‘Vegetable Supporters’ Activities Monthly Report of July (The NGO Collaboration Center for Hanshin Quake Rehabilitation)
The NGO Collaboration Center in Hyogo has been purchasing agricultural products from farmers in the areas affected by the eruption of Mount Shinmoe in Miyazaki prefecture, with donations by Vegetable Supporters, and delivering them to the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Thanks to your support, in July, we made 207 shipments (452 boxes) to different areas in East Japan from Miyazaki, and since the first shipment on March 13th we have made approximately 930 shipments to over 35 locations, delivering more than 5,770 boxes of vegetables, juice, sweets, meat, etc. Some of the supporters have made continuous donations, e.g. making multiple donations, or monthly donations, which makes it possible for us to continue this activity even now that 5 months have already passed since the earthquake. We really appreciate the support.
As for the situation in the affected areas in East Japan, a lot of shelters have been closed, and more and more people have moved to temporary houses and are cooking for themselves. Therefore, vegetables are delivered to houses and temporary houses by the organizations and cooperators working in those areas. As for the types of vegetables we deliver, due to the hot weather, leafy vegetables often go off in storage even if they were shipped with refrigerated delivery services which re-began in some of the areas, so we have no choice but to deliver mainly self-stable root vegetables which do not go off easily. Although we want to deliver fresh leafy vegetables and fruit, we do not want to waste any vegetables, therefore we are going to deal with the situation until the beginning of autumn, by delivering root vegetables together with some vegetable/fruit juice (made with agricultural products from Miyazaki). In order to reduce waste, we will always check the condition of delivered vegetables while listening to the voices of the people in the affected areas, with a help of cooperators.
On the other hand, after the eruption on June 29th, Mount Shinmoe (Mt. Kirishima) erupted again on August 6th. No severe damage has been reported yet but the Kagoshima Local Meteorological Observatory still has not cancelled the eruption alert level 3 (entry to the mountain not allowed) due to a possibility of an active eruptive activity. In such a worrisome situation, the farmers in Miyazaki are still shipping vegetables to Tohoku.
Thank you for your continuous cooperation for vegetable supporters in advance.
Shipments in July
●Tono city in Iwate prefecture: Tono Magokoro Network (Shipped everyday from April 6th and alternate days from May 20th)
●Kesen-numa city in Miyagi prefecture: The Tohoku Disaster Relief NGO Center (shipped weekly from June 28).
●Kesen-numa city in Miyagi prefecture: Civil Support Activity for Recovery from the East Japan Great Earthquake in Miyagi (shipped on July 15).
●Sendai city in Miyagi prefecture: Japan International Food for the Hungry (shipped almost every day from April 6th)
●Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture: NPO Fair Trade Tohoku （shipped on April 21st , and on alternate days from April 29th）
●Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture: NPO Commune “Commune with Midwives” (shipped weekly from April 13th to July 5th)
●Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture: NPO Network in the Iwaki District (shipped weekly from July 12).
●Koriyama city in Fukushima prefecture: NPO Heart-Net Fukushima (shipped on twice a week from April 16th)
In addition to the above locations, we have made a total of 53 shipments to shelters and supporters in Otsuchi-cho in Iwate prefecture, Ishinomaki city, Minamisanriku-cho, Murata-machi , Kesen-numa city and Yamoto-cho in Miyagi prefecture, Iwaki city and Kawauchi village in Fukushima prefecture and others through introduction by an NPO in Takaharu-cho in Miyagi prefecture, Takaharu heartom.
The NGO Collaboration Center for Hanshin Quake Rehabilitation
TEL: +81-(0)78-574-0701
E-mail：ngo@pure.ne.jp
http://tohoku-pacific-eq.seesaa.net/
12/08/2011