Offering a hand to Japan
THE president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) this week offered the local Jewish community’s help in Japan’s recovery effort.
THE president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) this week offered the local Jewish community’s help in Japan’s recovery effort.
On Friday, Japan was rocked by a 9-magnitude earthquake, which triggered a once-in-a-thousand-years tsunami with waves of up to 10 metres high.
Up to 10,000 people are believed to have died and an estimated four million people have been left homeless, with food, fuel and fresh water in short supply in many areas.
The natural disasters also left one of Japan’s nuclear power facilities seriously damaged, posing a significant public health threat.
ECAJ president Dr Danny Lamm wrote this week to Shigekazu Sato, Japan’s Ambassador to Australia, expressing his condolences over the loss of life, injuries sustained and damage to property in Japan.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who have been killed and the thousands who are still missing,” Dr Lamm said. “We pray especially for the speedy rescue of people who are still trapped.”
He added the Jewish community was watching the changing situation and “remains ready, with other Australians, to make a contribution to assist in the recovery effort”.
While Israel has joined the relief effort, no Australian Jewish charities are currently collecting to assist our northern neighbours.
On a global Jewish level, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has launched an appeal and is partnering with the Japanese Jewish community and a local charity operating in the decimated Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
Will Recant, who is coordinating the JDC’s Japan relief appeal, told The AJN the organisation’s decades of experience meant it identified early the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis facing the Japanese.
“It was the quake, which led to the tsunami, which led to the level of displaced people and to the level of their humanitarian needs,” he said, adding the areas struck were densely populated.
Through his connections with the local Jewish community, which numbers around 4500, Recant heard a heartwarming tale.
“There was a wonderful story of a Jewish woman in New York, whose sister was living and working in Sendai,” he recalled. “They were incommunicado for three days and finally reached each other.”
It turned out the sister had been busy volunteering to help others worse affected than herself.
JDC initially sent money to its Japanese partner organisation to help the immediate relief effort. Now it is helping to prepare a container of food and fresh water to be dispatched.
Asked whether international humanitarian assistance is really required in a developed country that has one of the world’s biggest economies, Recant answered emphatically. “The human need is there in the first world, as well as in the third-world countries,” he said.
He added that when humanitarian crises occur in other areas, Japan is usually among the most generous contributors.
NAOMI LEVIN
Image: The earthquake and tsunami have caused immense damage in Japan.
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