The Great East Japan Earthquake, Some thoughts from Red Cross

Based on 25 Years of Working with Disasters in the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement

by Bjorn Eder   from The Journal of Humanitarian Studies Vol 1, March 2012,  Japanese Red Cross Institute for Humanitarian Studies.

On 11 March 2011 at 2.46 pm, the northeast of the island of Honshu was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake with the epicentre 120 km off the coast. It was the fourth largest earthquake recorded in the world since 1900, and the strongest in Japanese history. Within an hour, a giant tsunami which reached up to 40 meters in the narrow bays and river valleys of this mountainous area, devastated communities along 700 km expanse of coastline. Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were most severely affected.

The President of IFRC and Japanese Red Cross together with Naoki Kokawa, visit the affected area soon after the tsunami struck.

More than 19,000 people died or are still missing and nearly 6,000 were injured. Of the fatalities, some 90 % were drowned in the cold water. More than 65% of those who died were over 60 years old. The tsunami also seriously damaged three nuclear reactors in Fukushima, where it caused an accident on a scale not experienced since the catastrophic accident at Chernobyl in 1986. It was the tsunami rather than the earthquake, which was responsible for virtually all the fatalities and, together with the nuclear accident, all the evacuees. More than 400,000 people were evacuated to temporary shelters, including those displaced from the 20 km zone around the damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant. Public and industrial infrastructure suffered massive destruction. The cold winter weather added to the difficult situation of those who were displaced. Local authorities and volunteers distributed large amounts of food, water and daily necessities, fuel, medical supplies, much of which were donated by those among the local population who had been less severely affected by the disaster and by people in other parts of Japan in a massive expression of solidarity. Commercial companies and officials from neighbouring municipalities and prefectures also rushed to provide support. Personnel from the Self Defence Forces, fire brigades, coast guards and police from the whole country were rapidly mobilised to assist, along with 500 nuclear disaster response teams. More than 2,000 medical teams went to the affected areas. From around the world, countries and organisations spontaneously offered search and rescue and relief assistance. The US and South Korean military also immediately responded by sending ships, planes and personnel. The costs of rebuilding after the destruction are estimated to be between 2.5% and 4% of the country’s economic output in 2010.

What did the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) do?

When the earthquake happened, it rocked buildings much more severely than normal even in Tokyo, and the staff in JRCS national headquarters there immediately realised that this was exceptional and not just one of the earthquakes that occur almost daily in Japan. JRCS had well prepared plans to meet its obligations under the existing national disaster management plan and it implemented these very effectively. The Japanese Red Cross at once swung into action and within the first 24 hours, 46 medical teams had been deployed to the affected areas. A national fundraising campaign was launched to assist the municipalities to bring cash assistance to the affected population. In the days and months which followed, nearly 900 JRCS medical teams and more than 700 trained providers of psychosocial support were to treat nearly 90,000 shocked and vulnerable survivors of Japan’s largest recorded disaster. With hundreds of thousands of people initially crammed into evacuation centres, trained psychosocial nurses helped those hit by the disaster to come to terms with the emotional impact of losing their relatives, friends and neighbours, their homes and any certainty about the future. As the operation moved from relief into early recovery, people were able to settle in prefabricated homes or rented apartments. Most had few possessions, but with the aid of donations from across the world, JRCS provided 128,000 relocated families with a set of electrical appliances. Focusing especially on the most vulnerable, special beds and vehicles have been provided to elderly care homes. Nearly 170 schools have received various kinds of new equipment, including school buses and many vehicles have been donated for social services, along with items for school clinics and indoor play areas. As part of its longer term recovery plan, JRCS is reconstructing both permanent and temporary health facilities to replace devastated hospitals and clinics. The mostly prefabricated clinics which are currently in operation are stretched beyond their capacity and permanent hospitals will take several years to complete. In terms of its support to the survivors, JRCS is focused on meeting needs in areas such as psychosocial support for the largely elderly population in many of the temporary housing communities, preventing them from sinking into isolation, inactivity and despair.

On the importance of imagining the unimaginable

The disaster in Tohoku went far beyond any of the pre-disaster expectations. It caused the greatest loss of human life in a single disaster in Japan since the Second World War and posed the nation with enormous challenges regarding the way earthquake and tsunami countermeasures have been developed so far. Disaster preparedness in Japan is very impressive and among the best in the world, but the 2011 earthquake and tsunami differed in size from the official pre-disaster hazard assumptions. The scope of the seismic movement, tsunami height and extent of the devastated area, all exceeded expected levels by far. The reason for this could be that the assumptions were intended to be used for technical purposes, where financial limitation is an important consideration. Risk estimations based on these expectations may even have engendered a false sense of security in coastal protection installations to an excessive degree. It is quite possible that the evacuation of residents was delayed by this. It is also likely that much of the confusion during the relief phase might have been avoided if the contingency planning for relief had been based on risk analysis considering scenarios of higher levels, which could have been used since the financial limitations would be much less important. Therefore there is a need to examine multiple damage scenarios, including worst-case disasters with complex impact, such as the largest imaginable earthquakes and tsunamis. This disaster happened during daytime, but if it had struck at a different time or season, or if the tsunami had affected a wider area, humanitarian consequences could have been vastly greater. The impact of the nuclear disaster was also limited compared to what it could have been by fortunate circumstances such as favourable wind directions. The coast hit by the earthquake and tsunami has the highest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world, all of which were affected by the disaster, but most backup emergency systems survived and these reactors successfully shut down.


Are there differences in impact of large disasters in high and low income countries?

