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Japan

Japan: Earthquake and Tsunami 36 Month Report

Attachments

Glide no. EQ-2011-000028-JPN

Period covered by this report: 11 March 2011 – 31 March 2014

1. Executive Summary:

Not a single agency alone has ever managed to respond to the scale of the disaster, the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET), which devastated the north-eastern part of Japan on 11 March 2011.

The World Bank estimated the economic cost as US$235 billion, or equivalent to JPY24 trillion1 , making it the most expensive loss from the natural disasters in the world. In corresponding to this, Japan received from overseas the biggest humanitarian funds mobilized in 2011, i.e. JPY164 billion2 at the very least, to help victims of the disaster.

The Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) received JPY 431 billion from both domestic and overseas donors which are made up of JPY 309 billion from the domestic donors and JPY 122 billion from overseas donors (equivalent to 73% of the funds Japan received from overseas).

Along with numerous individual and public/private institutions which provided through JRCS generous donations to Cash Grant Scheme, 100 Partner National Societies (PNS) has supported the JRCS Relief and Recovery Operation to date. This contribution, amounted to JPY 60 billion, led JRCS to embark for the first time since its establishment on a large-scale recovery operation within Japanese territory.

GEJET brought JRCS a window of opportunity to learn from experience and strive for the best of its capacity. The JRCS experience and lessons, especially on the nuclear accident, will be feeding into the learning of the entire International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (see below column).

While many have been achieved in the past three years, we recognize that the recovery process cannot terminate routinely and categorically at the end of the project period. While the plight of the survivors prolonged, especially for those from Fukushima who suffered the combined impact of the triple disaster, JRCS remains active in delivering the assistance for years to come.