2012: Gründung von JEDRO

Hilfe für Fukushima, 2011ff

NCCJ Members and Overseas Partners Work Together to Open Disaster Response Office


In the immediate weeks following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant explosion/meltdown that devastated and continue to threaten northeastern Japan, the NCCJ office in Tokyo was faced with challenges it had neither the financial nor technical resources to immediately handle. Staff was stretched thin covering the new and varied needs of the disaster, in addition to their regular work and daily lives in which food shortages, unsafe water and radiation were constant concerns. The generous offers of prayers, donations and assistance that poured in from NCCJ members as well as overseas partners were a great comfort. At the beginning of May, international partners convened a solidarity meeting in Seoul, South Korea, at which time the idea of an ecumenical coordinating body was recommended in order to carry out timely relief and facilitate effective long-term recovery efforts.

As a result, on May 27, 2011, the Executive Council of the National Christian Council in Japan mandated the NCC Japan Ecumenical Disaster Response Office (NCC JEDRO) as a response of the NCCJ membership to the triple disaster. Office space was found on the 5th floor of the same building as NCCJ and the space and work of JEDRO blessed by Pastor Claudia Genung-Yamamoto in early June with approximately 15 in attendance. Since then, NCC JEDRO has been serving as a joint Christian effort “to support locally initiated humanitarian relief and rehabilitation projects with a network of international ecumenical cooperation.” ....

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