Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012<< AMDA’s Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku‘s Recovery >>In May 2011, AMDA shifted its activities in the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami fromemergency relief to recovery. Since then, AMDA has launched various projects to support people in the disaster-stricken
areas, and brought the new projects together under the name of “Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s
Recovery”. This Activity Report summarizes AMDA’s recovery activities carried out under this three-year program.
Currently, the following are up and running projects:
1. Dispatching Medical Volunteers: AMDA supports hospitals in the affected areas by sending volunteer doctors,
nurses, and others related to the field.
2.

“AMDA Otsuchi Health Support Center”: AMDA contributes to the enhancement of health and the rebuilding of
the community for the people in Otsuchi. The Center is also expected to serve not only the people of Otsuchi
but the entire Tohoku region by reaching out to neighboring communities similarly affected by last year’s
disaster.
Activities at the Center are:a. Treatment at Acupuncture Clinic
b. Local events in the “Salon”
c. Activities to unite neighboring communities in their joint rehabilitative efforts

3. Supporting the Young in Tohoku: AMDA supports the young people in the affected areas who will play the mainrole in rebuilding their communities in the future. AMDA encourages them to communicate with outsidecommunities in Japan and foreign countries so that they would be aware of the value of human networks andmutual assistance in their effort of recovery.
a.
b.
c.
d.

AMDA International Scholarship for High School Students in Tohoku
Supporting AMDA High School Club in Otsuchi
Sports and cultural exchange
Sending school supplies and uniforms

4. Ad Hoc Projects: AMDA also conducts ad-hoc projects as needs arise.

1. Dispatching Medical Volunteers■Second dispatch in winter (December 2011 – January 2012)
AMDA sends medical volunteers to the two public hospitals in the affected areas in Tohoku three times a year – inspring, summer and winter -- to support local doctors and nurses and enable them to take days off. Following the
success of the first dispatch to the Otsuchi Hospital (Otsuchicho, Iwate Prefecture) and the Shizugawa Hospital(Minamisanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture) in summer of 2011, as reported in the Activities Report-II, AMDA again sent
medical staff to the Shizugawa Hospital in winter 2011/2012.
<Number of dispatched volunteers – Summer and Winter>
Occupation of the volunteers
Hospitals
Otsuchi Hospital(Iwate)Shizugawa Hospital(Miyagi)

SummerDoctors

Nurses &Assistant
NursesPharmacists

Pshychotherapists

MedicalStudents

Nursing
Students

2

Accupuncture
therapists

Coordinators

2

WinterSummer
Winter<Period of dispatch>
1st Dispatch (summer):
2nd Dispatch (winter):

1
1

14
6

1

1

1st May – 18th September 2011
5th December 2011 – 31st January 2012
1

21

25
2

2
1

Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012

<Daily operations at the Shizugawa Hospital in winter 2011/2012>






Duty hours for dispatched workers:
9am – 5pm on weekdays. (*)
Sections the volunteers were assigned to:Internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics
Average number of patients seen in the above sections: 200 patients / day
Major diagnoses of the patients treated in the Hospital:
Hypertension, diabetes, flu, chronic illnesses
Tasks of the dispatched nurses:
Measuring vital signs before the first consultation, escorting patientsfrom reception to consulting rooms, assisting the hospital’s nurses in the vaccination of children(**), etc.
(*): Some of them also took part in the night and weekend shifts.
(**): In winter, many visited the hospital for influenza vaccinations.

