Since we arrived in Tokyo on the 15th of March, we must have felt over a dozen quakes. On Wednesday, we had an early morning wake up call, as a tsunami warning was issued and sirens set blazing.
Immediately upon arrival, we were met by Hiromichi Ohno, our Disaster Liaison Officer in Japan. Hiromichi has been invaluable, with his advice on everything from clearing immigration upon arrival to setting up meetings with the various ministry officials.
We are working with member societies such as the Japanese Animal Welfare Society (JAWS) and looking at ways to help them enter the restricted areas and help the animals people have taken with them into the evacuation shelters (when this has been permitted). The situation is still very serious; not only with the well reported story of the ongoing nuclear threat, but of the as yet under-reported story of what has happened to all the displaced people and their animals.
As we have said before, every disaster is different and this time we are looking at three disasters at the same time. Japan is known for its earthquake preparedness and one source stated that the earthquake may have actually only been responsible for one hundred of the human deaths. It was however the earthquake which damaged the tsunami defences, giving the tsunami far greater impact, killing tens of thousands. Now the media are focusing on the nuclear threat which to date has not been reported to have killed a single animal. It is however hampering greatly our access to the affected zone, and may go on to do this for such a time that rescuing animals within the affected zone is no longer an option.