By Miyoko Ishigami

MORIOKA, Japan, May 29 (KUNA) -- With financial backing from Kuwait, a mental health care center for children who suffered psychological damage from the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster was inaugurated in northeastern Japan on Wednesday.

Using a fund generated from Kuwait's USD two million donation through the Japanese Red Cross Society, the 800-sq-meter Iwate Children Care Center was built on the premises of Iwate Medical University in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture.

Period covered by this Operations Update: 1 January 2013 – 31 March 2013

Highlights:

Operations Update No. 11 captures the activities of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) over the past three months.

• During this reporting period, the second anniversary of the disaster was commemorated. JRCS has completed a number of reconstruction projects, while many early recovery support programmes for displaced people have come to an end.

Town was hit by 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

The Singapore Red Cross, together with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local Shichigahama officials today opened the Shichigahama Toyama Nursery School, marking a major milestone in the rebuilding efforts following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The ceremony was attended by Guest-of-Honour Mr Sam Tan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Culture, Community and Youth and Mr Yoshio Watanabe, Mayor of Shichigahama Town.

By David Tereshchuk *

April 2, 2013—Among the many ways that UMCOR (the United Methodist Committee on Relief) has been helping the Japanese people recover from their 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis, few can be quite as heartening as its support for the Horikawa Aiseien Children’s Home.

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

MINAMISANRIKU, Japan, Mar 19 2013 (IPS) - As a survivor of Japan’s deadliest tsunami in living memory, Shun Ito dedicates his mornings to evoking stories of heroism that helped to save lives in this port town that was decimated on that fateful March afternoon two years ago.

Two names – Miki Endo and Takeshi Miura – frame the narrative that 37-year-old Ito shares with visitors as he guides them through this once quiet fishing resort, which still bears the scars of devastation left by the powerful waves on Mar. 11, 2011.

Two years after a 9.0-earthquake struck Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami and subsequent radiation crisis, International Medical Corps is continuing to work with local partners to reach families with critical services in Fukushima Prefecture.

By Yuki Matsuoka

KOBE, 11 March 2013 - UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström today announced that children from Japan who continue to live with the consequences of the Great East Japan Earthquake, will attend the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in May.

March 11th, Tokyo / Geneva: Two years on from the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, thousands of survivors have benefited from a variety of programmes carried out by the Japanese Red Cross which range from caring for the psychosocial needs of the elderly to the reconstruction of major hospitals.

By Yuki Matsuoka

KOBE, 11 March 2013 - Almost two years after the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake, UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström paid a return visit to one of the worst-affected towns, Minami-Sanriku, in Miyagi Prefecture, and met with the Mayor, Mr. Jin Sato.

Minami-Sanriku was hard hit by the March 11 tsunami. The town lost 566 of its 17,300 inhabitants, and 226 are still unaccounted for. The damage was immense, 3,142 houses were completely washed away and another 169 severely damaged and left uninhabitable.