一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

Activity description:  Administrative work (telephone operation and preparation for sending information materials) at "Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project" Head Office and beach clean-up
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(Ms. H, Age 28, Tokyo)

At the Head Office of Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project, I received many phone calls offering cooperation. Some left encouraging messages such as "Hang in there!", "I'd like to contribute even a little, so I'm buying one unit", "I'm happy to know my money will help Urato's fishery" and so on. One of the contributors who gave us a support call was over 80. Each time I answered such calls from all over Japan, I was overwhelmed by these people's enthusiasm to be of help to Tohoku and couldn't help but bow my head many times while talking on the phone.
I also filed a heap of facsimiled application forms for the project and input the data to the database. I  double- or even triple-checked to ensure all the information of the important contributors has been properly entered.
Some fishermen from Mie prefecture who were interested in this project visited the Head Office on the 5th June. They said that they had started preparation against possible Tokai Earthquake.

(Ms. A, Age 59, Tokyo)

I talked with some local people while cleaning the beach.
As they could not even demolish or remove destroyed houses and buildings, cleaning-up of beaches was not the top priority for them. Still, those who were hoping to promote tourism to the area were anxious about the recovery of beaches as an important sightseeing resource to attract people for sea bathing and fishing.

Activity description: Making floaters for seaweed farms, beach clean-up
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(Mr. N, Age 32, Tokyo)

During the volunteer work, I talked with a number of local people. Sadly, many seemed to have lost hope for the future. On the other hand, though what I could do to help them recover from the damage was extremely limited, some said that they felt encouraged by my efforts and promised to keep on trying to reconstruct their lives.
Money and goods will certainly help to recover the material damage. However, the complete reconstruction of the devastated area will take a long time and I am sure there will be a moment people will lose heart over difficulties. It is necessary to let them know that we are always with them throughout the process and express our determination to provide help and unbroken hope for the recovery of Tohoku.

Activity description: Administrative work (telephone operation and preparation for sending information materials) at "Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project" Head Office
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(Ms. O, Age 29, Tokyo)

At "Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project" Head Office, the phone kept ringing and we received a lot of applications for "One Unit Sponsor System".
Most of the inquiries were from the applicants for the "One Unit Sponsor System". Many had paid for the subscription and wondered if the money was properly received. Some phoned to make sure if they were really of any help. Talking with the people at the Head Office, I created a database of the subscribers' information which previously had been hand-recorded in a notebook. Also I tried to streamline the usual workflow. I hope the new system will help to make the administration of Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project more efficiently done.

Activity description: Making floaters for seaweed farms, clean-up of the beach
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(Mr. T, Age 36, Tokyo)

I helped eight seaweed farmers with preparation of seaweed farms. We cut ropes to tie nets which will be submerged in the sea with the floats. While working, a member of the local fisheries cooperative talked about a plan proposed by Miyagi Prefecture to rebuild a seaweed processing plant. However, as the investment to be incurred by fishermen will be huge, the fisheries cooperative is struggling to reach consensus.  However, without this facility, it will be impossible to ensure production and maintain a stable supply of seaweed.