The magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan has led to a wide-scale mobilization of relief efforts among all sectors of Taiwan society, with various private charity organizations and businesses responding with much needed assistance.
Among them, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation sent 19 volunteers March 16 to the coastal town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, located 130 kilometers north of Tokyo, to provide hot meals to disaster victims.
Although power has been restored to most of Oarai and some residents have returned home, most households are still without gas and water supply. The Tzu Chi volunteers prepared and handed out 600 meals on their first day there.
Meanwhile, Fo Guang Shan Monastery has collected more than 50,000 articles of clothing with the help of local businesses for the disaster victims. Monastery staff and volunteers spent all morning March 16 packing the clothing and then sent it off to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for transport to Japan.
It marked the third batch of relief goods prepared by the monastery since the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck March 11.
The food-processing Namchow Group also joined the relief effort, donating 60,000 boxes of instant rice meals to be sent to disaster areas in the coming days.
To date, Taiwan charity organizations and private enterprises have donated 118 metric tons of supplies for the relief effort in Japan.
