By Sarah Maraschky | Communications Associate
Flooding and typhoons have continued to affect western Japan in 2022. In July of this year, Peace Winds’ airborne search-and-rescue team, ARROWS, jumped into action to support residents of Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures who were affected by heavy rain, flooding, and mudslides. ARROWS team members helped evacuate people and their pets and distributed supplies such as food, pillows and blankets, and first aid supplies to local schools which had become evacuation centers. Doctors on the ARROWS team also performed medical evaluations for evacuees.
More recently, in mid-September 2022, the Kyushu region was hit by Typhoon No. 14, killing three people and injuring 133 others as well as causing extensive damage to homes and other structures. ARROWS was prepared early on to respond to this disaster as well, dispatching teams as soon as they were needed to help citizens evacuate and to distribute supplies to evacuation centers.
Finally, it has been three years since the flooding disaster that struck western Japan in 2018 and has been called “the worst flood disaster in the Heisei era” (1989-2019). More than 8 million people were affected, and 225 were killed. Fortunately, the townscape has now recovered to the point that it’s hard to even tell the area was ever hit by such a tragedy. However, 400 people are still living in temporary housing, and construction work is still underway on the collapsed river.
Peace Winds and ARROWS continue to implement disaster preparedness programs throughout Japan in preparation for more disasters like these. Activities include monthly in-person disaster response trainings for Japanese citizens, webinars and articles about how to best prepare, and community-centered activities where adults and children can come together to share their knowledge and experience in creative ways.
Peace Winds would like to thank our ARROWS team members, local government partners and community members, and you, our donors, for making disaster preparedness and response possible in Japan. Follow Peace Winds on social media and subscribe to our newsletter using the links below to stay up-to-date on our programs around the world.
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