Coordinating Japan emergency relief: A conversation with JACL’s Floyd Mori

The earthquake and tsunami which hit Japan on March 11 prompted an outpouring of sympathy and offers of assistance from around the globe. In the United States, the Japanese American Citizens League set up the Japan Relief and Recovery Fund, which has collected more than $3 million to date. Forty-two NGOs from 16 nations have arrived in Japan to help with relief efforts, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates. Yet there have been reports about logistical and cultural issues complicating ground operations. Devex spoke with Washington-based JACL Executive Director Floyd Mori about his organization’s first foray into overseas relief, and what other organizations may learn from the experience. Founded in 1929, JACL is the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization seeking to improve the lives of people with an Asian-Pacific heritage in the United States. It counts more than 14,000 members within and outside of the country. After Hurricane Katrina devastated U.S. coastal regions in 2005 and an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling unit caused a massive oil spill in April 2010, JACL worked closely with the Vietnamese communities on the Gulf Coast. Now, JACL partners with Direct Relief International, a California-based nonprofit which has more than 60 years of experience providing medical assistance and emergency support abroad, on Japan relief. The groups work closely with researchers and the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation, or JANIC, a network organization of Japanese civil society groups. When asked why JACL took immediate action on March 11, Mori’s answer is matter-of-fact: “This is our family. It was a natural decision to help.” Mori is a former California State assemblyman and a long-time international consultant for business exchanges between the two countries. How did you decide to cooperate with Direct Relief International? A friend of mine introduced me to them. They are used to working in under-developed countries but had not worked in Japan before so they were unsure of how to approach Japan. JACL is a national organization with a good reputation and I have a lot of experience dealing with Japan. Between those two, we found it a very good fit and decided to partner in developing this new fund that first weekend. How did JACL members and partners react to the relief efforts? Several of our corporate partners reached out quickly. For instance, UPS phoned us right away and offered significant financial assistance for us to use in the disaster relief. Large corporations like AT&T and Comcast are giving their employees the opportunity to contribute to the relief fund through the JACL-Direct Relief International effort. Also, we have many chapters throughout the nation and some of them already raised tens of thousands of dollars. There are many still in the planning stages so there will be more funding coming from those chapters. How much have you collected so far and how has it been spent? As of last week [April 17-22], there were commitments of about US$4 million and about $3 million had been already collected in cash. I think we are going to get up to about $5 or maybe $6 million at the rate it’s going. And $1.4 million has been dispersed, first to Association for Aid and Relief Japan, and then to JANIC and four other groups. How did you select JANIC as your partner in Japan? Our Japan chapter president, John Ino, is a faculty member of Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo. Through him and our chapter, a committee was formed to begin looking at local Japanese organizations that might be helpful and were doing actual work at the disaster area. JANIC was identified as one of the umbrella organization that was doing much of the coordinating work with NGOs on the ground. Through JANIC, we were able to meet some of the other NGOs who we are now funding. A couple professors at the International Peace Research Institute of Meiji Gakuin University [PRIME] took the time to do the research on our behalf. What are your criteria for selecting Japanese NGOs to receive funding? The kind of experiences they’ve had in the past – whether they are fully engaged presently and prepared to be right there on the ground where the help is needed. Also their capacity to help. There was one organization we looked at that told us they don’t really need any money because they received a large amount of funds that met their capacity. We might fund them later when their fund runs out. [For the most recent distribution,] while we were in Japan, our committee we formed with PRIME professors and Direct Relief representative was able to meet and talk to all of the [possible] organizations. The following week, each organization presented us with their proposal of the budget, what their needs were, and we reviewed their budgets closely and approved them. How did you determine the means to help Japan? For instance, why focus on donations instead of more direct ways of assistance, such as sending relief workers or volunteers to the affected areas? First of all, this is our family. It was our natural decision to help. And, very quickly, Direct Relief fell into place with us, so that is the avenue we took to help. We did some more logistical and political assistance to the people in the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Our basic mission is to help people that have a difficult time helping themselves. Of course, this case is a major disaster of such scope that we wanted to help in any way we can. I think for an emergency part of the disaster, people who have no