In May 2011, JRCS and IFRC decided that the first six months of the operation should be evaluated in order to learn lessons and improve the mechanisms for managing large scale disaster response in high income countries. They jointly commissioned a small team of experts to carry out an independent evaluation, which was finalised in February 2012: “Preparing for and Responding to Large Scale Disasters in High Income Countries, Findings and Lessons Learned from the Japanese Red Cross Society’s Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami”. The reason for the focus on high income countries is that these generally share many characteristics: they have well-developed infrastructure and services, sophisticated and resource rich administration and industry, a large and fast-growing share of the population over 65 and a comprehensive welfare system. Most of them are also vulnerable to a variety of disasters and often their coping mechanisms are very different to those of low income countries. Additionally, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in these countries vary widely, reflecting the tradition and culture of which they are part. The evaluation compares the operation of JRCS in 2011 with the interventions after Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans and southern states of the USA, in 2005, the floods in Queensland, Australia, in 2011 and the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand of the same year. However, it would be unwise to draw too many general conclusions. Lessons can be learned, but each country must plan and respond to large scale disasters after analysing and considering its own unique context – and much applies equally to disaster response and preparedness in low income countries where people by necessity have to build resilience and cope with their available resources.

Emergency response, relief and shelter

The likelihood of another mega-disaster in Japan is very high and it is therefore obvious that JRCS should develop a comprehensive contingency plan for this, considering a number of issues. First, it needs to discuss and review the role and mandate of the Red Cross in the Government national disaster management plan. Then it needs to formulate a strategy to scale up and meet abnormally large needs in the case of mega disasters when several areas are seriously affected. This should cover issues such as the possible role of JRCS health institutions and Chapter offices as forward disaster management coordination centres in large scale disasters.

The importance of capacity to make its own independent field assessments and to exchange information with other actors is critical and cannot be underestimated, especially in situations where some local authorities are rendered dysfunctional by the impact of disaster, as was the case in Tohoku. The disaster response plans of the authorities were based on the likelihood of having to deal with the consequences of an earthquake but not tsunamis. The director of the Red Cross hospital in Ishinomaki told me that they only had a manual for an earthquake disaster and the JRCS medical teams kits were designed to treat injuries, including crush injuries, caused as a result of earthquake. The tsunami hardly caused any injuries since people were either killed or survived the devastating wave of ice cold water. The medical needs of those who had been evacuated were mostly related to chronic diseases and conditions following the strain of being housed in cramped and difficult evacuation canters. JRCS should work actively to develop a framework for cooperation with the appropriate government authorities at central and local levels, addressing both how to provide effective emergency relief and contribute to recovery of the affected population. It should do the same with NGOs and other relevant organisations to better share information understand each other’s plans and promote coordination of activities in the face of future disasters.

Nuclear accidents, Fukushima Daiichi and lessons for nuclear preparedness

The role and responsibility of JRCS in cases of large scale industrial accidents also needs to be made clear. The Movement should continue to partner with JRCS both in giving assistance to the affected population after the nuclear accident and in defining how to address the humanitarian consequences of such disaster events. It is important to formulate a specific strategy or guideline for the Movement which clarifies both the domestic and international roles of national societies and the potential roles of ICRC and IFRC when dealing with the humanitarian consequences of nuclear accidents. In my opinion, this should be done preferably with a broader perspective, including other industrial disasters which could be caused by chemical, biological or other accidents – or by acts of sabotage or terrorism. For example, the humanitarian needs were immense after the catastrophic leak of methyl isocyanate at the Union Carbide chemical factory in the Indian city of Bhopal in 1984. This is one of the world’s worst industrial disasters and it caused more than 550,000 injuries, of which almost 4,000 were severely and permanently disabling. As many as 25,000 deaths have been attributed to the disaster in recent estimates. In Japan, the release of methyl mercury in Minamata bay and Niigata are examples of tragic industrial disasters with thousands of victims, related to the slow release of chemicals. There are now extensive experiences of humanitarian interventions after the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disasters and the decision to develop such a framework was taken through a resolution at the General Assembly of the IFRC in Geneva 2011. The process is led by the IFRC secretariat with participation of JRCS and several other concerned national societies with the aim of presenting a set of guidelines within the next few years.

Assessment and Preparedness

After the disaster, it took 10 to 14 days to get a reasonably clear picture of the overall situation and the main needs. Even in the period up to June, some municipalities were struggling to indentify clearly the priority needs of their communities. The decentralised disaster management system in Japan compounded the situation. It is first and foremost the municipalities which are responsible for assessing and responding to disasters but in some municipalities many key officers died and the administrations became virtually non-functioning. The prefectures depended on information from the affected municipalities and this was difficult to obtain through normal channels. The rescue and emergency services assisted to fill the information gap, but getting a clear picture of the situation nationally and then defining priority needs took time. JRCS also depended upon information from the municipalities as a basis for making its response since it had no independent assessment mechanism. The spontaneous flow of uncoordinated relief added to the confusion

