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Reflect and Reconnect

REFLECT AND RECONNECT~ 10 Years This year as we approach the anniversary of the 3.11 Great Eastern Japan Disasters, and the response to that by the Christian community of the world, we would like to take some time to focus on and listen to the individuals who responded. We aren’t looking to go back and re-experience that time, but would like to look at where we are now, and how responding to the disasters has affected our lives. Our reunion this year, sponsored by the Heart Care Department, is designed to create a space for us to listen to each other answer these three questions.

The Questions:

  1. When and where did you work with CRASH? What was your role and what did you do?
  2. How has your life changed since then? Where are you now and what are you doing?
  3. How did responding to the 3.11 disasters affect your life? Looking back, what does it mean to you today?

Please watch your email for an invitation to join this reunion. Or be proactive and reply here. https://crashjapan.com/en/reunion/

Remembering and Recovering

The devastation from the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and nuclear disasters ten years ago took a deep toll on the communities up and down the northeastern coast of Japan.

While people in the affected areas have grieved their losses, repaired or rebuilt their homes and businesses, re-established communities, and are going on with their lives as best they can, the recovery from that disaster is still actually ongoing. In one area the big road that was supposed to provide an escape route if another tsunami came is still under construction. In another area there are still a few evacuees who are not settled in permanent housing.

This month organizations all over Japan are preparing events to memorialize the ten year mark. Coming just one month before that anniversary, this earthquake has shaken people emotionally.

Pastors are reporting the distress of people in their communities. Many who have worked hard over the last ten years to overcome their trauma have found themselves again dealing with anxiety, stress, and flashbacks. After picking up the pieces of our lives, and working to return to order in the community, this quake has reminded everyone of how very vulnerable we are. The things that we take for granted, the order of our lives, the buildings and structures that we depend on for safety and comfort, all can become uncertain when the ground shakes.

Please join us in praying for healing and peace for these communities and individuals, and wisdom and safety for the pastors and missionaries who minister there.

Earthquake off the Coast of Fukushima

Last Saturday evening at 11:07 p.m. a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck northeastern Japan. The focus was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of 55 kilometers. This earthquake did not trigger a tsunami, and there have been no deaths reported. However, over 150 injuries have been reported across six prefectures. Close to a million homes lost power for several hours, and some areas are still having trouble with their water supply. Buildings, roads, electric poles and Shinkansen bridges have been damaged and one section of highway was destroyed by a landslide triggered by the earthquake.

Seismologists are saying that this earthquake is actually an aftershock of the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake that spawned the tsunami and nuclear disasters that followed. It is the strongest quake in this area since April 2011, and some people who lived through the 2011 quake report that they felt that this one shook even more than that one did. Dishes broke, books and objects were tossed about, furniture that was not secured was toppled, and for many, the feeling of safety that was beginning to be re-established after the devastation from 10 years ago was shaken, too.

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An aftershock, 10 years later.

Just after 11pm on Saturday evening, as we were preparing to go to sleep, the dog started barking, and then the shaking began. I could hear the rattling of the cabinet doors and the dishes in the drain clattered. Opening the front door I could hear the shaking of the ground and all the houses around us. Where I live in Tokyo, it registered 4 on the Japanese scale. At its source off the coast of Fukushima it was a strong 6 on the same Japanese scale.

Six prefectures have reported people with injuries, though no serious injuries have been confirmed and no casualties have been reported. Power was out for almost a million people, but was mostly restored within a few hours. There is damage to roads and buildings, a landslide that took out part of a highway, and a lot of clean up to do. Broken dishes and toppled bookshelves are just the beginning.

This quake comes almost exactly 10 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, which triggered the tsunami, and the following nuclear disasters. Experts are telling us that this, too, is an aftershock. That due to the size of the 2011 quake, it is not unusual to have an aftershock of this size ten years later.

Organizations that responded to the 2011 disasters have been planning their 10 year anniversary programs. Here at CRASH Japan we have also been planning how to appropriately mark this occasion. There is a desire to celebrate recovery, and put the hard parts of it behind us. We would like to be able to say ‘That is all over now. We are done with it.’ But an event like this reminds us that we are vulnerable.

