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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. |
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