However, JRCS did have Chapters with close working relationships with their respective prefectures, which made access to information possible when it did become available. This information was conveyed to the national headquarters where a Task Force met daily under the leadership of the President. JRCS headquarters tried to gather the most reliable information available from external and internal sources. A group of experienced disaster managers from partner national societies was invited and visited the field during the first days after the disaster and brought a number of issues to the attention of JRCS. JRCS should train its domestic disaster response personnel to conduct assessments on the basis of IFRC developed methodologies in order to reach the most vulnerable. This requires well-trained assessment teams, ready to be deployed at short notice, who can help municipality authorities assess the needs of their communities. In large widespread disasters, this is only possible if there is a strong and well prepared volunteer base at municipal level with systematic training and organisation for disaster intervention and effective assessment. Therefore, JRCS needs to strengthen and diversify its trained volunteer base and have effective systems in place for their efficient mobilization and deployment. In Bangladesh, where frequent cyclones regularly devastate remote and inaccessible coastal communities, for the past forty years the Red Crescent has trained more than 35,000 local community volunteers over a 4,000 km coastline to make and report assessments of damage and needs in a consistent and systematic way. They also warn the population of the approaching disaster through low-tech means and are equipped for rescue and first aid. This system has been substantially supported by JRCS over the years and could provide valuable lessons also for Japan, where preparedness to a high degree relies on complex and vulnerable technologies which proved inadequate or inaccessible to the elderly at the time of the tsunami in much of the affected communities. It is critical to raise the disaster awareness of residents and those in charge of disaster management through disaster education and disaster drills and to review what type of information is essential at times of evacuation. In many countries where the Red Cross or Red Crescent has a strong and trusted community presence with social or health programs, volunteers play an important role in conveying information to residents who may be difficult to reach in other ways, such as elderly and disabled persons. Passing down disaster-related culture over generations based on disasters that have occurred across history is very important to improving people’s understanding. In addition to school education, effective information programs can be conducted by volunteers from the community if they are adequately trained and supported, and also included in Red Cross health and social establishment activities.


Furthermore, as experience from disasters in other countries shows, in times of emergency, many people who have not previously been connected to the Red Cross are eager to help, but need an organisational framework within which to effectively do so. In Japan, several hundred thousand people from all over the country went to Tohoku as volunteers on their own initiative. Consequently, robust systems have to be in place to handle a surge in the recruitment of new volunteers and their effective deployment in times of disaster, and models for how to do this can be found, for example, in the American Red Cross.

The importance of psychosocial support

In all disasters, many of the victims are seriously traumatised, especially among vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. The need for instant psychological first aid is immense, as people are often in shock, having lost relatives, friends, neighbours, homes and the sense of control over their own lives. Normal reactions include feelings of grief, anger, frustration, fear and loss of trust. Following the initial shock, psychosocial support needs are obvious, as whole communities are uprooted and relocated into temporary camps. After the tsunami, the JRCS medical teams and dedicated teams provided psychosocial support as part of their emergency help, but many of those who are affected by this disaster will need such support for a very long time. Professional help to do this is not feasible or available even in many high income countries, but experience shows that trained community volunteers can be mobilised. Effective and functional models are available in many RC societies, in particular in Scandinavia, and IFRC has a reference centre for method development and sharing of such experiences hosted by the Danish RC. Beyond immediate psychological first aid, JRCS should therefore investigate how it could provide long-term, volunteer delivered psychosocial support to individuals and communities as part of its recovery programme. When the ‘Estonia’ ferry sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994, over 850 people drowned or died from hypothermia and psychosocial support was provided to family members and friends for several years by the Swedish Red Cross.

Some of the most important lessons learned after the tsunami off the coast of Sumatra in 2004 are the importance of coordinating and collaborating closely with other agencies who provide psychosocial support responses at a regional or national level and the desirability of conducting joint assessments. This minimizes the stress on individuals, families and communities every time a new agency arrives to ask questions on what has happened and what can be done. Sharing as much information as possible with other partners on findings from needs assessments and linking up with partners from other areas or sectors helps ensure a holistic response to the needs of the affected population. The primary partner to collaborate with should be the community in need of assistance. Representatives from the affected population and communities should be involved in all aspects and stages of any psychosocial intervention. Planning joint training in psychosocial support with other active stakeholders will enhance the reach of training and help ensure high quality psychosocial support. Coordinating the dissemination of information, or example on ‘normal reactions to abnormal events’ with other partners means that communities are not overwhelmed with different, perhaps contradictory or confusing, information from multiple sources. Successful coordination and collaboration among partners also improves advocacy for attention to mental health and psychosocial needs. Moreover, national societies should be prepared to both send and receive trained personnel to support their expatriate communities when large scale disasters strike, given the presence of many different nationalities in most countries.

Drawing on and Contributing to Global Capacity of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement

The increasing risk of more large scale disasters with growing urban and vulnerable populations and the added unpredictability arising from climate change, coupled with the existing threat from seismically active areas and disasters arising from industrial accidents makes for a greater need to draw on the collective capacity of the international Red Cross movement. In principle, all national societies are auxiliaries to their governments, but in reality these relations can be very different and their roles in disaster response vary widely depending on national circumstances and tradition. In some countries, like Japan, Bangladesh, Iran or the United States, they are an integrated part of national emergency plans. In others, like in many European countries, the national rescue services have the responsibility for emergency response and national societies have a relatively marginal role in national disasters. However, in most countries they are well recognised as auxiliary but independent organisations, based on principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality, and they are widely known to provide assistance, without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions, through voluntary action. Working in closer relationship with the disaster management authorities at all levels will enable effective and efficient liaison when large scale disasters strike and these bodies come under overwhelming pressure. To do this effectively, each national society needs high quality contingency planning for large scale disasters, including arrangements to access resources and assistance from within the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement to respond to catastrophic events in their country. They need to adopt not only emergency relief but also recovery policies, taking account of their unique national contexts, the potential disaster risks and support and draw on the work being undertaken by IFRC in developing a common recovery policy. National societies must consider how to effectively facilitate access to available relevant experience and knowledge about international disaster management best practice and prepare to deploy their trained personnel in large scale disasters both nationally and internationally. This should be done in close coordination with the IFRC to ensure maximum impact. Based on my own experience of almost one year in Japan, I consider it important to place a representative of IFRC for coordination of experienced technical delegates with substantive consultative skills as needed and to ensure that they are well integrated into the host national society structure. Of course, international delegates need to respect and work with their national colleagues according to the host national society’s established standard operating procedures and culture and systematically share best practice. Red Cross and Red Crescent delegates and staff with such practical experience and expertise from international large scale disasters, familiar with Movement policies and standards, will be an invaluable resource if and when there is a disaster in their home country.

