Japan relief aid 101 explained
WE ALL listened attentively as details of how the relief agenda unfolds in response to a disaster or other emergency affecting residents in the town of Mashiki and pressed her with questions about areas of particular interest. One issue that caught our attention was the explanation that, following one disaster, baby formula was provided but, when it arrived, emergency response realised that there were no bottles in which to serve it.
We found it ironic that such a seemingly glaring omission could have occurred but Madoka Kusano, of the town’s Disaster Management Division, assured it was unlikely to recur as steps had been taken since to ensure that a comprehensive checklist of items was updated on a regular basis.
She gave us a walk-through of the three lockers stocked with relief supplies located on the premises of Mashiki Chuo Elementary School, which serves as an evacuation in the event of a disaster.
SYSTEM OF TRUST
By the time she had opened the lockers to show us the different range of items stored, including farming implements; baby formula, of course; emergency stoves; tarpaulin and more, we were more than impressed but a little puzzled. The seeming paucity of relief supplies, given the amount of space available, suggested they were in need of more support.
Not so, according to the municipality employee. Supplies were meant for emergency relief for an initial period of up to three days, after which more aid would be provided as needs dictated, hence there was no need for overstocking. That made sense, and with all our questions answered and the session winding down, Madoka casually mentioned that replicas of the key she had used to open all three lockers were also in the hands of all emergency response team members – police, fire department, and the Japan Self Defense Forces, as well as other state officials.
How could that make sense, and didn’t the issue of accountability come into play, we wondered?
On the contrary, she explained, it made more sense to do it this way, since in the event that, at the time of a disaster, the person(s) responsible for disseminating relief or aid was sick or on leave, there was no risk of the process being held up, or relief delayed.
As one of four of participants in the Japan Journalism Fellowship, which is sponsored by the Association for the Promotion of International Cooperation in collaboration with the Tokyo-based Foreign Press Center Japan, it took me quite some time to digest this crazy notion that public cooperation could be predicated along these lines. Could it work like this in Jamaica? I wondered. Maybe, just maybe.