Under the leadership of the head nurse of the Shizugawa Hospital, AMDA’s volunteer nurses were assigned to thesections listed above. Medical and nursing students also worked as assistants to the nursing staff by making medical
interviews, calling the names of the patients in the waiting room and escorting them, sorting out medical records toprepare for next day appointments and so forth.
<Status of recovery in the hospital>
Eight out of nine dispatched medical volunteers in winter had previously experienced working as AMDA’s volunteers
in Tohoku immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and also in the first dispatch in summer
2011. One of these volunteers, Ms. Kikuchi, nurse, told us about the conditions at Shizugawa in December.
“I could see many signs of recovery from the disaster. For example, the amountof debris from the earthquake and tsunami seems to have been reduced
compared to the past summer. I also noticed that construction had started in thearea. The number of fishing vessels seemed to be increasing, and some local
residents made comments such as, ‘I resumed seaweed harvesting’, ‘I finallyreopened my fish sausage factory.’ However, I also heard some residents
say ’My son cannot find a job’, or ‘I cannot afford receiving vaccination.' Many
victims are looking for a job and being pressed for money.”“The Shizugawa Hospital started to construct a new temporary hospital building,but the construction is running behind schedule. Though it was originallyplanned to be completed by December 2011, it is now expected to be finishedby the end of the 2011 fiscal year, in March 2012. I also heard that a meeting
was held recently to explain to the local residents on the relocation of thehospital to an upland open space. As my activity was limited within the hospital,
most of the residents I met were those who were able to come to the hospital on
their own or with the support of their family. My concern is that there would be
people who are not able to come to the hospital without assistance and don’t
have family to help them.”

Staff and volunteers at Shizugawa Hospital

Temporary hospital building“There are some positive changes in the working conditions at the Shizugawa
Hospital. For example, hospital office clerks now work as receptionists in themornings, taking the task over from nurses. Also, the home-visit nursing section
is sending three part-time volunteer nurses to the hospital semiweekly, andsome volunteer nurses come from Sendai twice a week. Despite these extra
staff, the number of holidays for nurses has not changed significantly since last
Pharmacy of the temporary hospitalsummer. A local nurse told me, ‘If I could take a few days off, I would be able torecharge myself.’ The shortage of local doctors was a serious problem. There
were just two or three physicians on duty each day. Due to the shortage of doctors, patients often have to wait over
two hours, which is burdensome to the elderly. I saw the patients and their attending families get exhausted when2

Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012

consultation was over. The working environment in the hospital was harsh in
winter. Due to the severe cold, the water pipes froze and the water in thetemporary toilet also froze in the morning and stopped flowing.”
Even under the difficult conditions reported by Ms. Kikuchi, AMDA believes that it isnoteworthy that the dispatch of medical staff has enabled the local nurses to take days
off during the summer and the New Year’s holidays. However, shortage of manpower
will continue to be a serious problem. As some nurses left the hospital at the end ofyear 2011, now even older nurses have to work the night shift. Though outwardly thenurses remain cheerful and friendly, some of them are suffering from insomnia andanxiety and taking medicines to ease their symptoms.

Temporary toilet in Minamisanriku<Next plan of dispatch>
AMDA’s next dispatch of medical volunteers is planned from 18 March to 13 April 2012, when 1 doctor, 3 nurses and1 pharmacist will be sent for about four weeks.

2. AMDA Otsuchi Health Support Center■ Opening (December 2011)
The idea of creating a place for the well-being of the people whose lives were disrupted by the earthquake andtsunami was conceived as early as late April 2011, when AMDA started planning to shift its activities from emergency
relief to rehabilitation. This idea has become a reality as the project of “AMDA Otsuchi Health Support Center.” AMDA
has supported the people in Otsuchi in constructing the Center, and will continue to support them for the next three
years until they start managing the project on their own by setting up an independent NGO.
Due to the unique method of construction, it took only a month and a half from its ground work in early November
2011 until the completion. The AMDA Otsuchi Health Support Center formally opened on 18th December 2011 with asmall ceremony held by the people who had worked together in its construction.
The Center is uniquely designed by the Japanese
Waiting Room
Floor Planarchitect Seiji Terakawa as a set of self-containedinter-connecting units. This construction method suits theTreatment Roomtsunami-affected areas where ground readjustment is stillgoing on. The Center consists of an acupuncture clinic run
Entrance
by a local acupuncture therapist and a multi-purpose room
StorageW.C
for such events as social gatherings and lectures. AMDA
Elevation View (west)
hopes the Center will serve as a community Center for
Multi-purpose space
Otsuchi. After the tsunami had struck the town, many people
in Otsuchi were forced to move to temporary housing or to
Kitchenother safer areas and have lost contact with their old friends
Storageand neighbors. It will be a great pleasure for AMDA if people
in Otsuchi could visit the Center to receive therapy, chat with friends and neighbors, and participate in the Center’s
Programs, thereby regaining enough strength to rebuild their own life and the community.
<From Ground Work to Opening>

2nd November 2011:

Ground work started.