The Emergency Response Units should be more flexible and integrated into existing national society structures and systems so that they would also be suited for deployment with national societies in high income countries, complementing their existing capacity and become part of their contingency planning. One of the immediately identified urgent needs in the JRCS after the tsunami was for delegates experienced in communication with and reporting to international media and international donors. In general, national societies should make sure that they have sufficient capacity and competence to communicate critical disaster information in English as well as their own language to the public, media and their partners. This is an area where even a highly sophisticated and competent organisation like JRCS felt that it needed reinforcement during the emergency. Other expertise that may be needed from outside is in installing functional systems to restore family links, tracing services, how to use new technologies and how to manage social media.

Funding systems

JRCS did not appeal for international funding, but received massive support from other Red Crosses and Red Crescents after the tsunami, in total almost 1.2 billion USD from 92 other national societies and organisations – apart from the 3.7 billion USD donated to the Red Cross by the public in Japan. This was earmarked for cash distribution by municipality authorities to disaster-affected people and could not be used for funding any other activities, a mode which should be reviewed and perhaps changed to allow JRCS greater flexibility in the future Reinforcing the trust held in its integrity and capacity, JRCS provided good information and welcomed partners to visit and participate in the development of a recovery plan and budget that they would support. No agreed model for how to deal with the outpouring of unsolicited international funds existed, and it had to be developed during the course of the operation. The IFRC should therefore formulate an operational framework for national societies to use when accepting spontaneous donations from other national societies. This should regulate ways in which assistance could be channelled and specify the responsibilities of the operating national society in accounting for the use of these funds. The development of this operational framework must take account of existing policies and procedures. It must also determine how “no appeal” situations could be better handled in the future, based on the experience from Japan and similar disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. This framework should also address the question of how the worldwide core institutional disaster response costs of the International Federation’s secretariat could be met through funding also from resources raised for such disasters. At present, this is entirely done through a percentage levied on multilateral funds contributed for disaster victims in low income countries. This seems both ethically questionable and in breach of the principle of collective responsibility.

To bear the unbearable and tolerate the intolerable.

Nicolas Bouvier, a Swiss writer and artist wrote, “ My belief is that one must have passed through fire oneself....to be able to sort out...the contents of those storehouses of sorrow, where fortunately we can also find, more often than we might have dared to expect...enough small miracles to motivate and encourage those in the field who are so often compelled, to quote a mediaeval Japanese poem, ‘to bear the unbearable and tolerate the intolerable.”

Today when I accidently discovered this photograph of Tadateru Konoe and Naoki Kokawa (above) giving support and encouragement to rescue workers who were searching through rubble in a residential area of tsunami-hit Otsuchi, my heart lept.

Konoe said after his visit "After my long career in the Red Cross where I have seen many disasters and catastrophes, this is the worst I have ever seen. Otsuchi reminds me of Osaka and Tokyo after the Second World War when everything was destroyed and flattened. Konoe who is President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Tadateru Konoe and the Japanese red Cross has a huge burden on his shoulders, 

The affected people feel incredible pain and bewilderment, and families who have lost loved-ones in the earthquake and tsunami will grieve interminably. It is a truly undescribeable tragedy.

But I know our President, Tadateru Konoes, who was born in 1939 before the 2nd World War started, suffered the hardships of as a child of a country reeling from aerial bombing and the explosion of two nuclear bombs, and having to grow up in temporary shelter and on rationed food - has passed through fire himself....to be able to sort out...the contents of those storehouses of sorrow, where fortunately we can also find, more often than we might have dared to expect...enough small miracles to motivate and encourage those in the field who are so often compelled, to quote a mediaeval Japanese poem, ‘to bear the unbearable and tolerate the intolerable.”

Konoe, who I have known since we worked in Bangladesh at the conclusion of the Indian-Pakistan war in early 1972, and have worked not only in Geneva, but in disasters in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Kokawa and I have worked closely for more than 15 years in earthquakes and tsunami in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. So I know the calibre of these men. Outwardly men of compassion with constitutions of steel and I know they will deliver.

With leadership like our President and able lieutentants such as Kokawa, Tanaka, Nagazumi, Oiwa, Dr. Mikishima, Sugai, Saito, Hori, Hiroshi Higashuira and many others who I apologise if I have forgetten you, I know this is an organisation that will provide the highest quality of rescue, relief and all round medical care, including pyscho social support. for thousands of traumatised people.

With a number of the above I have shared life-threatening moments. In Kabul in 1995 when the Taliban's were killing at least 120 people a day by rockets and mortars as they closed in on the capital, Hori and I had to share a bunker. We survived the heaviest bombardment of the year. When I came to Tokyo some years later, he gave my wife and I a beautiful gift. These are our friends in the Japanese Red Cross.

Soldiers and a rescue worker carry a body through Kesennuma City on March 15, 2011.


