Japan Tohoku Earthquake 2011 Compilation Post
I felt it was a good idea to combine all the news we in EGL may find relevant regarding the Japan earthquake/tsunamis. Hopefully this will help you keep tabs in EGL-related news regarding the situation, as well as help you figure out how to help, what to do, and keep informed, whether you live in or out of Japan right now. Please submit anything important you find!
KEY POINTS FOR EVERYONE RIGHT NOW
Information/Links for those living in Japan
Many foreigners do not speak Japanese but are residing in Japan, and are at a disadvantage because they must rely on foreign media or officially translated media, and the info turnover time is MUCH slower than Japanese. There is also a huge risk of being misinformed, as foreign media are not pursuant to relaying things accurately, as they don't have the national responsibility like the Japanese media does right now.
If you know someone in Japan who is struggling to keep up with all the information, please share these links with them and then ask of them to share with other foreigners who also don't speak Japanese well. If you have news/resources not on here, please share!
TWITTER
- While it sounds strange, if you live in Japan and have access to Twitter, it's ended up being one of the best resources for info shared between Japanese residents right now. Follow many Japanese residents (english-speaking or not), and useful tips and survivor resources are ofted RTed (retweeted). If you're in a safe area, the least you can do is to continue sharing LEGITIMATE information as quickly as possible with other Japan residents. Even better if you can translate Japanese RTs into English or other languages.
- Follow @NoriShikata for ENGLISH news regarding situation updates, advocacy, and other deeply useful and informative links straight from the Japanese government. Noriyuki Shikata is Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations, Director of Global Communications at Prime Minister's Office of Japan.
- Follow @JapanTimes_Life for ENGLISH Japan Times articles including advice on what to do, the state of Tokyo, etc. Practical knowledge shared.
- Follow @Matt_Alt for ENGLISH and translated news regarding the current situations as well as what locals can do. Very comprehensive and pop-savvy, literally one of the best feeds.
- Follow @DanielKahl for TRANSLATED (JPN -> ENG) news regarding outages, tips, etc.
- Follow @HirokoTabuchi for English news/updates including trains, outages, situation updates at epicentre.
- Follow/search these following hashtags to keep tabs of what the Japanese are saying in Japan: #jishin (earthquake), #genpatsu (nuclear talk), #helpjapan/#prayforjapan
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News About People
EGL-Related Business News
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INFORMATION FOR THOSE OUTSIDE JAPAN
CHARITIES/FUNDRAISING/LOCAL OUTREACH
As ever, PLEASE THINK AND READ BEFORE YOU SEND MONEY. There are so, so many scams cropping up, it's essential you make sure that the charity is legitimate, and that the fundraiser has cause. It's always better to wait a day or two and be guaranteed your money is going to those in need, rather than donate immediately and find out you've lined the pockets of thieves who live far away from Japan.
TEXT DONATIONS TAKE UP TO 90 DAYS TO PROCESS - for a FASTER and more EFFICIENT method to get monetary aide out, contribute directly to charities via other means like Credit Card.
As of March 13, Japan has requested Limited foreign aid.
EGL post: elze_art's post regarding further perspective into Japan aide.
ADVOCACY, NEWS, & AWARENESS
This is going to be a slight mess of a section since there's SO MUCH out there, but I'll try my best to keep it to things that are relevant and quantifiable.
PHOTOJOURNALISM FOR PERSPECTIVE
LIVE TV STREAMS OF COVERAGE
(List swiped from http://tvnewsradio.com/blog)
OP's NOTE: The best streams are the Japanese ones (NHK, TBS), especially if, like me, you fell into a rage at how bizarrely inappropriate the giggly CNN anchors were when the disaster first hit. But please note some live images may be disturbing (as in, you may accidentally watch someone die), so link up with care.
Japan Tsunami - Live Streaming:
NHK Japan Live: NHK Japan Live
TBS News i Japan Live: TBS News i Japan Live
Al Jazeera Japan Live: Al Jazeera Japan Live
ABC News Live: ABC News Live
Associated Press Live: Associated Press Live
Aftonbladet Live (Sweden): Aftonbladet Live
BBC Live: BBC Live
CBC News Live: CBC News Live
CNN Live: CNN Live
CCTV News China: CCTV News China
Daily Telegraph Live: Daily Telegraph Live
Deutche Welle Live: Deutche Welle Live
Expressen Live (Sweden): Expressen Live
France24 Live: France24 Live
Khon2 Hawaii: Khon2 Hawaii
Komo News Live: Komo News Live
MSNBC Live: MSNBC Live
NDTV Live: NDTV Live
SVT Play Live (Sweden): SVT Play Live (Sweden)
RTE Live (Ireland): RTE Live (Ireland)
VG TV Live (Norway): VG TV Live (Norway)
TWEET STREAMS FOR IMMEDIATE ADVOCACY, REPUTABLE NEWS, ETC.
