Activities Report I
Emergency Relief Activities for the Great East-Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: 11 Mar. – 20 Apr.
■Overview
AMDA’s Activity Locations
Otsuchicho, Iwate Prefecture
Deaths: 787
Missing: 827
Evacuees: 1,183-AMDA’s period of activity: 15 Mar. – present.
-Main locations: Otsuchi High School,, Otsuchi Archery
Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture
Deaths: 875
Missing: 349
Evacuees: 1,257

Minamisanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture
Deaths: 543
Missing: 664
Evacuees: 2,360
AMDA’s period of the activity: 19 Mar. – present.
Main locations: Shizugawa Elementary School-AMDA’s period of activity: 15 – 31 March-Main locations: Kamaishi High School
Minami Soma, Fukushima, Prefecture
Deaths: 589
Missing: 86
Evacuees: 19,982

Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
Deaths: 704
Missing:
39
Evacuees: 295- Period of activity by the Municipal Institute for International
Cooperation (affiliate of AMDA Group) : 12 March – present-Main locations: Disaster Headquarters of Minami Soma City, etc.

AMDA’s period of activity: 12-21 March
Main locations: “Hinatabokko” nursing home

March At 14:46, a 9.0-magnitude-earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast Japan. AMDA immediately decided
11th to dispatch its first emergency relief team
12th The first AMDA medical team entered Sendai City, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture. Upon request of thelocal government, AMDA started delivering medical assistance.
15th While part of the team remained in Sendai, the rest relocated to Kamaishi City and Otsuchicho in Iwate
Prefecture and started relief work.
19th AMDA started ER activities in Minamisanrikucho (Miyagi) where the damage was the severest.
21st Completed ER activities in Sendai and handed them to the local medical institutions.
31st Completed ER activities in Kamaishi City and handed them to the local medical association.
April 20th Completed ER activities in Minamisanrikucho (Miyagi) and Otsuchicho (Iwate) and handed them over tolocal doctors. AMDA’s activities have shifted from ER to rehabilitation. Acupuncture therapy andhealth assistance in those two towns are still being continued.

■Total number of dispatched personnel (as of 30 April 2011) : 149 personnel in 31 missions
Doctors：

５１

Assistant Nurses：

Nurses：２

３３

Care Workers：

Midwives：
２

４

Psychotherapists： ２Pharmacists:

３

Coordinators： ５０

Acupuncture therapists：

２■Delivering aid supplies: 7 times
The aid supplies were prepared in response to the request from the local teams and were delivered by achartered-truck. Commercial delivery services were also used after they resumed their regular operations. Aidsupplies included medical supplies, medical devices (electrocardiogram, ultrasound machines, etc.), food (rice,vegetables, etc.), bicycles, stationeries, electric appliances (washing machines, computers, battery chargers, etc.) .
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Activities Report I■Daily operations at the activity sites
Coping with the needs of the evacuation shelters
Initially the populated shelters housed more than 1,000
evacuees at one time and the numbers started to decline
gradually and eventually led some of them to closure. The
major health concerns at the primary stage were a lack of cleanwater, food supplies, gasoline, and medicine. The weather
was still freezing cold and even snowed during the first few
weeks after the disaster. All these factors added to the harshconditions at the shelters and respiratory diseases such as thecommon-cold started spreading rapidly in the crowded shelters.

Temporary clinic in Otsuchi High School shelter

Though the situation at the shelters saw some improvements with the partial restoration of communication andlifelines, prolonged stay at the shelters caused other problems such as an increase in stress-related symptoms anddeteriorating sanitary conditions. An outbreak of norovirus was reported in one of the shelters, and AMDA
immediately took counter-measures to prevent the further spread.
AMDA treated patients with gastroenteritis, inguinal hernia, tetanus, hydrocephalia, common cold, hay fever, andchronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The huge tsunami has simply washed away the entire
region claiming the lives of many local citizens. As a result there were very few cases of surgical treatmentcompared to other earthquake disasters.
Responding to the local needs, AMDA sent not only medical
doctors but also psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychiatricnurses and acupuncture therapists. Medical records weremade for each patient who visited AMDA's medical services
and were handed over to local doctors and hospitals for futurereference. There was a great need for pharmacists as a hugeamount of donated medicine had to be sorted out, properly
labeled and handed out to patients after the consultation.
AMDA also called for pharmacist volunteers and managed to
deploy sufficient numbers to all places.

Home visiting acupuncture therapy

Beside those medical treatments, AMDA teams took initiative and worked on improving the living conditions in theevacuation shelters. Their activities included cleaning the toilets, providing hygiene education and nutrition program,delivering vitamin supplements, setting a playroom for children, planning recreations and events, setting partitions toprotect privacy, introducing exercise machines, and so on.