This afternoon, Matthias Schmale, Under Secretary General, Programme Services Division send us this very sincere note

"There have been numerous expressions of concern and support from many of you, and we know that the whole network stands with the Japanese Red Cross in the Spirit of Togetherness inspired by Mr Tadateru Konoé, who is President of the National Society and also of our IFRC.



As we now all know, this is an unprecedented disaster, which has caused tremendous damage and loss of life. Friday’s earthquake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, triggered a ten metre high tsunami that has ravaged the northeast coast of the country, surging a quarter of a mile inland and destroying everything in its path.

To date, more than 3,000 people have been rescued, but the death toll currently stands at 1,600 and is expected to rise. The most affected area is a town called Minami-Sanriku-cho in the northern part of Miyagi Prefecture. The entire village has washed away and there are grave concerns for 10,000 residents – half the town’s population.

Around 380,000 people evacuated from the tsunami and earthquake affected areas are being sheltered in 2,050 evacuation centres. Another 210,000 people living within a 20 km radius around the Fukushima nuclear power plants have also been evacuated.


The Japanese Red Cross, in its role as auxiliary to the government, has mobilized its full emergency response capacity in response to the disaster. More than 60 response teams are in operation, and 178 disaster medical teams have been deployed with another 111 teams on the way. However, the response is being hampered by continuous aftershocks, tsunami alerts and fires, and many affected areas remain inaccessible.


Earlier today I had an opportunity to briefly talk to President Konoé. The Japanese Red Cross is expressing its sincere thanks for the messages of sympathy and offers of support it has received from sister National Societies around the world. At present, the Japanese society is not launching a national or international appeal, but expressions of solidarity in the form of un-earmarked financial contributions would be gratefully received.

In happier times in Tokyo. In 2002 IFRC head of regions in Asia Pacific dining with, on the left side of the table, Tanaka, Tadateru Konoe and Kokawa. We came to discuss disaster preparedness and the setting up of a regional Disaster Management Unit in the region, the brain-child of Mr. Konoe. Photo: Bob McKerrow

My old mate Patrick Fuller has been traveling with Mr. Konoe and Kokawa and last night slept in a tent and Patrick reported it was - 6 o C.  As I have said previously, Patrick is one of the best humanitarian communicators in the game and his reports on most of the world's media have been outstanding.

But like the Fire Services, Police, Ambulance drivers, armed forces, para-medics, social workers, rescue workers, government administrators, who are in the frontline, and sometimes unsure about the safety of their own families and friends: Red Cross and other humanitrian workers face similar challenges of lack of sleep, hunger, cold, toxic fumes, lack of clean water, insecurities that are exacerbated as the days drag on, and the successes few. But to be President of the IFRC and the Japanese Red Cross at the same time, and to be directing and motivating two huge organisations within one movement, is an almost impossible task. But Tadateru Konoe is a talent spotter, and over the years has recruited, nurtured and coached staff and volunteers of the highest calibre, and led an International Federation of 187 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies who are staunchly behind him. The power of humaity will triumph in this disaster.

To close this post I will let Patrick Fuller have the last words.

Many of the wounded are burn victims whose homes caught fire when the diesel from sinking fishing boats ignited the mass of debris being carried inland by the tidal surge. In one area, local residents are now too afraid to stay in their homes at night because of the frequent aftershocks and the fear of a repeat tsunami. Instead, they sleep in their cars on the second storey of a car park.

Some of the seriously injured taken to the hospital are people who were swept up in the tsunami. They’re being stretchered in with internal injuries and severe wounds. Others are at risk from pneumonia having inhaled large quantities of contaminated sea water.

Hundreds of Red Cross medical staff have come in to work at the hospital on four-day rotation from other hospitals across Japan. Whilst morale is high, medical supplies are running low, and with no electricity and problems finding fuel to run the hospital generator, conditions are difficult.

In the coming days, search and rescue efforts will turn towards the retrieval of dead bodies, which litter the devastated coastline. The hospital is setting up a special tent to store the bodies and help with the identification process.

As well as providing basic relief items such as blankets to evacuees, the Japanese Red Cross has deployed over 80 medical teams, which are based in hospitals receiving the sick and injured. The teams operate mobile clinics to provide care for the thousands of people displaced by the earthquake and tsunami.

Japan earthquake update 15 March

President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Tadateru Konoe walks among rescue workers searching through rubble in a residential area of tsunami-hit Otsuchi. "After my long career in the Red Cross where I have seen many disasters and catastrophes, this is the worst I have ever seen. Otsuchi reminds me of Osaka and Tokyo after the Second World War when everything was destroyed and flattened," Tadateru Konoe told Reuters during a visit to the coastal town.

The Japan Meteorological Agency on Sunday upgraded the magnitude of Friday's catastrophic earthquake to 9.0, making it the world's fourth-strongest in more than a century.
The agency had earlier put the magnitude of the quake off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, at 8.8.
A 0.2 increase in magnitude translates into twice the amount of energy generated.
The energy released by Friday's quake was about 45 times that of the Great Kanto Earthquake that killed some 140,000 people in the Tokyo area in 1923, and about 1,450 times that of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that leveled much of Kobe in 1995 and left more than 6,400 people dead.

Other major earthquakes that have hit since 1900 are as follows: In 1952, a magnitudeearthquake struck Kamchatka. A magnitude 9.5 quake devastated Chile in 1960, and a 1964 quake in Alaska had a magnitude of 9.2. The 2004 quake off Sumatra, Indonesia, that triggered a tsunami that claimed many tens of thousands of lives had a magnitude of 9.1.