Again, extra sources, links, photos, and whathaveyou, always welcome and I'll add it to this post when I can.
KEY POINTS FOR EVERYONE RIGHT NOW
- Be very careful in reposting/reblogging/retweeting pieces of sensationalist information that do not have a reliable source. This causes more panic and confusion, especially for foreign people in Japan who cannot speak the language as they rely on translated news into English and other languages, the update speed of which is very slow compared to the Japanese updates.
- Do not believe things like death rumours, donation rumours, etc. If it has no reputable source besides a gossip site or Twitter hashtags, it's fake.
- Be careful when donating - lots of charity scams are shooting up right now. A reputable list of major charities is listed below.
- If you are still looking for people, try Red Cross Intl. Family Links and Google Crisis Response/People-Finder.
Information/Links for those living in Japan
Many foreigners do not speak Japanese but are residing in Japan, and are at a disadvantage because they must rely on foreign media or officially translated media, and the info turnover time is MUCH slower than Japanese. There is also a huge risk of being misinformed, as foreign media are not pursuant to relaying things accurately, as they don't have the national responsibility like the Japanese media does right now.
If you know someone in Japan who is struggling to keep up with all the information, please share these links with them and then ask of them to share with other foreigners who also don't speak Japanese well. If you have news/resources not on here, please share!
- - There will be continual aftershocks on the eastern board of Japan including Tokyo, and this may continue for the next few weeks because of the size of the earthquake. US Geological Survey is keeping track of all the ones so far. They are incredibly variant in power, so please, please practice common sense and take safety over everything else.
- Japan Phone Mobile People-Finders
- NTT Docomo-user people finder
- Softbank-user people finder
- EMOBILE people finder/message confirmer
- WILLCOM people finder/message confirmer - If you are in an evacuation-prone area or want to know how to prepare, check out this multilanguage page for what supplies to set aside/bring and practical tips originally translated from Japanese.
- Have an iPhone 3GS/4? Use VIBER to contact others who have downloaded it. It's one of the top apps being downloaded in Japan right now to get around clogged mobile services via Wi-Fi and 3G. Share these instructions [in Japanese] to Japanese folks with iPhones and looking for ways to contact people.
- Tune into NHK RADIO 963 for news in English, French, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- Here's an excellent image showing you what your donations of supplies/food can do for the people in Tohoku.
- March 14: The Narita Express train is currently out of service, along with a couple others. HOWEVER the regular and rapid lines (like Sobu rapid [blue line]) are still in service betweem Tokyo and Narita.
- IF YOU WANT TO HELP FROM WITHIN JAPAN: TimeOut Tokyo has an excellent list to help you. Major tips include:
- DONATE BLOOD - but make sure you meet the very strict guidelines.
- DONATE MONEY - Lawson stores around Japan (except Ibaraki/Tohoku) are accepting cash donations from March 13-26 to the Japan Red Cross. If you have a Lawson Ponta Card, donate your points at Loppi shops.
- DONATE FOOD - Tokyo food back Second Harvest Japan is taking donations to aid victims at its HQ in Taito-ku.
- STAY PUT - Let the emergency teams do their thing, don't contribute to clogging transportation routes by beelining to the disaster zones to volunteer without notice. Find LOCAL ways to help.
- CONSERVE ELECTRICITY - here's a handy website to help you out.
- DON'T PANIC BUY/STOCKPILE FOOD IN TOKYO- What you are doing is making it HARDER for the people in devastated areas to get food. If you have plenty of food at home already, STICK WITH IT until it's reasonable to go shopping. Tokyo will not see the end of the world; Tohoku already has.
- Electrical blackout schedule for various regions in Japan (Japanese)
* Type your region in Japanese and get your blackout schedule.
Japan Times (English) article regarding blackouts - For Japan Post delays/suspensions within Japan according to prefecture, see below.
- March 12, 6:29am PST: maetel9's update for the situation in Tokyo. Basically, things are slowly getting back to normal.