13rd November 2011:

The framework of the Center was completed. In keeping with Japanese tradition, staff
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Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012

held a small ceremony to celebrate the house-raising. People in Otsuchi had kindly helped AMDA’s staff to prepare
food and “mochi” (rice cake) the day before. A lot of local people, including those who happened to pass by, joined the
ceremony and enjoyed catching small mochis thrown from the top of the framework.


14th November 2011:
Exterior and interior finish work started. Because of the scarcity of building materials
after the disaster and the unstable winter weather, construction work had to stop every so often. However, thanks to
the hard work of the local construction company and the association of workers in Otsuchi, construction picked up
speed in the later stage. Volunteers helped make wooden benches by hand, interior decorating, and setting up thewooden deck outside.



13rd December 2011:

Local people making “mochi” cakes.

Completion and handover.

Throwing “mochi” on the frame-raising ceremony

Setting up wooden deck in front of the Center<Opening Ceremony on 18th December 2011>
Staff started the final touches to the wooden deck at 7am, finishing just before the ceremony started. The Center
opened, even though some of the work was as yet unfinished. Mr. Akikazu Koike, Head of the Volunteers Center at
AMDA Headquarters, came over from Okayama to congratulate the people who were engaged in the construction of
the Center and the student volunteers who spared their time to help construction work. After a shrine ritual, which is aJapanese tradition commonly seen when a new building is built, there were entertainments such as mochi pounding, anoutdoor lunch, singing and dancing by the local people. After all these events, the Center officially opened and theacupuncture clinic started treating patients.

Traditional dance at the opening ceremony

TV crew interviewing the acupuncture therapist

AMDA’s staff and volunteers■Acupuncture Clinic has treated nearly 1,000 patients
AMDA met Mrs. Kanako Sasaki, an acupuncture therapist whose residence and clinic had been washed away by
the tsunami, during the emergency relief period. AMDA started to collaborate with her in providing medical treatment tothe victims in the evacuation shelter where AMDA was working. She continued seeing her patients at her temporary
clinic in the evacuation shelter, and in December she re-opened her clinic in the AMDA Health Support Center. FromMay 2011 to the end of February 2012, Mrs. Sasaki treated about 100 patients per month in average, 986 patients intotal. Exercise therapy was launched at the clinic in February 2012.
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Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012

Number of patients treated at the acupuncture clinic(May 2011 – February 2012)

May
June
July
AugustSeptember
OctoberNovember
DecemberJanuary
February
Total

56
118
144
52
98
118
111
126
73
90
986
Mrs. Sasaki treating a patient in her new clinic in AMDA Otsuchi
Health Support Center■Events in “Salon”
Since the opening, there have been various events in the “Salon”, as the community space in the Center is known:-

Health check for the elderly
Seasonal events like Christmas gathering for children
Japanese tea ceremony
Japanese traditional card games, using the local dialect
Craftwork classes

243 people in total visited the Salon from 15th December 2011 to 13th
February 2012. On the opening day, AMDA conducted a questionnaire survey.
According to its result, older people want such events as body exercise,
AMDA’s volunteer doctor checking blood pressure
for the elderly
yoga lessons and health lectures in the Center, whereas children want toplay sports. Staff of the Center will try to listen to the voices of local people andhope to realize their wishes as much as possible, in an effort to contribute to
the physical and mental well-being of the people in Otsuchi.

■Helping to build a bond between two affected towns: Otsuchi
and Kesen’numa (March 2012)
AMDA encourages the affected communities in Tohoku to work together Christmas gathering for children
toward their common goal of recovery from the disaster. AMDA tries to provide Christmas party for children
them with opportunities of sharing and exchanging resources to ease andspeed up the recovery. This process will help the people to forge stronger bonds among themselves. As the first step,
AMDA organized a cultural exchange event for the people in Otsuchi (Miyagi prefecture) and Kesen’numa (Iwate
prefecture) early in March, one year after the earthquake and tsunami had hit these cities.
The event, entitled “Building a Bond between Otsuchi and Kesen’numa”, was held on 4th March in Kesen’numa. 54
people in Otsuchi, where AMDA has been working since after the earthquake and tsunami, visited Kesen’numa to
perform their traditional drumming, music and dance. And a young people’s group in Kesen’numa performed songs.
When the “Usuzawa Shishiodori” dancing team from Otsuchi paraded along the shopping street in Kesen’numa, people
5Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012