An injured girl is brought to a Japanese Red Cross hospital after being evacuated from the area hit by tsunami in Ishinomaki March 13, 2011. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Earlier today, contact was made with the team travelling in north-eastern Japan, comprising Mr Tadateru Konoé, President of the Japanese Red Cross Society and IFRC, another member of the Japanese Red Cross and Patrick Fuller, the IFRC’s communications manager for Asia Pacific. The team travelled to Otsuchi where they saw the devastation of a number of small villages in at least five bays on the eastern coast of Japan.

On arrival in Otsuchi, the team witnessed the utter destruction of the town. The remains of a town which was previously inhabited by about 17,000 people was nothing but a sea of burnt, twisted metal and splintered wood. A few survivors remained, picking through the rubble in the hope of finding survivors – friends and family. For many, it will be a pointless quest.

To Mr Konoé, the destruction in this town alone brought home the true impact this disaster has had on the people of Japan. Almost lost for words, he expressed his shock only able to say, “I have never seen anything as bad as this before. It defies belief.” In this town, 9,500 people remain unaccounted for. The utter destruction leads us to believe that the potential for further survivors to be found remains slim.

Upon hearing another tsunami warning, a father tries to flee for safety with his just reunited four-month-old baby girl who was spotted by Japan's Self-Defense Force member in the rubble of tsunami-torn Ishinomaki. Photo: Reuters

The Japanese Red Cross has already deployed a mobile clinic to the town to assist survivors, who remain without electricity, and with increasing concerns about access to water. For the Red Cross, the focus remains on the survivors – assisting them in any way possible.

In the words of Patrick Fuller, “It doesn’t get any worse than this. Half the town’s population or more have lost their lives.” In situations like this, the work of the Japanese Red Cross Society’s psychosocial support teams will be essential. Just as it may take weeks to discover the true extent of this disaster, it may take years for the people of towns like Otsuchi to even begin to recover from the trauma of this disaster.



 Japan: Red Cross steps up response to meet needs of evolving disaster


As Japan continues to grapple with a rapidly evolving humanitarian crisis following Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami – as well as the developing nuclear situation – the Japanese Red Cross Society is offering medical and psychosocial care for increasing numbers of survivors and evacuees.

Search and rescue workers are now discovering increasing numbers of bodies in areas that have previously been hard to reach because of ongoing tsunami alerts. And the number of missing is adding to the fear that the death toll could reach 10,000 or more.

“I have never seen anything as bad as this before. It defies belief,” said Tadateru Konoé, President of the Japanese Red Cross Society and the IFRC, who has just returned from a visit to Iwate prefecture in north-eastern Japan, one of the worst-hit areas.

There are now more than 430,000 people housed in some 2,500 evacuation centres, mostly in schools and other public buildings. In addition, Red Cross medical teams are reporting many cases of people arriving at hospitals suffering from hypothermia and at risk of pneumonia. Many people are suffering the effects of having swallowed contaminated water during the tsunami.

At present, 85 medical teams are operating out of hospitals and mobile clinics treating survivors. Each team includes a trained psychosocial nurse, who allows survivors to voice their grief and anxieties, as well discuss practical concerns. The Japanese Red Cross has 2,400 trained psychosocial nurses, and an eight-member specialist psychosocial team has just returned from a mission in New Zealand, where they were helping survivors of the Christchurch earthquake. They had no idea their services would be so badly needed at home, so suddenly.

As concerns mount about possible radiation leaks from nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture, Red Cross staff and volunteers are playing a key role in caring for the thousands of people evacuated from the 20-kilometre exclusion zone surrounding the affected plants.

All 47 of the Japanese Red Cross Society’s prefectural branches have trained nuclear decontamination teams and equipment, including special tents in which radioactive material can be washed off. The teams are designed to be mobilized in conjunction with the government’s specialist units, which have the equipment and expertise to measure radiation. So far, there has been no request from the government to mobilize these teams, but they remain on standby.

With the support of government authorities, the Japanese Red Cross is monitoring the situation in hospitals close to the exclusion zone, in case radiation levels rise and pose a risk to patients.

For those who would like real-time updates of activities on the ground, please follow the IFRC’s official twitter feed: twitter.com/Federation.


Cooling system fails at another Fukushima nuclear reactor

The cooling system failed at another reactor at the troubled No. 1 Fukushima nuclear power plant Sunday, as the government acknowledged that a meltdown may have already hit the quake-damaged site.


"We are dealing with the situation as though a core meltdown has occurred," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a Sunday morning news conference.

While government officials continued to urge the public to remain calm, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, has been forced to resort to a number of unorthodox measures, including pumping in seawater, to cool reactor cores and prevent radiation from leaking out.

TEPCO is now dealing with problems at two reactors at the No. 1 Fukushima plant and three reactors at its No. 2 Fukushima plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

Radiation levels exceeding legally established safety standards were recorded at the boundary to the No. 1 Fukushima site, creating an emergency situation that TEPCO reported to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Sunday.

TEPCO officials said nuclear fuel rods in the core of the No. 3 reactor had become exposed above the cooling water level.

While TEPCO officials were unsure if a core meltdown had occurred, they said water mixed with boric acid was injected into the core at 9:25 a.m. Sunday. By 11:30 a.m., the water level in the core had again risen above the fuel rods.

Edano later Sunday provided more details. He said that after the fuel rods were exposed for a short period, radiation levels around the plant reached a high level of 1,557.5 microsieverts. But the insertion of seawater to the core reduced the radiation level to 184.1 microsieverts after about an hour.