"many places running with reduced lighting tonight
large shopping centers (ikebukuro parco/seibu, la foret, 109) were closed - although they were scheduled to be open from 11 to 6 today. la foret/seibu and parco/109/shinjuku alta will be closed tomorrow as well
conbini are still low on food, but checked out some grocery stores and local markets and they have restocked
was a beautiful day, lots of people out and about, calm, going on dates and such, probably wanted to shop but not much open." - March 14, 8:09pm PST: maetel9's 2nd Tokyo update:
seems as though nuclear situation may be getting worse
japanese people still out seeming normal, but major shopping centers are extending their closing until tomorrow (16th) and possibly longer
most jr lines running at least within tokyo, think subways are still limited or not at all
many students at my school are leaving, myself and friends considering it or at least going to osaka and seem how the situation turns out - Perspective Post (EGL): coika's newspost regarding blackouts.
- Perspective Post (The Stranger's blog [Seattle news weekly]): Food/water running low in Tokyo, misinformation to be wary of.
- While it sounds strange, if you live in Japan and have access to Twitter, it's ended up being one of the best resources for info shared between Japanese residents right now. Follow many Japanese residents (english-speaking or not), and useful tips and survivor resources are ofted RTed (retweeted). If you're in a safe area, the least you can do is to continue sharing LEGITIMATE information as quickly as possible with other Japan residents. Even better if you can translate Japanese RTs into English or other languages.
- Follow @NoriShikata for ENGLISH news regarding situation updates, advocacy, and other deeply useful and informative links straight from the Japanese government. Noriyuki Shikata is Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations, Director of Global Communications at Prime Minister's Office of Japan.
- Follow @JapanTimes_Life for ENGLISH Japan Times articles including advice on what to do, the state of Tokyo, etc. Practical knowledge shared.
- Follow @Matt_Alt for ENGLISH and translated news regarding the current situations as well as what locals can do. Very comprehensive and pop-savvy, literally one of the best feeds.
- Follow @DanielKahl for TRANSLATED (JPN -> ENG) news regarding outages, tips, etc.
- Follow @HirokoTabuchi for English news/updates including trains, outages, situation updates at epicentre.
- Follow/search these following hashtags to keep tabs of what the Japanese are saying in Japan: #jishin (earthquake), #genpatsu (nuclear talk), #helpjapan/#prayforjapan
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News About People
- ** EGL post: bunny_jean's Original and first post about the disaster.
Accounted for EGL members: chibi_tenshi (Sendai), chiichick (south of Tokyo), josephineisevil (Osaka), tokyo_arwen (Chiba), hackered (Nerima), terbear03 (Tokyo), karasu (Osaka), kira_miri (Shibuya), maetel9 (Tokyo), therrymonk13 (Osaka), osakagrl (Osaka), asilvering (Nagoya), go_slow_ly (Kansai), kitzune (Saitama), coika (Shizuoka), momoirokumasan (Sendai), yasashinayume (Kanazawa)
Non-EGL/brandhouse staff accounted for: Mai (SS), Japonica staff (SS), Celga (SS) - EGL post: luxurias_slave's Post for more missing (all 3 now confirmed)
- EGL post: darksunmoon's ongoing updated post for celeb lists, accounted for EGL businesses, Japanese celeb list. If you have more info, please share and comment at the post - OP updates.
EGL-Related Business News
- For previous Japanese brand house-related news, cross-reference with darksunmoon's post
- Japan Post (Japanese): March 12, 2011 post - notice of suspension of online phone reception and mail redelivery discontinued due to earthquake.
- Japan Post (Japanese): March 13, 2011 post - notice of prefectures/wards with discontinued or limited mail service until further notice.
- some mail delivery services back up and going in Hokkaido
- Delayed mail: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, coastline by Fukushima and Ibaraki, any other areas with limited road access. Japan Post will troop their best to serve these areas to deliver essentials/resources, but delays/problems are inevitable and they ask patience.
- Yu-Pack suspended areas: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki (no Yu-Pack in or out)
- Yu-Pack limited ingoing/outgoing: Hokkaido (Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, Nagano Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, Ishikawa Prefecture, Fukui Prefecture, Shizuoka)
- Areas not listed are assumed to be normally functioning (e.g. Western Japan, Tokyo), however due to the nature of national emergency, please expect delays of some kind.
- News from Closet Child via e-mail (received March 13, 2011, 8:00pm PST):
【Attention】
Due to the Tohoku Pacific Coast Earthquake, there are some problems
regarding correspondence.
