Objectives and Actions – Old 20150218

nadia‘s motto is to bring direct manpower and means to concretely support the people after a disaster. We dedicate our work to accelerate the return to normal environment for daily life.

In Ishinomaki, after 7 months of cleaning and clearing, it is heartwarming to see some real progress! No more cars in awkward places, streets are repaired and most of the repairable houses have been cleaned out of mud and are in drying phase.

Nevertheless, the main workload is just starting. Houses are floor and wall-less and people are now living in temporary houses or on their second floors. Dependency is still there, and fatigue is getting heavier. Summer is over and evenings are already quite chilly in town.

Getting well established in the community, nadia is now moving on to the next challenges of support at temporary housing complexes, reconstruction and clearing/cleaning more remote areas, to which the access was limited until recently.

This endeavor is not without cost. nadia is humbly calling for generous support of Corporate & Individual patrons !

PHASE 3 – SUPPORTING LOCAL REVITALISATION

DETAILED PLAN

Objective “LOCAL REVITALISATION”:

  • Support household and small/individual businesses – details as follows:
    • Research the needs of victims (e.g. fix houses and buildings that need small repairs) and select those based on specific criteria directly related to nadia vision of local revitalisation and find efficient ways to help (in cooperation with professional carpenters and local suppliers), giving priority to individuals in restraint financial situation and long term or interim relocation
    • No interference with local carpenter companies (local main contacts and carpenters to be consulted and to be supportive)
    • Keep contact with local authorities and volunteer groups located in the area to share information and effort when possible
    • Support the creation of local employment and include local people in the process
  • Support innovative ideas from nadia volunteers and core members
    • Use nadia volunteer spirit and creativity to dig out constructive ideas regarding revitalization (e.g. bring kids from Ishinomaki hockey team to Tokyo; support activities such as give your hands)
    • Support other local activities that will trigger the local economy

Current situation

  • Minato area economy activity is recovering extremely slowly. This is related to several factors including uncertainty of land allocation and limited relocation back to devastated areas.
  • Lot of people have lost their houses and job.
  • Due to the factors above, and as local carpenters are booked and as government economic support is limited, residents of Ishinomaki hesitate to move back or are left in their houses with open floors and walls, living on second floors or still depending on shelters.
  • Cold weather will come back soon and the people are worried about the urgency to get back to warm and safe houses.
  • nadia was asked to help repairing houses and small businesses (e.g. barber shop), by using our skills (e.g. DYI, cleaning, gardening)
  • Without an active revitalization of affected areas such as Minato-cho, victims that used to be active in the area may decide leave the region.

Solution:

  • Support local employment (e.g. creation of new temporary jobs such as cleaning HQ and other houses, support training of local carpenters by professionals and work in the repair effort in collaboration with nadia)
  • provide a frame/booster for individual people who lost their job and wish to start or participate actively in new or existing small business
  • Collaborate as a team with volunteer and professional carpenter to help the house and small businesses rebuilding, by bringing a constant pool of 10-20 volunteers with or without experience in carpentry
  • nadia vision and plan to be reviewed and agreed by all core members on a quarterly basis