However, Edano noted that insufficient cooling of the core may have caused excess hydrogen to accumulate in the building that houses the core containment vessel.

That buildup runs the risk of triggering an explosion like the one that destroyed the building housing the No. 1 reactor at 3:36 p.m. Saturday, Edano said.

The government's top spokesman said that, like Saturday's blast, an explosion at the No. 3 reactor building would not likely damage the core containment vessel nor release large levels of radioactive materials.

To better serve the ever growing number of vulnerable people.

Tadateru Konoe, the new President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

I was just 26 when I went to Geneva to work for the International Red Cross, in 1975. It was a snowy January when I arrived. Fresh from climbing in New Zealand, one of the first things I tried was a winter ascent of Mt. Blanc, in a weekend. I almost died as a huge storm came in and dumped almost 2 metres of snow in late January 1975. I remember struggling in white out conditions to find the tel-cabine on the summit of Aguille du Midi. My first month in Geneva was a difficult time as I struggled to adapt after working four years in the field, to an international headquarters where a suit and tie were the rigour de jour.

I was fortunate to be working with Tadateru Konoe who was Deputy Director of the disaster preparedness bureau, where I was assigned. Our boss was Sverre Kilde a former Norwegian Army Officer.

I first met Konoe in Bangladesh in 1972 when he was leader of the Japanerese Red Cross medical team on the island of Hatia, and I leader of a New Zealand Red Cross team at Nilphamari in northern Bangladesh. This was a joint ICRC or LORCS ( Federation) operation and there were about 15 medical/refugee teams from all around the world.

So when I met Konoe in Geneva in 1975 we were no strangers. We worked well together and after about a year, he returned to Japan. I recall meeting him the next time on a field trip in Southern India, in 1981, when he had just become Director of the Disaster Preparedness Bureau in Geneva. When he visited, I was supervising the construction of 225 cyclone shelters along a 2000 km stretch of coastline in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. We travelled some days together visiting remote villages. He was a pleasant companion with an eye for detail and a strong sense of curiousity. From the Royal family in Japan, I was impressed by his gentleness and the way he displayed such courtesy, humility and respect for the culture. Then I recalled one of his colleagues in Tokyo telling me that in the olden days his family were scholars, poets, and calligraphers. Konoe had an aura about him and I enjoyed his company so much.

In late Match 1975 I was assigned to work in Nepal and I recall getting a briefing from Konoe as he had visited Nepal some years early. It was a thorough briefing. Recently I found a photo (above) depicting his visit.

We lost contact until I visited Osaka in 1987 as a guest speaker at the International Syposium on Outdoor Education and Youth Development Towards the 21 st Century which was organised by Kansai Television and Osaka School of Physical Education. There I heard people speaking of Konoe in hushed tones and with great respect. He seemed to have an aura of a living God. Some leading Japanese academics told me how Konoe was in the process of setting up and Outward Bound School in Japan.

We met many times after that and I recall in Seville in 1997 at the International Red Cross conference, having a long talk to him about outdoor education and Outward Bound. He had a real passion for giving youth opportunities to build character and self reliance. It was during the conference in Seville that I noticed a marked change in Konoe. In a tense debate where two strong opposing factions had reached an impasse, the ever maturing Konoe took to the floor and made a wise and eloquent intervention, breaking a very tense situation. That day in December 1997, an elder Red Cross statesman emerged. I knew that very moment that here was a future President of the International Red Cross. Having travelled with Konoe in the field in India on two ocassions, he really has a deep concern for the welfare of children and has done much work in Japan as a Councillor of the Japan Committee for UNICEF.


He is a born and career Red Crosser. Born on "Red Cross and Red Crescent Day" of 8th May in 1939. Joined the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) in 1964, initially as a volunteer. He has visited many countries in Pacific, Africa, America, Europe, Middle East and Asia where he had witnessed the suffering caused by ideological, religious, racial and ethnic differences and conflict. He has dedicated his whole career to the Red Cross and Red Crescent work, both at home and abroad.
As a staff member of the JRCS he has worked mostly at its International Department where he built experience in supporting National Societies in the implementation of relief operations and of development projects, in settling the pending humanitarian issues of the post-war years with National Societies of the countries who had no diplomatic relations with Japan, and in representing the JRCS at different international meetings, He worked at the Secretariat of the International Federation as a staff-on-loan between 1972 and 1975 and as Director of the Disaster Preparedness Bureau between 1981 and 1985. During these periods he represented the International Federation in relief operations in different countries. His first experience with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) relief operation was in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1972 when he headed a JRCS medical team to look after the cyclone and the conflict victims. Ever since, as a representative of one of the major supporting National Societies to ICRC, he has visited various sites of the ICRC operations in different countries where JRCS provided services.
After returning to Japan, he was elected Vice President of JRCS in 1991 and to the office of President in 2005. In these capacities, he has been overseeing the Society's sizeable domestic activities, including medical services, blood transfusion services, disaster management, nurse training and social welfare services, as well as the Society's support for international activities.