language and cultural skills may tend to get in the way. In the first stage, it is important that Japanese organizations are there to help with immediate needs. Government agencies and the Japan Self-Defense Forces are doing the heavy work that has to be done. A basic cleanup effort will take months. I think once people can be logistically put in the place and organized in a much more effectively manner, people from the U.S. and other countries can be helpful in the rebuilding process. What are the challenges and difficulties for international organizations to participate in the relief efforts in Japan? I think it’s particularly important when we look at the area that is devastated. It’s in Tohoku, in northeastern Japan, which has low international population. Probably English is not as commonly used as it might be in cities like Tokyo. So I think language and cultural skills are very important as we begin to move out of the emergency phase. Japan has a very unique culture. In the countryside, it’s stronger. So we have to be more sensitive to local needs, customs and traditions. Language help is going to be very important. Without it, it’d be impossible for foreign volunteers to be very effective. Japan is one of the richest and the most technologically advanced countries. Do you think the wealthy and high-tech image staves off international support in any way? What about the fear for radiation? There is that image, but, by and large, most people see there is a disaster and there are people in pain, so they want to help. There was a degree of holding back in the beginning, but now we are seeing many different kinds of efforts to continue to raise funds. I hear about some new fundraising efforts every day, not just one, but several a day. A concert, a celebrity dinner for an auction… There are all kinds of unique ways to raise fund other than straight-forward donations. On radiation, I guess it’s an obstruction to some extent that is stopping people to go to Japan. I know a number of people who were planning trips and canceled because of the disaster and also the uncertainty regarding the nuclear plant. Young people are strong and are willing to volunteer but radiation can have an effect for the rest of your life, so some are a little more cautious. People’s understanding of Japanese geography is not so broad here in the U.S., so if something happens in Japan, they think it’s all over the country. In reality, it’s just a particular region in Japan. JANIC and Japan Platform are two Japanese NGOs in charge of communicating with international NGOs, and they recommend international counterparts to find a local partner in operating in Japan. What are your thoughts on this? It’s important to have local partners. It’s not just dealing with the people but other agencies like local and national governments, and relief agencies that are working on the ground. They are mainly Japanese institutions and we don’t want to do anything contrary to them but complementary. Coming in and trying to work by themselves will probably hinder some of the work local institutions are conducting. What’s your advice for international NGOs interested in supporting Japan now? Our model we created is a good model. We have developed a network of local volunteers that assists us in our decision-making because local people know a lot better and are able to communicate to find out what the needs are. That’s been very valuable to us to have Japanese people in Japan helping us make decisions and distribute our fund. Tell us about your trip to the affected area in Ibaraki. We drove up to Kamisu, Ibaraki, a few hours drive northeast of Tokyo. It’s far from the severely devastated areas up north but many houses were no longer livable. Their water system was destroyed and there were some 20 shelters in the city. The city looked fairly normal at one glance, but many businesses were unable to operate because of the damage from the quake. The one interesting thing that we Americans noticed was that while some of the retail stores were damaged and you can just walk in through the broken front windows, all the merchandise were still there. No stealing or looting; everything was just as it was. Later, I shared the story with my friends in the U.S., but it was hard for them to understand why there was no looting. We’d like to see the good work those [JACL-funded] organizations are doing and report to the people who have donated, so we’d like to go to Tohoku in the near future. What other plans does JACL have for relief efforts? We have a volunteer coordinator in Tokyo who has 25 years of experience in disaster relief and has lived in Japan. He will monitor those organizations that we are funding and also begin to reach out and determine other organizations that we can look to for providing assistance. I myself and the Direct Relief president will be coming to Japan in a month or so to make some evaluations regarding where the fund should be distributed further. There have been discussions [on other ways to help]. There are number of mental health organizations in the U.S. with a focus on Asian Americans that have contacted me to see what they can do in the long run to assist, maybe even by sending people to Japan. So as we move along, there may be some kind of a program to be developed, if we are able to find a right partner in Japan, to help people go over there to support on the ground. We are committed to stay in Japan for at least a year. And beyond that year, we will see what the further needs are. Read more Japan business news: - JBIC Goes Green - JICA Boosts International Collaborations in Latin America Read more international development business news.