Oxfam Japan (Supporting NGOs)

FROM RELIEF WEB:

Oxfam Emergency in Japan
Source: Oxfam
Date: 23 Mar 2011

Oxfam Japan is now working with two partners in Japan on providing support to vulnerable groups who might otherwise have difficulty accessing emergency relief. Initially, the work will be coordinated by the partner organizations in close coordination with the Provincial Disaster Committees.

FACIL:

One partner is the multi-language center, FACIL. This center was established immediately after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe to provide information to non-Japanese speaking people living in Japan. FACIL will set up a hotline for the relief effort and deliver portable radios and batteries so people can access the latest relief information. They will also translate and disseminate information put out by local authorities.

Information dissemination through multi-lingual radio stations in the following cities. Sendai (Miyagi prefecture), Iwaki (Fukushima prefecture), Oshu(Iwate prefecture) Now coordinating to confirm roads/routes to get the radios in. Oxfam expects to reach approx 40.000 beneficiaries

JOICFP

The other partner is the Japan Organization for International Cooperation on Family Planning. Together with the Japanese Midwives' Association and local obstetrics and gynecologists, they will support mothers and babies. This support will be in two folds: one is service delivery by providing comfortable space for breast feeding in the evacuation centers – which often lack privacy – and then the delivery of diapers and sanitary goods. Secondly, they will offer counseling to women who are under high stress.

Six prefectures are being targeted and counseling will take place at the offices of Midwives' association: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Hokkaido and Ibaraki. Oxfam aims to reach around 60,000.

More info:

- Access to affected areas is restricted
- Roads are blocked
- Lack of gas in affected areas (affecting the transport and heating system)
- Fukushima prefecture is the most difficult access
- Oxfam Japan applying for transport pass to get to affected areas if/when needed
- Goods starting to consolidate at distribution centers at the prefecture level, but are not efficiently being delivered to the evacuation centers.
- In the affected areas the Communication remains a big issue: telephone lines are cut and many people are disconnected from the outside world

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SOURCE: SEEDS Asia - SitRep 3/23/11

"Oxfam Japan: support for pregnant women and small children with JOICFP, information assistance".

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Emergency appeal for earthquake in northern Japan
2011/03/14
http://oxfam.jp/en/2011/03/emergency_appeal_for_earthquak.html

Oxfam Japan have opened an appeal for the earthquake in northern Japan.

Oxfam Japan has begun assisting the national rescue effort for the disaster victims of this unprecedented devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Oxfam Japan will be working with two partners in Japan on providing support to those on the margins of society who might otherwise have difficulty accessing emergency relief. One group is assisting mothers and babies and the other is providing information to non-Japanese speakers living in Japan.

The work will be coordinated by the partner organizations and all the funds we collect will go to those two organizations.

May all those suffered from the disaster be comforted.

Thank you for your generosity.

Kathy R. Matsui
Oxfam Japan Board Chair

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SOURCE: http://oxfam.jp/en/2011/03/tsunami_appeal_oxfam_japan_to.html
2011/03/15

Tsunami appeal: Oxfam Japan to fund two partners helping mothers and babies, and non-Japanese nationals

Oxfam Japan is appealing for public donations for two partner organizations, one that is assisting mothers and babies and the other providing information to non-Japanese speakers living in Japan.

Japan is one of the most advanced nations in the world in dealing with natural disasters and has accepted international help in only a few specific areas. It is important that ad-hoc efforts to help do not undermine the coordination of the state’s overall relief efforts, especially now that explosions in a nuclear facility and radiation levels are complicating efforts to assist those affected from the Mar 11 earthquake and tsunami.

“The Japanese state has the means to reach 99% of the population but there will always be some who need more specific assistance,” said Oxfam Japan head Akiko Mera from Tokyo".

Ms Mera said that Oxfam Japan will channel funds to the Japan Organization for International Cooperation on Family Planning (JOICFP). Together with the Japanese Midwives’ Association and local doctors, the groups with help breast-feeding mothers by providing them with privacy and their babies with diapers and other products. They are offering counseling to women under high stress.

Another partner – the multi-language centre FACIL (http://www.tcc117.org/facil) – is helping non-Japanese speaking nationals living in affected areas. FACIL was set up as a response to the Kobe earthquake in 1995. It has set up a hotline for people to get information and is translating and re-publishing information put out by local authorities. There are an estimated 40,000 non-Japanese speakers in affected areas.

Most international NGOs like Oxfam are standing-by to assist on the invitation of leading local authorities, and are otherwise providing specialist help as described here.

National Oxfam affiliates will forward public donations received in their own markets into Oxfam Japan, which will disburse to its two partners. Oxfam Japan will also explore work with other partners in the future. Oxfam Japan is primarily an advocacy organization. Its Tokyo offices were damaged in the quake but none of its staff were hurt.