As of 1 April 2009, the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) is run by over 56,000 paid staff, mostly involved with Medical Services and Blood Services, both of which are two of the major auxiliary functions to public authorities. Total budget of 2008 fiscal year reaches around 2.37 billion USD.
JRCS is currently running 92 hospitals and 6 clinics. These Red Cross medical institutions have a capacity of more than 38,000 hospital beds in total and treated more than 11 million in-patients and 19 million out-patients in 2008. From its Red Cross nursing schools, including 6 nursing colleges, over 1,300 nurses and 60 midwifes are graduated every year. Such continuing efforts of JRCS in the training of nurses results in the fact that 4.2% of nurses in the country are now educated by the Red Cross. 34 Social welfare institutions for elderly, children, and the disabled are also run by JRCS.
JRCS is the only supplier who is providing blood for transfusion in Japan. In 2008, more than 5 million people donated blood to JRCS which was utilized for the transfusion of 1 million patients in Japan.
More importantly, JRCS is supported by over 2 million community Red Cross Volunteers in the country. Moreover, more than 11,000 schools are members of the Junior Red Cross which promotes Red Cross youth activities.


He also served as a member of the Finance Commission of the International Federation between 1985 and 1993, as a member of the Standing Commission between 1995 and 2003, as a Governing Board member of the International Federation between 2001 and 2005 and as Vice President of the International Federation between 2005 and 2009. He has also been a member of the ICRC Finance Commission since 2003.
In his different management and governance capacities within the JRCS and the Movement, he has made field visits to about 90 National Societies on all continents. This has enabled him to gain a special insight into the challenges faced in the conduct of Red Cross and Red Crescent relief and development programs. It has also underlined for him the unique role played by Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers in fostering the spirit of humanity and protecting human dignity.


OTHER POSITIONS HE HAS HELD:
With his wealth of experience in various humanitarian fields, Mr. KONOÉ serves in different capacities at various public, non-governmental, academic and social organizations including the Central Disaster Management Council for the Prime Minister of Japan, Councillor of the Japan Committee for UNICEF, Advisor of the Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines, Advisor of Japan Center for Conflict Prevention.
FAMILY
Wife and one son. The KONOÉ house is the senior of five houses of the Fujiwara family whose members were eligible for the post of regent. It was established in the late Heian period (794-1185) in Kyoto. Family members served for generations as regents and grand ministers of state. Many were also scholars, poets, and calligraphers. After the Meiji Restoration (1868) and the establishment of a new peerage for the family, the head of the family was given the rank of prince.

Before finishing, I would like to quote Konoe himself were he reflects and talks of his vision for the Red cross movement.
Our Federation has a proud history of achievements over the last 90 years and rightfully has established the claim today to be the largest worldwide humanitarian network. To sustain and substantiate further this proud humanitarian record we must be better prepared to address the escalating needs of those suffering from the humanitarian consequences of climate change, physical and social insecurity, health emergencies and the world's financial crisis.

"I am firm in my belief that the member National Societies of the Federation possess great capacity and even further potential to better serve the ever growing number of vulnerable people. To reach our full potential, I believe, the Federation leadership has a key role in reinforcing the shared vision so necessary to deliver much needed services through unity of action. We need to strive to be even more efficient, not only for those who depend upon our support but also because competition and market forces in today's world demand efficiency if we are to remain relevant and a humanitarian force for good over the next 150 years and beyond.


National Societies are diverse in their history, relationship with their governments, humanitarian environments, activities and capacities.
So are their expectations of the Federation. I regard this diversity as a strength, so long as we can retain unity in our action. We need to share the "Spirit of Togetherness" by fostering the culture of working as a Federation.

In this regard, the President of the Federation must be a good listener to diverse views, particularly those within the components of our Movement.
He needs to be a consensus builder, resolving conflicting views and interests where he can. He needs, then, to be able to articulate and advocate the Federation's views to the outside world.

Having been born on the Red Cross/Red Crescent Day of the 8th May, perhaps it was my destiny to devote my whole professional career to service within the Movement. I have rich experience in management and governance, both at the national and the international levels.
As you will find in the attached personal profile, my career has allowed me to build a deep understanding about the realities faced by many National Societies.

The General Assembly in November will become a closing event of this commemorative year and also an opportunity for us all to pledge new commitments. As I proceed with my presidential campaign, I hope to meet as many leaders of National Societies as possible, including yourself of course. I look forward to a frank exchange of opinions so that I may benefit from these in shaping the aspirations I have to serve our membership as President of the Federation.

Coming as I do from one of the five founder members of the International Federation and the first ever candidate from the vast and the most populous Asia/Pacific Region, I look forward to your positive consideration of my candidature, taking into account my personal history and professional career as a born Red Crosser.

I am proud that Moriteru Konoe is President of the International Fedeartion of Red Cross for he will provide the vision and direction we need at this juncture in history. He has an exceptionally able secretary general in Bekele Gelata and together they will lead us to tackle the increasing humanitarian challenges the world is facing.

My mind goes back to a misty morning in Bhuj, Gujarat, India, when Konoe and I were having a bowl of soup together outside the Japanese Red Cross tent. He was so proud of the work the Japanese Red Cross medical team were doing for the many thousands injured by the earthquake, that killed over 25,000 people.
On that muddy school compound we had over 600 Red Cross staff and volunteers living in tents next to the 400 bed Finnish-Norwegian Red Cross field hospital.

Konoe spoke to me of this wonderful relief operation and how it must be replicated in the future. Rather than pump more money into the Japanese Red Cross, Konoe was the driving force behind the concept of and the Asia and Pacific disaster management unit, which is now well established in Kuala Lumpur, and provides a zone-wide disaster response, coordination and technical support to the whole of asia and Pacific. We have a man of vision with a history of implementation at the helm of Red Cross, and I for one, am highly motivated in my work with such leadedrship.

Check his website

http://tadateru-konoe.com

Spirit of Togetherness.