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A wise woman taught us these responses to disaster. 'You can GO, you can STAY, you can PRAY and you can PAY.' ... See MoreSee Less
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災害対応チャプレン養成コースに参加された皆様へ(日本語文章は下にあります)Dear Friends with a heart for Chaplaincy,It has been a long time since we studied Chaplaincy together. I took a short break from Chaplaincy work in 2017 for family concerns. Since 2020 I have been back at CRASH Japan, and working to find the training and support that we all need in order to continue to respond to disasters. If you are still interested in Disaster Response and Chaplaincy training, please read the rest of this email. It is an introduction to one of the prerequisite courses for Chaplaincy studies, available in Japan in Japanese for the first time. Please consider it. If you are interested in talking more about training needs and opportunities please reach out to me. I am looking for a few people to consult with about the current need.If you have moved on, I thank you for your work, and hope that you are well and finding blessings in your life and current ministry. With much love,Helen災害に対応するためには、危機にある人々をケアする必要があります。危機管理の関わりは、牧会カウンセリングや一般のカウンセリングとは異なります。そのため、 危機的状況にある人々に寄り添うことができるようになるためのトレーニングプログラムが必要となるのです。米国のICISF(International Critical Incident Stress Foundation)が提供する国際標準化された下記のコースは、世界共通のガイドラインを備えたトレーニングプログラムとなっており、日本ではクリスチャンだけでなく、一般の社会の職種(消防士・自衛官・看護士・警官など)にも通用する内容となっています。ICISFは基礎コースとして「Assisting Individuals in Crisis(危機における個人の支援)」と「GROUP Crisis Intervention(グループ危機管理)」の2つの講座を提供しています。アメリカではこの2つのコース終了後に、上級講座として「Emotional and Spiritual Care in Disasters;災害の心のケアについて」が用意されています。 DRCnet(災害救援キリスト者連絡会)は、この上級講座をCRASH Japanや救世軍と協力して数年にわたり研修会を提供してきました。その際にコースを受講された方々は、是非この機会に基礎コースに参加していただきたいと思っています。今回日本で初めてICISF の基礎講座を開講するNPO法人PSV Japan(http://psv-japan.org)は、すでに航空業界などの職場や災害現場で危機的状況にある人々を支援するためのトレーニングやサポートを実施してきました。講師は、ICISF公認のインストラクターが日本語のテキストを用いて行います。コースの内容・申込み方法については以下の通りです。ご案内が開催間近となり、スケジュール等の調整が難しいかと思いますが、ご検討のほど、よろしくお願いいたします。クラッシュ・ジャパン 心のケアコーディネーター 郭ヘレン(日本語代筆:アシスタント 原田華子) ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー【コースの内容について】個人の危機介入とピアサポート(危機にある個人の支援する) 危機介入は心理療法ではなく、むしろ専門的な訓練を必要とする急性緊急メンタルヘルス介入であり、外科手術に対する身体的応急処置のように、危機介入は心理療法なのです。このため、危機介入は「感情の応急処置」と呼ばれることもあります。危機介入は通常、個別(1対1)またはグループで行われています。このプログラムでは、個別介入の基礎と具体的な手順を参加者に教えることを目的としています。このクラスの対象者は、メンタルヘルスに関する正式な訓練を受けていない救急隊員、軍人、企業・牧会者・教育者・産業界のピアサポート担当者、および個別(1対1)の危機介入技術に関する知識を深めたいメンタルヘルス専門家も含まれます。プログラムの総時間(13時間) 心理的危機と心理的危機への介入 抵抗力、回復力、回復の連続性 惨事ストレスマネジメント 根拠に基づく実践 基本的な危機管理コミュニケーション技法 一般的な心理的・行動的危機反応 推定および経験的に導き出されたメカニズムSAFER-改定モデル 自殺への介入▼ コースの申し込みについての詳細はこちら ▼惨事ストレスマネ-ジメントAssisting Individuals in Crisisセミナーのご案内 | ストレスマネジメントプログラムpsv-japan.org/archives/554開催日時:2023年2月11日(土)10 :00〜17:00 / 2月18日(土)10:00〜15:00 2日間※ ZOOMオンラインを使用したプログラム  今回だけ特別価格17,000円 ... See MoreSee Less
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