Our mail server has been shut down for an indefinite period of time,
therefore mail to and from infoATcloset-child.com can not be received
or sent.
For the time being, we are using our gmail account, info.closetchildATgmail.com.
For those customers in Japan we are processing orders by telephone, so
please be patient with us.
Requests for specific shipping dates and times may not be able to be met.
It is currently not possible for us to send packages to the following areas:
Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Yamagata, Ibaraki, and Wakayama.
We will send packages to those destinations as soon as it becomes possible.
Our shops will only be open until 18:00 (6:00 PM), effective until March 15th.
Thank you for your understanding. - 11:30pm PST, 13/03/2011: It looks like the major secondhand shops are back in businesss, with warnings on their pages regarding lack of mail service to the areas Japan Post listed, along with additional cautions that EMS deliveries may be delayed. Alice Fururun's homepage lists that they will resume shipouts after March 15 once things have settled a bit more.
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INFORMATION FOR THOSE OUTSIDE JAPAN
- [US] AT&T now allowing FREE phonecalls (up to 1 hour only) and text messages to people in Japan until Mar 31.
- [CANADA] Shaw Communications gives free long-distance calls to Japan (landline) and free access to TV Japan (channel 514) until March 17.
- [USA, WA] Comcast Washington now letting subscribers view TV Japan for free (channel 245).
- [USA] You can donate directly to the Red Cross using Wells Fargo ATMs.
- Perspective Post [JAPAN, ENG]: An easy to understand post of how Japan's earthquake preparedness saved many lives, and how to help and move on.
CHARITIES/FUNDRAISING/LOCAL OUTREACH
As ever, PLEASE THINK AND READ BEFORE YOU SEND MONEY. There are so, so many scams cropping up, it's essential you make sure that the charity is legitimate, and that the fundraiser has cause. It's always better to wait a day or two and be guaranteed your money is going to those in need, rather than donate immediately and find out you've lined the pockets of thieves who live far away from Japan.
TEXT DONATIONS TAKE UP TO 90 DAYS TO PROCESS - for a FASTER and more EFFICIENT method to get monetary aide out, contribute directly to charities via other means like Credit Card.
As of March 13, Japan has requested Limited foreign aid.
EGL post: elze_art's post regarding further perspective into Japan aide.
- **PRIMARY EGL DONATION TRACK POST** Donate & Answer the poll! Can we hit $5000 or more? ---
- Fundraisers (Brands, Other Major Businesses, Celebrities)
**Innocent World - Tea party/charity auction for relief {Japan only) and release of 2 special sets March 28 for relief efforts as well (likely open to overseas as well)
Takuya Angel - 20% off all products, all profits to aide
**Juliette et Justine - 40% off sale items, profits go to aide. 10% of profit of regular non-sale items go to aide.
Fullmoon Deco & Nail Supplies - 5% of all profits will be donated to aid. - Fundraisers (non-celeb, individual, small business)
[US, LOS ANGELES] Japan LA is running an art show, 100% of all art sales go towards Red Cross. Ongoing until April 4.
Icons for Japan (LiveJournal)
help_Japan
Etsy: Paradise Rose Sweet Lolita accessories - 20% discount on all items, 10% of profits donated to Global Giving.
EGL Post (Fundaraiser Draw): nomuzik_nolive's Helping Hands of Handmade Charity Lottery. Donate and enter to win $100 worth of beautiful accessories to wear (from her shop or specially-made).
EGL_Comm_Sales Post (Fundraiser Drive): artemis051's mobile phone charm donation drive.
EGL_Comm_Sales Post (Sales Fundraiser) : yumikoyui's personal lolita items sale. ALL money outside of shipping costs to be donated to aid.
EGL_Comm_Sales Post (Sales Auction): margueriteohp/Strawberry Skies are auctioning two photoshoot skirts with all proceeds donated to aid.. - EGL Post: cocopon's reposting of Gizmodo cautionary about false/misleading charities.
- List of charities with pre-committed assistance to Japan. *Site slow due to traffic, give it time!
- If you are donating to a religious charity (particularly smaller Christian ones), please, PLEASE examine their press and learn about their staff/PR. Many Japanese are distrustful of smaller Christian charities at the moment due to awful comments like 'God sent the earthquake to Japan to punish them for being unChristian' and the like, who then in turn still send 'aid' but with a Bible attached first. So if you're donating thru your church or whathaveyou, make sure they give aid from the heart, not the intent to convert.
