Yamaguchi Flooding: Relief Activities Report

September 18, 2013

On 28^th July, Yamaguchi prefecture experienced heavy rainfall and flooding. Over 1,500 homes sustained damage, affecting thousands of people across the area.  PBV dispatched an advanced team to the affected areas on 1^st August in order to assess the situation on the ground and to liaise with local organizations, such as the Social Welfare Council.

Having established a rapport with these groups and set up an operations base, PBV commenced relief activities in the Yamaguchi City and Hagi City areas, focusing on debris removal and clean-up of flooded homes. This project continued over the course of a month and finished on 2^nd September.

Given that severe rainfall had caused widespread damage in many regions across Japan, many areas were experiencing similar problems at the time. For this reason, there were initially concerns about being able to gather sufficient numbers of volunteers for this project.

However, volunteers from across the country came together in Yamaguchi prefecture to take part in PBV’s relief activities. Over the course of a month, we were able to coordinate 284 volunteer work days and were very fortunate to have so many people willing to mobilize on such short notice to help the affected communities.

“In this flooded region, there were several days of severe weather and so it was, in many ways, a volatile work environment. However, we managed to wrap up the project without any major incidents and the dozens of disaster relief volunteers who took part showed a lot of character as we worked through rough conditions.

The Yamaguchi City Disaster Relief Volunteer Center officially closed on 28^th August and the remaining work will be taken on by local community groups. Even though we were in the area for only a month, we hope that our relief efforts contributed to the recovery of the wider region in some small way.

To all of our volunteers, all of the people involved with fundraising, all of our donors and all of our friends in Yamaguchi, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for making this project possible.” – Norihiko Kakinuki, Project Coordinator