Feeling the desire to help Japan

If you are anything like me you have spent the past 4 days glued to a variety of news sources trying to make sense of what has happened in Japan. And wishing in some way you can help the people there. I certainly feel this desire. I lived in Tokyo for a few years and had the pleasure of visiting Sendai.

I have Japanese friends in Tokyo I worry about. I would do anything to help them. They are okay right now-  just cleaning up some damage, and dealing with a lack of electricity and challenges with transportation. Of course they are sad for their country and worried about the nuclear reactors.

I am not going to pretend this gives me some insight into the Japanese psyche and their resolve to carry on. The fact is though that they are better prepared than most countries for earthquakes and disasters. Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in Japan. Nothing could completely prepare them for what happened last Friday. But they have good systems in place. If you want to read more about it, check out this wonderful blog post by a gaijin (foreigner) named Patrick living in Japan.

This reminds me a little of the job I had when I returned home from Japan. I was working in communications for a travel consulting company when 9/11 happened. While friends and family watched footage of New York, I was busy sending out communications as we tried to help locate travellers and get people back home to Canada. It wasn’t a very important job but it kept me very busy. I was up and at the office by 5 am most days ready to start sending communications. If I remember correctly I also worked periodically throughout the night.

In some ways I was lucky because I felt like, as minor as it was, I was doing something. The fact is though, that there is very little we can do half way across the world besides send our good wishes to the people of Japan. I know, this probably doesn’t feel like enough for most people. For those of you who wish to do more, I have pulled together some very helpful information from other resources. Links are provided below if you would like to read more.

Quite honestly, no one has said it more succinctly than Patrick, the gaijin living in Japan (here and here):

A few friends of mine have suggested coming to Japan to pitch in with the recovery efforts.  I appreciate your willingness to brave the radiological dangers of international travel on our behalf, but that plan has little upside to it: when you get here, you’re going to be a) illiterate b) unable to understand instructions and c) a productivity drag on people who are quite capable of dealing with this but will instead have to play Babysit The Foreigner.  If you’re feeling compassionate and want to do something for the sake of doing something, find a charity in your neighborhood.  Give it money.  Tell them you were motivated to by Japan’s current predicament.  You’ll be happy, Japan will recover quickly, and your local charity will appreciate your kindness.

If you are wondering “What can I do?”, every day is a good day for charity.  I recommend the Red Cross or your local favorite charity.  In particular, disaster relief charities will use money collected today to help the folks affected by the next major incident, and it is highly probable that they are less well-situated than Japan is — we’re probably as well-prepared as anybody could be.

What is Patrick saying?

  1. If you need to do anything, then a simple cash donation to a charity is best.
  2. Do not send things.
  3. Do not travel to Japan to try to help out.
  4. Do not support people traveling to Japan to help out, unless they are disaster relief experts.
  5. If you donate, then donate to a charity you are familiar with.
  6. If you donate, do not earmark the funds for Japan.
  7. If you donate, donate to an existing charity that already does disaster work and will use their existing expertise in Japan and then elsewhere in the future.
  8. Take this as a reminder of people in need locally and consider donating to a local charity instead.
  9. Continue to listen to what the Japanese authorities and aid experts say and follow their requests and advice. (Okay, I slipped in that last one…)

For more information check out:

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