came out of the shops and clapped hands. A sense of unity was created as theparade was welcomed by the cheering crowd.
People in Kesen’numa told AMDA: “Today I got lots of good energy andencouragement from the people of Otsuchi. I don’t want this to be a one-off
event”, “I immediately felt something in common with people from Otsuchi. I felt
tears in my eyes”, “Talking with people who experienced the same disaster isconsoling”, “Next time we want to visit Otsuchi and perform our music anddance.” A person in Otsuchi sent a message to AMDA: “It will be great if thisPeople from Otsuchi and Kesen’numa
bond between Otsuchi and Kesen’numa would expand into whole Tohoku and if
people would work together hand in hand. Today was the first step toward this goal.”

3. Supporting the Young in Tohoku■ AMDA Scholarship for High School Students in Tohoku (from April
2011)
During the emergency relief period, AMDA and the medical teams from Japanand abroad that were cooperating with AMDA, agreed on the idea of establishing ascholarship program for the local high school students who aspired to becoming a
medical profession in the future. In April 2011, the scholarship project was“Usuzawa Shishiodori” parade in Kesen’numa
formally announced and fundraising started. Thanks to the great response fromthe public including some generous donators, by the end of September 2011 AMDA had paid the first year’s grant to 74
students from 5 high schools, 1 unified lower and secondary school and 1 vocational technical school. Each student
receives 15,000 yen / month (180,000 yen/year) with no repayment obligation until she/he graduates from school.
Under this project, AMDA preserves the right to choose schools but the selection of beneficiaries is left up to eachschool's discretion.
<Profile of the scholarship recipients in the 7 schools>Type of school
High school

Unified lower &upper secondary school
Vocational school

Total

Grade
rd
3 gradend
2 gradest
1 gradevariousth

4 graderd
3 gradend
2 gradeNumber of recipients
19
20
20
10
13
1
1
84

<Ambitions>
Future hope
DoctorNurse
Physical therapist
Occupational
therapist
Clinical laboratory technician
Prosthetist
Radiological technician
Pharmacist
Maternity nurse
Caregiver
Health worker
OthersNumber of students
10
26
14
2
3
1
1
5
1
1
1
8

It is worth noting that the beneficiaries include Tohoku North Korean School students. The school’s main building
was badly damaged, but they opened its dormitory to the elderly in the neighborhood and delivered food andemergency supplies to evacuation shelters. AMDA thought the school’s efforts deserved recognition and support,
especially considering that schools for foreign residents are not treated equally by the School Education Act of Japan
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Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012and do not qualify to receive state subsidies even in times of disaster.

■AMDA High School Club in Otsuchi started (June 2011)
The “AMDA High School Club in Otsuchi” was started by 11 high school students in Otsuchi. It began and continued
to evolve as the youth group of the “AMDA Otsuchi Club” which was set up in the aftermath of the last year’s disaster.
“AMDA Otsuchi Club” was started by 10 local people who volunteered to support AMDA’s staff working in Otsuchi,deliver local opinions and create opportunities for the town people of various ages to gather and mix with othercommunities.
<What is AMDA Club?> AMDA Otsuchi Club has become the eighth AMDA Club,
following the AMDA Clubs in Kamakura (Kanagawa), Kobe (graduates of Kobe Jogakuin
University), Kochi (Kochi), Fukuyama (Hiroshima), Takehara (Hiroshima), Tamano(Okayama) and Yubari (Hokkaido). All of these Clubs are organized by local people who are in
full agreement with AMDA’s philosophy and its humanitarian activities are conducting volunteer
activities on their own.

“AMDA High School Club in Okayama” has actively supported AMDA’s activities
for the affected regions in Tohoku by raising funds and volunteering. AMDA will
support these High School Clubs in Okayama and Otsuchi help organize Sports
and Cultural exchange programs.

