On March 9 and 10, Second Harvest Asia (2HA) Executive Director Yusuke Wada visited the disaster area in Northern Japan. 2HA President and Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) CEO Charles McJilton ran a marathon of 227 kilometers from Ofunato in Iwate Prefecture to Soma in Fukushima Prefecture. Yusuke Wada accompanied McJilton as a support crew and saw different areas where buildings and roads still haven’t been fixed. 2HA’s sister organization, 2HJ, is distributing food regularly in the region even a year after the disaster.
Charles is passing by a damaged gas station in Miyagi.
We saw many ships and trucks like this aground by the roads.
Charles passes by the wrecked ship. It was a very surreal scene.
This elementary school in Yamamoto, Miyagi, was hit by the tsunami. The school principal decided to evacuate 90 school children onto the roof of the building, and they survived.
We were able to see the inside of the school gymnasium. The inside was totally destroyed, and it felt unsafe to walk around in the building.
This was also in Yamamoto, Miyagi. There was a driving school here, and 25 students lost their lives when the school didn’t choose to evacuate them immediately. We saw a bereaved family was visiting the alter. We paid respect to the make-shift alter here.
2HA and 2HJ continue to support the area. 2HJ has already started to extend its support to Yamamoto, which came to our attention in this marathon. Please join our efforts to support the region. 2HJ is sending trucks full of food and also sending food packages regularly to the families in temporary houses in the region.
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Second Harvest Asia will develop the regional food bank network in Asia to share best practices and experiences with other food banks. We hold online meetings regularly with Asian food bank members. If you are interested in joining our regional network, please contact us at info@secondharvestasia.org.
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