２０１６年の台風１０号の時、岩泉町で津波後使った３つの仮設住宅がもう一回開けて、それに７の新しい仮設住宅を開かれました。その１０か所の中で、一つは人々がみんなすでに出て、最近間壊されました。みんながすでに出た他のか所もあり、残っている人々が少なくなって、３月まで出る予定があります。来年全部仮設住宅が壊されるでしょう。回復した時代に入っているのは楽しみにしています。被災地のみんなの住まいだけではなく、心も１００％回復ができるように、そして北三陸キリスト教会がやるフォローアップのために祈ってください。 ... See MoreSee Less
岩泉・野田・田之畑・譜代にある北三陸キリスト教会のボランティアセンターが野田村、譜代村・田野畑村・岩泉町（小本も）で行った台風１９号の活動について最後のリポートです。祈りをありがとうございました。短く言えば、この北三陸エリアは台風１９号から大部回復しました。今時間がないので、とりあえず英語だけで下に細かいことを書きました（すみません）。
Typhoon 19 Volunteer Activities Report. Kita Sanriku Kirisuto Kyoukai is the local church for Noda Village, Fudai Village, Tanohata Village, and Iwaizumi Town (Iwaizumi includes downtown Iwaizumi, Kado/Horowata in Kogawa, Akka, Okawa, Ugei/Soiri, and Omoto—which were merged into one town in the 1950s). As such, this church’s volunteer center serves as the window for Christian volunteers coming throughout Japan and the world to help serve these communities. Kita Sanriku Kirisuto Kyoukai and volunteers who have come have been serving these four towns/villages since 2011 or early 2012, both in volunteer work with the elderly and kids; tsunami, 2016 typhoon 10, and 2019 typhoon 19 disaster relief/recovery work; and church work so we are able to receive volunteers very quickly after a disaster impacting any of these four towns. We also receive short-term mission teams from Japan or abroad regularly to assist with the church plant and community service.
We are thankful to volunteers who served from Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Japan (Noda, Iwaizumi, Morioka) in cooperation with Kita Sanriku Kirisuto Kyoukai’s volunteer center to do mudouts, other cleanup, and offer a listening ear and opportunity to process things in community via gatherings in response to 2019 typhoon 19 which impacted all four of these communities—some for the third time--but the greatest impact was in Fudai Village. Kita Sanriku Kirisuto Kyoukai’s volunteer center cooperated with the Fudai Town volunteer center, providing 1% of their total volunteers and working in 3% of the impacted homes or businesses, as well as serving other volunteers via providing refreshments at the end of the work day. Kita Sanriku Kirisuto Kyoukai church members and volunteers also served in the typhoon 19 response to a more limited extent in Noda Village and Omoto (the impacted part of Iwaizumi Town) as there was less damage in these areas. There were not enough volunteers this time to also serve Tanohata. All the town volunteer centers closed in mid-November once the basic need for cleanup of homes had been met. Thanks especially to Robyn who was covering for me while I was temporarily in the U.S. when typhoon19 occurred so coordinated the volunteer activities through mid-November in my absence.
Impacts to agricultural fields and some yards remain, but most homes, businesses, streets, outbuildings, and driveways have been cleaned up at this point. There are also some who chose not to request help with mud outs for personal reasons, but may change their mind in the future. Generally, the much harder ground in the winter means that such residual needs are often best addressed in the Spring and just prior to planting season. So we’ll reassess in the Spring to see if another round of volunteer help is or is not needed.
This time, unlike the tsunami and 2016 typhoon 10, there was no need to build temporary housing, though some entered existing public housing while they fix their home or rebuild. The scale of impact in these four towns was much less than the other two disasters, allowing a far more rapid basic cleanup/recovery. Also, in the majority of cases, homes were damaged but reparable this time, with only a small subset being unrepairable—the opposite of the pattern in the prior two disasters. Some possessions were damaged or destroyed, especially on the first floors, but more were salvageable or undamaged than in the other two disasters since the depth of the water/mud was generally much lower. Some damage was from flooding, and other damage from landslides. But for the minority who lost most possessions or whose homes are not reparable, the depth or degree of loss is quite great even though the number of total homes impacted was much lower.
At least one person in this area also lost their life in typhoon 19. Also, for those who have experienced two or three of the disasters personally, it is especially hard. Even some of the most resilient have grown weary from the cumulative effect of the series of disasters.
Please pray for those who are still recovering physically or emotionally.
As the local church, we will continue to follow up.
In addition to helping with physical cleanup, Kita Sanriku Kirisuto Kyoukai’s volunteer center held November gatherings and/or December Christmas events in all four impacted communities for encouragement, and continues to hold ongoing heart care/community building/senior citizen salons/cafes monthly in Omoto and Noda and less frequently in Fudai and Tanohata.
Regarding donations, 16,000 yen in total donations were received (from a church in Hirakawa Aomori) by the church volunteer center related to typhoon 19. A portion of this was used to cover gasoline costs for transporting volunteers from the base to the homes served and meeting room rental and supplies like coffee and snacks for related events. The remaining amount will be donated to individuals whose homes and businesses were directly impacted.
In addition to operating a disaster response volunteer center, Kita Sanriku Christ Church which started in early 2012 (with preliminary activities in 2011) currently also offers weekly worship services in Noda and Iwaizumi (and will in additional areas when there is sufficient interest), holds monthly neighborhood salons/cafes in Shinmachi Noda, Horowata Kogawa, Nakashima, Nakasato, and downtown Omoto, and periodic similar gatherings in Fudai, Tanohata, Shimoakka and downtown Noda, Omoto’s Konari and Nakasato in Iwaizumi, and Otomo and downtown Iwaizumi. We have for years and may soon again hold similar salons also in Kado and Akka once a suitable post-recovery meeting place can be located.
So if anyone wants to help with ongoing volunteer and church work in these four towns/villages or in the future if there is another disaster impacting this area (hopefully not), please contact dawndb1@hotmail.com or call 080-6388-3880 as far ahead as possible to volunteer.
Thanks again to those who prayed, gave, or volunteered! ... See MoreSee Less
