11th March 2011: Around 3.30 pm tsunami hits the Tohoku region of Japan. 20,000 people die; the region is utterly devastated..
The directors of Rose Charities and AMDA Canada pay tribute to...
The AMDA Japan emergency relief teams who were in the region within hours of the disaster. Day by day more AMDA personnel, nurses, physicians, logisticians, counselor
teams were sent to the area who fanned out into all the affected regions to provide emergency relief, shelter and support. At the same time tons of materials, supplies from all over Japan were shipped in by the truckload
The AMDA relief work still continues, now more in the form of community rehabilitation, school assistance and health clinics
The people of Vancouver, Steveston, and Richmond BC. who, through two fundraisers partly assisted by Rose Charities Canada and AMDA Canada, as well as a general appeal contributed some $85000 to the AMDA relief efforts. These included $10,000 from the Johrei Fellowship, Richmond, and over $19,000 from Aero Trading Co. Ltd. (
aerovan@aerotrading.ca). A fundraising dinner put on by CIEAF, Stevesdon Community Center, Steveston Buddhist Temple and Kayama Enterprises Ltd, raised $35000 (see photo right). A second fundraiser, including sales of photographs donated of the Tohoku region, put on my Ms's Mari Myiasaka and Tsuneko Ishii and sponsored by the Fraser Magazine (
www.thefraser.com) raised around $15,000
The people of Sechelt and Sunshine Coast .B.C. who, though a beautifully organized fundraiser partly by the renowned Garden Bay artist Motoko (
www.motokoart.com ) raised around $15000 for both the Red Cross and AMDA relief efforts
The UK Shiatsu groups (many) and Shiatsu Society UK who donated generously via Rose Charities UK to the AMDA relief effort
To all you people who rose to assistance of the suffering of the people of the Tohoku region in Japan, we thank you. Your generosity will not be forgotten.
And to the people of Tohoku: we salute your quiet bravery and your dignity. It is almost impossible to imagine your losses, but we are with you and will remain with you in our thoughts. You are inspirational in the visage that you have shown to the world in this terrible time.
