan »
Comments
Sandra, here is another British newspaper article about the giving of aid to the Japanese. Sadly it appears from here that few get it.
[...] Update on the recovery efforts in Japan: don’t send stuff or volunteers [...]
[...] Others have written as well about the question of whether Japan needs/wants help from outside groups such as Stephanie Strom at the New York Times and Saundra Schimmelpfennig at Good Intentions Are Not Enough. [...]
[...] Intentions are not enough has a ton of advice on if and how to donate to Japan as a response to the current crisis, plus some general advice on “dos [...]
[...] in following the relief efforts in Japan and how our community can help, this blog, specifically these three posts, has very good summaries on what types of things we can do from the US that will not [...]
[...] Update on the Japan relief efforts: Don’t send stuff or volunteers [...]
So, from what i have gotten out of this, Japan is saying that they don’t really need our help at the moment because it is still recent and chaotic over there to try and cooperate and organize with foreign aid. Will Japan be more open to foreign help after this period of initial shock is over and they have had time to regain composure? It seems more like they just want to deal with this themselves with some support from certain NGO’s. I think i may just be a little bit confused when it comes to what Japan is allowing other countries to do and how much help as well as what type of help they want and or need. The main think i can really think of is that too much foreign assistance may make things more hectic at this point in the relief effort.
I don’t think Japan will be asking for foreign assistance in the future. I think they’ll continue to allow in only a handful of international nonprofits to help with very specific technical issues and with very limited roles.
This is looking like it’s going to be a mostly Japanese recovery effort. So all the nonprofits that aggressively raised money for this are now going to be inundating the local nonprofits trying to “partner” with them. In other words they’ll give them the money they raised but the organizations then have to submit financial and program reports back to the international nonprofits.
Christoff, I don’t believe the Japanese government will be open to foreign aid after this period of initial shock is over. Japan does not have a very good history of cooperating with other countries in ODA, I can’t imagine them being very cooperative in receiving aid. Not necessarily out of principle either, it’s really a policy and bureaucracy issue. In addition civil society in Japan is really not that well developed – usually NGOs exist for some singular local issues and it’s often mainly university kids with time on their hands. It’s not like Thailand where there were long-established INGOs who could immediately go into action (whether the govt wanted them to or not…)
Japan was very well prepared in terms of physical infrastructure to withstand a disaster, but in terms of relief and recovery there is very little in terms of the governance infrastructure to handle it.
Essentially it’s not just a matter of foreign assistance making things more hectic, it’s that the Japanese system is not very adaptive or responsive in general – look at the terribly poor communication since this began. If communicating with the Japanese public, let alone foreign governments is such a challenge, suddenly cooperating with foreign governments or even NGOs seems to be impossible. I wouldn’t say it is an issue of regaining composure or even a country’s pride in handling things themselves, it’s a bureaucracy issue. If there is no formal policy about receiving aid or working with NGOs, then it would be difficult for the large bureaucracy to act fast in responding.
That being said, considering the unfolding scandal in the management of the Fukushima nuclear facility it would be very surprising if the government were to allow foreigners anywhere near the situation.
As it was only one area of Japan that was damaged, supporting Japanese industries – including tourism outside of the capital region – would be a very helpful way to support Japan at this time.
Sorry for taking up so much space on your blog Saundra, this is the place I send people when they ask about making donations. So thank you for your insightful articles.