AMDA’s Mobile Clinic

AMDA’s doctor visiting a nursery

2Visitby a confectioner
Volunteers
invited aActivities Report I■Mobile Clinic Services
While AMDA teams were stationed at larger evacuation
centers, they delivered mobile clinic services to smaller
shelters and conducted many home-visits to serve thepeople who could not make it to the shelters. Soja City inOkayama Prefecture provided AMDA with two electric cars tobe used for mobile clinic services. These vehicles were able
to circumvent the petrol shortage

Electric car from Soja City (©New York Times, 8 May)

■Supporting people of Fukushima

The Municipal Institute for International Cooperation in Okayama, one of the affiliates of AMDA Group, has also
been supporting Minami Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture by sending volunteers and daily commodities since
12th March. Minami Soma City is one of the cities suffering from the effects of radiation leaks . Based on therequest from Minami Soma City, the Institute in cooperation with Okayama City will continue their support.

Rehabilitation■Three-year program to support the hospitals in affected regions
By the end of April, normal medical practices under Japan’s Social Health Insurance have resumed and the needs
for free clinics run by volunteers diminished. AMDA handed over its medical records to local hospitals and shifted
its activities to the indirect support of local hospitals and doctors. As a start, AMDA is going to support Otsuchi
Prefectural Hospital and Sizugawa Prefectural Hospital by donating medical instruments and sending doctors andother medical staffs for three years, during the peak seasons of summer and winter. AMDA will also support thelocal doctors to restart their clinics by donating supplies and medical instruments.

■Acupuncture and health support program
Considering the popularity and effectiveness of acupuncture therapy, AMDA will send acupuncture therapist
regularly, cooperating with the Meiji University of Integrative Medicine. AMDA also has a plan of setting up “HealthSupport Centre” in Otsuchicho, to provide acupuncture therapy and other alternative medical treatments.

■Helping the young
AMDA Scholarship for High School Students in Tohoku
Since schools were used as evacuation shelters, AMDA had the opportunity of meeting with local educators whichgave AMDA insight into the real needs of young people affected by the disaster. The young victims needed emotional
as well as financial support to survive this ordeal. Considering such needs, AMDA established a scholarshipprogram for the local high school students who aspire to enter medical professions in the future. AMDA expects that
this grant will give students hope for the future and that they will eventually contribute to the recovery of theircommunities. Besides financial assistance for three years, the scholarship aims to provide international cultural
exchange opportunities through the supporting organizations.

3Activities Report I■Exchange programs
AMDA has always placed great importance on the human relationship or ties between the disaster affected people
and outside communities. The victims need to know that they are not alone in their fight and the rest of the country
or the world would not abandon them in their most trying time. Furthering ties with the people outside the affectedarea is a very effective way of boosting the spirit of victims and revitalizing the whole community. In April, AMDA
organized an event for high school students in Okayama and Hiroshima to donate 1,500 gift-bags each withstationery and handwritten message to their peers in the disaster hit areas. After that, a group of high school
students from Hiroshima City visited Otsuchicho town to take part in a high school exchange program. At theevacuation shelters, the students took part in daily chores with their peers in the local high schools.
In summer 2011, a joint sports exchange program will be held in Soja City, Okayama, inviting junior high school
students from disaster area to Okayama and Soja Cities. The event uses soccer as a means of communication,
which replicates the successful example of the sports exchange program held for Haitian Earthquake victims in 2010.
The event hopes to promote mutual understanding and friendship between students from Okayama and those fromdisaster areas who persevered the hardship.
Communications
cost
1.0% Providing meals
2.0%

Insurance Others
premiums 5.0%
0.8%
Dispatchedpersonnel's travel

Transportation
costs
4.5%

expenses・

Medical Supplies

Office work

dispatchedpersonnel
14.7%

overseas
15%

Communications

11.8%Cost of lodging foranony- religious
mous
groups1%
6%

cost・Dispatch
allowance

supplies、

43.3%

Miscellaneous

individuals
46%

goods

corporations
32%

17.0%

others
21%
USA
47%
Asia
32%

■For the future
Though much has been achieved during the few months after the disaster, there are still many things yet to bedone. AMDA will join hands with various donors, supporters and its chapters around the world to launch a range ofprograms for the disaster victims, not transiently but sustainably, in order to bring peace and normalcy back to thearea.
Offers of assistance have come from around the world and AMDA will keep on telling the survivors that they are
not alone in their fight. AMDA will continue its assistance to meet the changing needs of these disaster sites.
AMDA will fight together with the victims to build a safer and better community.

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