- Other reputable (official) International charities (PayPal-accepting charities noted):
Humanitarian Coalition (Canada)
Doctors Without Borders (US)/Médicins sans Frontières *DEPLOYED
Peace Winds America (US)
Shelter Box (Intl. sites) **DEPLOYED
Save the Children (US)
Global Giving US/Global Giving UK *Takes PayPal
Red Cross International
Jewish United Fund (US)
Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz/Austrian Red Cross (Austrian)
Het Nederlandse Rode Kruis/Netherlands Red Cross (Netherlands)
Deutschland hilft (Germany)
Deutsches Rotes Kreuz/German Red Cross (Germany)
Direct Relief International (US) - Reputable Animal-Related Charities
World Vets (International) ** HAVE DEPLOYED
Search Dog Foundation (US) ** HAVE DEPLOYED
Animal Refuge Kansai (Japan, in English) ** PREPARED FOR INTAKE FROM STRUCK AREAS
DONATE THRU ITUNES - 100% of all proceeds to Red Cross. iTunes direct donation page here. (you will need to have iTunes installed)
Poupeegirl (Japanese blogpost) - From Mar 14 to April 14, proceeds from items in Katherine's Shop (Quake/tsunami section) goes to Japan red cross (50 jewels = 50 yen).
eBay Giving Works
Crunchyroll (anime streaming site)
Lady GaGa Earthquake Relief wristband *All proceeds go to Japan (but you still have to pay for shipping, nice)
ADVOCACY, NEWS, & AWARENESS
This is going to be a slight mess of a section since there's SO MUCH out there, but I'll try my best to keep it to things that are relevant and quantifiable.
PHOTOJOURNALISM FOR PERSPECTIVE
- Hi-Res photos of damage, map, video of events thus far (media article) - from The Daily Mail UK, in a surprising turn of human sympathy and competence much unlike their usual fare [/OP commentary]
- Gallery of Japan Red Cross response actions (Flickr)
- 100+ images of Harajuku completely shut down after earthquake (very eerie) (Tokyo Fashion)
- Gallery of 'Operation Tomodachi' - US military aid deployment (Flickr)
- Hi-res before/after shots of various areas in Japan from Google Earth (ABC News via Google Earth)
LIVE TV STREAMS OF COVERAGE
(List swiped from http://tvnewsradio.com/blog)
OP's NOTE: The best streams are the Japanese ones (NHK, TBS), especially if, like me, you fell into a rage at how bizarrely inappropriate the giggly CNN anchors were when the disaster first hit. But please note some live images may be disturbing (as in, you may accidentally watch someone die), so link up with care.
Japan Tsunami - Live Streaming:
NHK Japan Live: NHK Japan Live
TBS News i Japan Live: TBS News i Japan Live
Al Jazeera Japan Live: Al Jazeera Japan Live
ABC News Live: ABC News Live
Associated Press Live: Associated Press Live
Aftonbladet Live (Sweden): Aftonbladet Live
BBC Live: BBC Live
CBC News Live: CBC News Live
CNN Live: CNN Live
CCTV News China: CCTV News China
Daily Telegraph Live: Daily Telegraph Live
Deutche Welle Live: Deutche Welle Live
Expressen Live (Sweden): Expressen Live
France24 Live: France24 Live
Khon2 Hawaii: Khon2 Hawaii
Komo News Live: Komo News Live
MSNBC Live: MSNBC Live
NDTV Live: NDTV Live
SVT Play Live (Sweden): SVT Play Live (Sweden)
RTE Live (Ireland): RTE Live (Ireland)
VG TV Live (Norway): VG TV Live (Norway)
TWEET STREAMS FOR IMMEDIATE ADVOCACY, REPUTABLE NEWS, ETC.
- [US, ENGLISH] Follow @GeorgeTakei for ongoing newsbites (with sources!), US-based media advocacy, and a much-needed touch of humour.
- [JAPAN, ENGLISH] Follow @TokyoFashion for ongoing newsbites (with sources!), Japan-based RTing, and photojournalism. They specialise in street fashion so their perspective is something all of us can relate to immediately. One of the best updated feeds right now.
- [JAPAN, ENGLISH/JAPANESE] Follow @DanielKahl for TRANSLATED (JPN -> ENG) news regarding outages, tips, etc.
- [JAPAN, ENGLISH] Follow @HirokoTabuchi for English news/updates including trains, outages, situation updates about epicentre.
Again, extra sources, links, photos, and whathaveyou, always welcome and I'll add it to this post when I can.