一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

(Mr. S, Age 41, from Saitama)

① At a workshop (Task: Rope cutting for seaweed farm rafts)
According to a fisherman, they have a goal to make 800 rafts the size of a 25 m swimming pool. When I was there, it was only about 150 rafts that had been made and their efforts still had an extremely long way to go.

②Beach clean-up

I helped to put junks on the beach in a pile. I was shocked to see three large bulk containers and four boats washed ashore. Foul smell of decayed fish was so disgusting that I could not even go close to a container which was giving off the strongest smell.

Activity description:  Administrative work (telephone operation and data entry) at "Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project" Head Office
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(Mr. W, Age 39, Tokyo)

I received phone calls and input the data of numerous facsimiles and letters sent by project supporters to the Head Office of Urat Umi-no-ko Recovery Project. Astonished by the huge amount of applications, I have realised an incredible number of people are actually supporting this project and that is why the fund as much as 160 million yen has been raised so far.

Activity description:  Administrative work (telephone operation and preparation for sending information materials) at "Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project" Head Office and beach clean-up
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(Ms. H, Age 28, Tokyo)

At the Head Office of Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project, I received many phone calls offering cooperation. Some left encouraging messages such as "Hang in there!", "I'd like to contribute even a little, so I'm buying one unit", "I'm happy to know my money will help Urato's fishery" and so on. One of the contributors who gave us a support call was over 80. Each time I answered such calls from all over Japan, I was overwhelmed by these people's enthusiasm to be of help to Tohoku and couldn't help but bow my head many times while talking on the phone.
I also filed a heap of facsimiled application forms for the project and input the data to the database. I  double- or even triple-checked to ensure all the information of the important contributors has been properly entered.
Some fishermen from Mie prefecture who were interested in this project visited the Head Office on the 5th June. They said that they had started preparation against possible Tokai Earthquake.

(Ms. A, Age 59, Tokyo)

I talked with some local people while cleaning the beach.
As they could not even demolish or remove destroyed houses and buildings, cleaning-up of beaches was not the top priority for them. Still, those who were hoping to promote tourism to the area were anxious about the recovery of beaches as an important sightseeing resource to attract people for sea bathing and fishing.

Activity description: Making floaters for seaweed farms, beach clean-up
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(Mr. N, Age 32, Tokyo)

During the volunteer work, I talked with a number of local people. Sadly, many seemed to have lost hope for the future. On the other hand, though what I could do to help them recover from the damage was extremely limited, some said that they felt encouraged by my efforts and promised to keep on trying to reconstruct their lives.
Money and goods will certainly help to recover the material damage. However, the complete reconstruction of the devastated area will take a long time and I am sure there will be a moment people will lose heart over difficulties. It is necessary to let them know that we are always with them throughout the process and express our determination to provide help and unbroken hope for the recovery of Tohoku.