Magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, which triggered tsunami and caused major devastation in the area. On October 1, 2018, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) staff reached the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and began assessing the situation to identify the needs to provide emergency relief assistance to those in need.

As of now, the death toll has bee reported as 832, however the number is expected to increase as parts of the island still lacks communication means.

On September 14, Peace Winds Japan/A-PAD Japan Search and SAR and emergency response teams arrived in the Philippines ahead of Typhoon Mangkhut (local name: Ompong) was to make a landfall in northern Philippines. The team was met with our local partners, Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC), APAD-Philippines. and received briefing of the situation.

Typhoon Mangkhut kept its strength as category 5, and landed in the northeastern Luzon island early Saturday morning on September 15.

One year passed since the beginning of the exodus of an estimated 706,000 Rohingya refugees from Rakhine State, Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh following what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called a “textbook example” of ethnic cleansing. The newly arrived Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar have joined hundreds of thousands who were part of previous waves of displacement from Myanmar.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Lombok island, Indonesia, which destroyed more than 1,000 houses and buildings, and over 10,000 people to evacuate and claimed dozens of lives.

Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) has formed a emergency response team with its partner organizations, Asia Pacific Alliance (A-PAD) and Civic Force, consisted with Search and Rescue staff, medical staff, as well as emergency relief staff, and the team will arrive shortly in Lombok to assess the extent and impact of the damage to determine the needs for the emergency response activities.

In response to a large influx of refugees from South Sudan, in December 2016, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) first began our projects installing water tanks, and repair of public water taps. then constructed water distribution system with solar pumps, PWJ also built semi-permanent latrines. All these works were targeted to support “Persons with Specific Needs (PSN)” at Bidibidi refugee settlement, the world’s largest refugee settlement. PSN population includes highly vulnerable persons such as elderly, handicapped, pregnant, single mother and child headed household.