A member of a Baptist church in Sendai informed me that the situation at the evacuation camps is getting worse.
After one week from the mega earthquake and tsunami, people who have been in evacuation camps are getting tired and getting weak. Actually some people (at least 28 of them) died after they arrived at these camps because of shortage of medicines, food and water.
Because shortage of gasoline is very serious now in all parts of Japan and though many people in the western part of Japan are willing to send foods and other emergency needs, it is difficult to reach these camps.
This morning Baptist churches in the western part of Japan sent a truck with food, gasoline and water to the one of Baptist churches hit by tsunami heavily. However, they are not sure that this truck can reach that church or not. Please pray for this.
My friend who has been helping tsunami victims at an evacuation camp wrote to me they need things below immediately;
1 Gasoline (All of the cars are empty of gas and no gas stations around are open. Without gasoline people cannot go and get food and water)
2 Oil (Since the tsunami, dead bodies have been brought to the evacuation camps. They need to burn these bodies but without oil, they cannot do this. It reminds me that the situation when Myanmar was hit by tsunami a couple years ago. At that time, leaders from Baptist Churches in Myanmar showed us photos of bodies and asked us to send oil to burn these bodies. It was the most immediate need for people in Myanmar at that time and now Japan is in a same situation)
3 Food
4 Water
5 sanitary napkins and diapers
6 medicines
Because most of the evacuation places do not have bath rooms, people cannot take a shower (and are facing a problem of shortage of toilets). Some places do have these facilities but without running water they cannot use them.
Fukushima atomic power plant is still in a dangerous condition. The US government started warning all US citizens to leave Japan (mainland of Japan). The UK government is going to send a chartered airplane to evacuate their people in Japan.
Many Christians are offering temporary place to stay in the western part of Japan for these victims but there is no transportation system for them to move.
My parents, too, are still staying in their house because their car also has not gasoline any more. However, good thing is that because they use well-water and have no problem about water. Actually, many church members are coming to my parents’ house to get drinking water and they are bringing foods and needy things for them. So, if the rate of radiation does not go higher any more, they will be fine.
Please keep praying for Japan.
It is 12:30 in Thai time (Fri, March 18) and I am on a plane to Hong Kong. I will arrive in Hong Kong at 13:30 in Thai time but I am not sure when I can send out this email. So, by the time when you receive this email, the situation may be changed. I will try to keep informing you updated information from Japan (especially information from my friends in the area hit by this disaster. First 5 days, I could not contact with them but now some of them can use email and they are sending me information.)
I have been telling them you and your church are praying for them and they are asking me to keep encouraging you to pray for them. They need your prayers.
Please pray for
1 those people who are trying to cool down the core of Fukushima atomic power plant.
2 those people who are in evacuation camps
3 those people who are doing rescue work
4 those people who are taking care of victims
Thank you again for your prayers.
Eiji
Eiji and Emi Osato are Japanese missionaries working in Thailand, sent by the Japan Baptist Union (JBU).
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