Mika Takana was cooking in her second-floor Sendai apartment when the earthquake struck. As everything started shaking and falling, she remembers some things vividly.

She watched a 31-story downtown building swaying and saw the communications tower on its roof fall over. She saw the power poles swaying and the power lines moving like jump ropes. But mainly she remembers a strange sound – the buildings around her were literally groaning and crying.

CRASH Meets with Japanese Pastors and Church Leaders

Tokyo, Japan-April 2, 2011 --  More than 150 Japanese pastors and church leaders met Friday night in Tokyo with CRASH and Japan Evangelical Association leaders to help mobilize Japanese churches to work together to provide relief for earthquake-ravaged churches and communities in Tohoku .

Tokyo, Japan - April 2^nd, 2011- When her church, Christian Surfers Japan (CSJ), contacted church members about supporting CRASH Japan, Emi Arikawa was busy in Yokohama helping her sister.  She traveled up to Tokyo and jumped right in to become a part of what CRASH Japan is doing.  Despite not knowing what she could offer, Emi really wanted to help reach the people in need.

While serving at CRASH as an internal communication and media translator, she stayed with a Canadian couple just a few minutes walk from the CRASH Japan headquarters in Higashi-Kurume until the end of March when she had to return home.

She is hoping to come back in the summer with her church members and she is planning to attend emotional care training.  Emi, a veterinarian in her daily life, is also ready to offer her help when it is time for Tohoku to tend to the care of animals.

As Emi takes in the prayers from  people all over the world for Japan, she feels she too is responsible for planting the seeds of prayer and watering them so that the Tohoku area may be restored as soon as possible.

For more information about how you could get involved with CRASH Japan, please contact us through our website.

Tokyo, Japan - March 30^th, 2011-

Years before he was I.T. Director of CRASH Japan, Scott Eaton was a teacher and member of Fukushima Daiichi Seisho Baptist Church. Eaton was tapped to lead the CRASH Japan assessment team to Fukushima. Prior to departure, emotions raced through Eaton, "They are my..." His teammate, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, said what Eaton could not: "your family."

Eaton and the assessment team visited community centers and government-run shelters to find that those who had evacuated due to the nuclear threat were not expecting a long-term stay. "Many people were expecting to go home in a couple hours," said team member Richard Nakamura. "Now, they may never go back to their homes."

Tokyo, Japan- March 29, 2011- Pastor Jim Peterson was born and raised in Japan. As the tsunami destroyed and washed away much of Northeast Japan, his heart and hands mobilized to reach his neighbors in the north. Peterson was part of one of the first CRASH Japan teams to enter the disaster area. Utilizing his own network of relationships in the affected area, Peterson was able not only to deliver aid, but returned with a request for prayer.