Earthquake damage report from the NSKK: The Church of England Newspaper, April 21, 2011 p 8. April 27, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Disaster Relief, Nippon Sei Ko Kai.trackback
The interior of St Stephen's Church in Mito in the Diocese of Kita Kanto, Japan, following the March 11 earthquake. The church has since been declared unsafe and has been demolished
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The churches of the Dioceses of Tohoku and Kita Kanto escaped relatively unscathed from last month’s earthquake and tsunami, reports Shinya Yawata, the NSKK’s international secretary. However, the human cost of the March 11 earthquake of Japan’s northeast coast has been catastrophic.
There are 13,200 confirmed dead and 14,300 missing, Mr. Yawata said on April 15, while 167,000 people have been forced from their homes.
“Most damage has been caused by the tsunami rather than earthquake itself,” he said, with the government estimating almost 53,000 homes were destroyed.
“In addition we are facing the potential impact of nuclear radiation caused by malfunction of the nuclear power plant” at Fukushima, and “we are experiencing many aftershocks with some of them causing more damage to already weakened structures.”
In Sendai, Christ Church was badly damaged by the earthquake but not touched by the tsunami which leveled many buildings along the coast, Mr. Yawata said, and none of the diocese’s other churches were touched by the waters as they are inland or on high ground.
However, most Tohoku churches have “suffered varying levels of earthquake damage, including cracked or fallen walls and windows, damaged ceilings, broken furniture,” while in the neighboring diocese of Kita Kanto diocese two church buildings were badly damaged, and one had to be torn down.
Support from the other dioceses of the NSKK has begun to pour into the affected areas, Mr. Yawata said, with the “major area of relief work” coming in the provision of “food and necessary goods for daily life, such as cooking fuel, clean towels, clothing.”
The NSKK is continuing to assess the needs of its congregations and the wider community, Mr. Yawata said, with the Provincial Office “providing care where and when it is required.”
“Please continue to keeps us in your prayers,” the church’s international secretary said, as the work of reconstruction will be long and arduous.