High school students in Otsuchi supporting AMDA

■ Soccer exchange for junior high school children (2-6 August 2011)>
In August 2011, AMDA invited junior high school soccer teams from Tohoku to hold a sports Program in Okayama
and Soja cities, both in Okayama prefecture. 46 children and 6 teachers from three junior high schools in Miyagi and
Iwate prefectures in Tohoku visited Okayama, and more than 120 children and teachers from 4 junior high school in
Okayama prefecture participated in the event. The children of Tohoku had not played soccer outdoors since theearthquake and tsunami. They played with their peers in Okayama and Soja over two days and enjoyed home-staying
with the families of the children in Soja. A Buddhist temple, a generous supporter of AMDA, also offered their hall as
their accommodation. This event provided a good opportunity for the children in Okayama and Soja to understand thereality of the affected cities over 1,000km away from Okayama prefecture. As a token of their friendship, children in
Okayama prefecture gave hand-made key holders to their new friends from Tohoku. With the support of AMDA’s
volunteers, children from Tohoku and Okayama enjoyed playing soccer together and nurtured new friendship. After thesoccer event, children from Tohoku went to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Museum and listened to the A-bomb
survivors’ talk. On their way back, they also visited Kobe to see how the city had recovered from the severe earthquake
in 1995.
Children from Tohoku commented: “I was very happy
to be able to play soccer on a beautiful pitch”, “It waswonderful to make new friends”, “I was surprised toknow that there is so much sympathy and that there areso many people who care for us”, “I want to findsomething I can do for other people”, “We wereencouraged to do whatever we could toward therecovery of Tohoku.”
Last day of the event (in Okayama)■ ”KIZUNA” (Bond) Concert (March 2012)7

Activity Report Ⅲ
Three-Year Program of Supporting Tohoku’s Recovery

March 2012

AMDA invited Otsuchi High School Brass Band to Okayama and Hiroshima in March 2012 to perform with local highschool brass bands. Two concerts entitled “Kizuna” meaning “bond” in Japanese, were held in Okayama and Hiroshima.
Through the concerts, AMDA helped to convey sincere gratitude of the people in Otsuchi toward the people in
Okayama and Hiroshima who have supported them in their very trying time. It offered the students of both sides withlearning opportunities as they played the leading part in managing the whole event. The students from Otsuchi also had
the opportunity of visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. AMDA hopes that the event has given the young
people an opportunity to strengthen their bond and awareness that they must take on the responsibility to create apeaceful and safe society for the future.

<Future Event>Sending school uniforms to Otsuchi High School (Planned for April 2012)
Nearly 80% of the students at Otsuchi High School lost their school uniforms in the tsunami. Otsuchi High School,
one of the designated evacuation shelters in the aftermath of the disaster, was also the base of AMDS’s emergency
relief efforts. In response to a request from the schoolmaster, AMDA, in collaboration with its main donors in Okayama,
will donate money for the students of Otsuchi High School to buy new school uniforms. 80 students will receive
donations by the beginning of the spring school term in April 2012. This was the second time AMDA asked for donation
to send school uniforms to Tohoku. In the spring of 2011, AMDA initiated a program calling upon Okayama people tohelp send school uniforms to the affected students in Tohoku. To this request, people of Okayama, including adepartment store, a local council and a clothing company answered with generous donation by sending uniforms to theaffected schools in Tohoku.

4. Ad-Hoc Projects■Supporting homeless people in Sendai (January and March 2012)
An increase in the number of homeless has recently become a serious
problem in Tohoku. About 100 people in Sendai city are living on the street. Afterthe disaster, these people had come to Sendai to take a job, but as soon as theiremployment contract expired they were out of work. They became homeless as
they couldn’t pay for temporary housing and have been taking shelter at Sendai
Japan Railway station. To support them survive in the freezing cold weather,
AMDA, in collaboration with its donors in Okayama and a local NGO in Sendai,
provided them with 300 sleeping bags, 2,000 instant noodles and 2,000
disposable body warmers. Free hot meals were also served in the park.
AMDA distributed aid supplies again in mid-March.

Delivering food in a park in Sendai in January 2012

■Sending beds, hot-water bottles and blankets to a hospital in
Kesen’numa (January 2012)
Hospitals in the affected area are still on their way to recovery. AMDA sent
four beds to one of the hospitals in Kesen’numa. Hot-water bottles and blankets,
which were given to AMDA by its donors, were also delivered to this hospital.
Hospital staffs receiving hot-water bottles and blankets.

8