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Rotary International 2530D district community service mmittee

Gratitude for Relief and Reconstruction Assistance


Kiyoshi Nozaki
District Governor for RY 2014-15


The scars of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred four years ago, have not yet healed, and the effects of the nuclear power station accident and related stigma are still causing concern. In this severe environment, companies are continuing their earnest efforts to achieve reconstruction as soon as possible. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the enormous support, both material and moral, that we have received ever since immediately after the disaster not only from within Fukushima Prefecture and elsewhere in Japan but from around the world as well.
According to statistics released in February of this year, there are still an incredible 47,219 people living in evacuation outside the prefecture, including 25,277 in the Kanto region, 8,221 in Tohoku, and 7,497 in Chubu. Moreover, more than 2,000 young people, including infants, have moved outside the prefecture. I fervently hope that the day will soon come when these young people, the leaders of the future, can return to Fukushima Prefecture without anxiety.
In April of this year Mr. Julio Sorjus visited Fukushima to attend the district convention on behalfofthe RI president. He made a request to see the tsunami disaster area, so we took him to Minami-Soma. Even today, four years after the disaster, fields washed away by the tsunami are still tragically covered in seawater. Restoring the area to its pre-disaster state is still going to take a considerable amount of time.
Most likely due to abnormal climate conditions, torrential rains are occurring frequently across Japan. This might be described as a human-made disaster resulting from the reckless development conducted so far. Natural disasters of a kind never before experienced are being seen frequently around the world as well. We must think seriously about how to co-exist with nature in the future and practice what we preach.
In the sense also of acting in return for the tremendous support that we have received so far, the RID 2530 must continue to engage in volunteer activities for the reconstruction and the future of Fukushima Prefecture in keeping with the Rotary motto of "service above self." Here, then, is a report of support activities in RY 2014-15.