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INVITATION TO THE 2ND DISASTER CHAPLAINS’ CAFÉ
Date: January 16th, 2014 (Thu), 4:00 p.m. ~ 6:00 p.m.
Place: Ochanomizu Christian Center, Room 416
Topic: “Spiritual Care ~ Self Care Listening: Creating A Safe Space for Chaplains and Pastors to Speak Their Hearts”
Facilitator: Helen Kwak, CRASH Japan Care Coordinator
Those who were involved in the disaster responders program, or who are still active in it, or are interested in such activities are all welcomed. It is a café type meeting and refreshments will be provided. Registration is not required, but your advanced registration by e-mail would be much appreciated.
Sponsor: Disaster Responders Chaplain Program Committee (DRCnet)
Contact: e-mail: info@drcnet.jp
Tel: 03-5577-4824, Fax: 03-5577-4865
THE 3RD GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL SYMPOSIUM
Theme: “Raising Leaders through Sufferings beyond the Walls”
Date: February 15th (Sat), 17th (Mon)
15th 10:00 a.m. ~ 5:00 p.m. pastors and other Christians
17th 10:30 a.m. ~ 4:00 p.m. seminary students, younger pastors and Christians
Place：Ochanomizu Christian Center 8th Floor Chapel
Fee：one day ¥1,000（including the handouts）; student one day ¥500
Pre Registration is required and seats are limited
15th（200 seats), 17th (80 seats)
Registration is only from the Webpage: http://drcnet.jp
The dead line：February 7th (Fri)
Contact：DRCnet (East Japan Disaster Relief Net Work)
E-mail: info@drcnet.jp Tel: 03-5577-4824
DISASTER REDUCTION CHURCH NETWORK SEMINAR REPORT
The seminar was held at Ueno Holiness Church on October 8th, pastors were invited from Arakawa, Sumida, Taito, Koto and Chuo wards of Tokyo. The seminar was sponsored by the DRCnet Tokyo Disaster Preparedness Project and co-sponsored by CRASH JAPAN. 40 people attended the seminar. In the morning, there were three sessions. First, Kazu Kurihara from CRASH showed a PowerPoint presentation concerning the predicted risk of the coming earthquake disaster and how to reduce the risk, as we need to pay special attention to eastern Tokyo, which is subject to flooding. Second, Pastor Matsumoto, chairman of the Japan Evangelical Association disaster relief committee, spoke on the need of church network to cope with disaster. He emphasized the importance of a leader who can take an initiative to start face-to-face community within walking distance. In the final morning session, Jonathan Wilson, director of CRASH spoke on how to help the vulnerable. A highlight of this seminar was the introduction of a Salvation Army canteen car, which has a rice cooker system that can make 100 servings in 20 min. We were able to eat GYUDON (Beef Bowl) for lunch prepared by this canteen car. After lunch participants divided into small groups and discussed how to start church networks. The purpose of these networks is to create a face-to-face disaster reduction community. Through this seminar in Taito ward, seven churches have been networked and are ready to go.
Tokyo Disaster Preparedness: Kazu Kurihara
OPERATIONSAFE CHILD TRAUMA CAMP IN ZAMBOANGA, PHILIPPINES
From September 9th to the 30th of 2013, armed conflict between MNLF rebels and the troops of the Philippine government resulted in the evacuation of civilians as homes were being burned. At the end of October, the number of dead was placed at 140, wounded 268, and the number affected at 20,810 families or 105,705 individuals currently in need both outside and inside evacuation centers. The number of homes totally damaged by the series of fires is 10,160 homes.
Our local partners, the Philippine Children’s Ministry Network sent an assessment team the last week of November and since Typhoon Haiyan struck Visayas, the situation in the evacuation camps has deteriorated with government resources being pulled elsewhere.
The main concern for us is the care and protection of children and helping them recover from trauma. We are holding an OperationSAFE child trauma camp in Zamboanga from December 26th to the 31st at Manpang Elementary School which functions as one of the evacuation centers. This will become a model and training for local church workers to continue psychosocial care for the children in the months ahead.