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Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief - How you can help

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"Till drowsy eyelids seem to see
A-flower 'neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura"
The tragic and frightening events unfolding in Japan will be familiar to you all, so I won't recount them here, except to urge you to view this piece by ABC News showing in stark detail the extent of the devastation so far.

What I do want to tell you is that Japan has asked for outside help, and for a country as proud as that to do so (they were forced to accept foreign assistance after the Kobe earthquake in 1995 which virtually destroyed that city and killed 6,500 people), they must be in severe need right now - faced as they are by
earthquake, tsunami, nuclear emergency and an erupting volcano.

I have a vested interest - I love the country; I have family and friends who live there (they're all okay if scared); and I have been to Japan three times out of the last four years - and am meant to be going again in three weeks' time.

But even if you're not directly affected in any way, please consider donating whatever you can using the Red Cross button below. The Red Cross is the agency recommended by the Japanese Embassy in the UK.

The picture at the top is of the Daibutsu at Kōtoku-in temple, Kamakura, immortalised by "The Buddha at Kamakura" by Rudyard Kipling (extract above), which I visited in 2008.

The Great Buddha wasn't built to stand in the open air, but the last building to house the statue was completely washed away in a tsunami over five hundred years earlier, in 1498.

Thankfully, the Buddha itself was somehow left undamaged by the merciless waves.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the people of Japan.


Donate to the Red Cross for Japan Tsunami Relief
CLICK TO DONATE


Mashable explains 7 Ways to Help if you're not in the UK.

If you are looking for people missing after the earthquake/tsunami, or have information about missing people, Google has set up a Japan Person Finder Service.

If those people are British Nationals, please also ring the UK Foreign Office hotline number 020 7008 0000.

Google has also set up a Earthquake/Tsunami Crisis Response Page with useful information, links and phone numbers for all those affected.

EDITED TO ADD: If you'd like to add a "donate" button to your own site, please feel free to copy and paste the code below:

<a href="http://www.redcross.org.uk/japantsunami" title="Donate to the Red Cross for Japan Tsunami Relief"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5092/5525340817_ebe2977dd5_o.gif" alt="Donate to the Red Cross for Japan Tsunami Relief" height="75" width="300" /></a>

Comments

Jenni said…
Glad to hear your family and friends are ok. The footage has been horrific and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say we should all try to do a little something to help.
franmouse39 said…
Thanks for posting this, MiMi. And so glad that your family and friends are safe. What a nightmare.
meemalee said…
@Jenni and @fran39 - Thank you x
josordoni said…
Thank you MiMi, I had been thinking about donating all day, and couldn't decide which agency to work with, so as you are supporting the Red Cross I have donated through them.

It must be a relief to you to know that your family are well and safe, and I hope they stay that way. It is all extremely worrying for anyone with any connections in that part of the world.
meemalee said…
@Josordoni - Hello, thank you! I've added a sentence above to explain why I donated through the Red Cross.