The second email of the series. Dated March 30th, 2011. 

Hi everyone, it’s Shinji here.

Osaka is getting warmer day by day. Flowers are blooming everywhere in my town, and Japanese favorite cherry blossoms will flower in this weekend here. Although Japan is a state of emergency now, the nature surely brings a beautiful seasonal scene as usual. The nuclear plant situation is going to worse day by day still… We have to hear bad news every day. Today, plutonium was detected in the nuclear plant site, and high levels of radiation exceeding 1,000 millisieverts per hour have been detected in water in a trench outside of the nuclear plant. It is coming from the reactor’s core where fuel rods have partially melted. It means the inside of the nuclear reactor runs to the outside. However, the government announcement and the TV news are very quiet, and they are telling us again and again just “The level is no risk to humans immediately”. I think now all the Japanese general person feels the situation is much more stringent than the government announcement and Japanese TV news report. And, most of overseas media and some specialists in Japan warn that this is not a safe level any longer. We need correct information right now. However, information is very complicated here. I think this nuclear plant accident will face the decisive point soon. For better or worse, it will face the end sooner or later. At that time, we have to take correct measures.

The relief of the stricken area is infiltrating gradually. It is not enough yet, but getting better day by day. The circle of support extends surely. The relief that victims need begins to change to the next diversified stage from the primary stage. Although we cannot pay attention to all of those, we can think what we can do now. Actually some of my friends are also starting up activity independently here. It is becoming big support though each one is as small as us. I could talk with Yoshihide Otomo on 28th. He said his brother in Fukushima told him the most of urban area of Fukushima is getting better. The city function is recovering gradually. However, the catastrophic damaged area in Fukushima is different. The area is off-limits now because of radioactivity. So, only a few groups are working in that area.

I am going to send some donation from you to a non-profit group called The Japan Chernobyl Foundation (JCF).

http://jcf.ne.jp/index.html

JCF is a only medical group which is entering in this area now. Now the government pressed the voluntary evacuation to residents in 30-kilo meters range from the nuclear plant. However, there are a lot of elderly persons and sick persons in the area. Most of people escaped to outside of this area independently. Only the weak who cannot move long distance by bedridden remain in this area. Their evacuation is very difficult and costly. Even the municipality is in great difficulty now because getting cooperation from private companies is not easy. JCF is doing great activity under this severe situation. They do medical care and bring medicines to the area. And, now I am talking with a NGOs called JOICFP,  a group that supports pregnant women and nursing mothers and the woman in the developing country and the disaster area.

http://www.joicfp.or.jp/eng/

Now they are working for pregnant woman and baby’s mothers in the refuge, for their birth and child care. They have intimate cooperation with the mid wives association in the stricken area. The refuge is the one of the worst environment for birth and child care, for hygiene, medical treatment, and mental side too. They are long‐standing, reliable group. However, their activity are not receiving much attention from the general public, and the activity fund doesn’t suffice at all. Because their activities are not large-scale relief activities like Civic Force, I think our small fund is used here very effectively.

Now I have $2440.83 from you in total, and I will send $1000 to JOICFP and $1500 to JCF from this tomorrow. I will send them the donation that totals from you and from my Japanese friend’s network too. I think this small fund with you is able to be a important part of early relief for this terrible earthquake and tsunami. I am proud of this. Thank you for your warm support. I appreciate it very much!

Shinji Masuko /DMBQ, Boredoms