(Eagle News) –The Iglesia Ni Cristo has extended its assistance to the quake-affected regions, particularly in the island of Kysuhu, becoming the first from the Philippines to reach the area to help quake victims in Kumamoto.
Aside from cash donations, INC volunteers distributed 5,500 emergency relief packages consisting of bottled water, canned goods, noodles, cookies, coffee, tea, toiletries and diapers in three sites in the town of Mashiki which was near the epicenter of the 6.2 magnitude quake that first rocked southern Japan, followed by a magnitude 7.1 quake less than 24 hours later.
These activities were under the Aid to Humanity” or “Lingap sa Mamamayan” program of the INC that sends emergency relief efforts in the Philippines and in other countries hit by disasters.
The latest such relief and outreach events were held on Sunday, April 24 in three sites in Mashiki in Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu island which was the hardest hit by the quakes and its aftershocks.
These sites are in Iino elementary school, Mashiki gymnasium , and in Harutake elementary school.
INC Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo had immediately sent instructions for Church members and volunteers – including those coming from the INC’s Central Office in the Philippines — to immediately help in the area and provide assistance to the quake victims.
The INC has an extension locale in Kumamoto.
“We are doing everything we can to ease the lives of the quake victims. The assistance is, of course, intended for everyone affected by the tragedy, INC member or not, Japanese citizen or otherwise. The need to help transcends religious beliefs and nationality,” said INC General Auditor Glicerio Santos Jr., who was assigned by the INC Executive Minister to lead in the relief efforts.
The town mayor of Mashiki, Hironori Nishimura, thanked the INC representatives for helping the people of Mashiki in Kumamoto which was the worst-hit by the series of quakes in southern Japan.
“The Japanese government was very effective in mobilizing its manpower support services, so the INC decided that relief goods of food, water and basic hygiene necessities were the best way we could help, as well as cash donations,” Santos said.
Dr. Sergie Santos of the Felix Y. Manalo Foundation, which coordinated and helped in the relief operations, said the quake victims whom they had reached even initially thought that the emergency assistance came from the Philippine government.
“They were surprised that it came from a church organization in the Philippines,” he said.
INC volunteers from Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, including members of SCAN International in the area, also went to the sites in Kumamoto to help out in the emergency relief efforts.
The INC relief efforts also helped Filipino families affected by the quake in Kumamoto, who also expressed their appreciation to the INC, saying that none had come from the Philippine government yet.
Before the INC relief operations, the INC coordinated with Japanese embassy officials in the Philippines who visited the INC Central Office in Quezon City on April 16, shortly after news of the strong quake in Japan, when the INC first expressed their intention to help quake victims. They thanked INC representatives for their quick response.
In a statement on the Japanese embassy’s website, the Japanese government thanked all those who offered to extend help to the quake victims in Kumamoto.
“In response to the message of support and offers of assistance, the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines expresses its sincere appreciation for the heartfelt messages of sympathies and for the many offers of assistance being extended to those who have suffered in recent devastating earthquake centered in the Kumamoto region. The government of Japan, together with the related organs, is doing its utmost efforts to provide rapid emergency support and recovery in the region,” the statement from the Japanese embassy in Manila read.
Two major earthquakes and about 600 smaller tremors had rocked the southwestern island of Kyushu, leaving a total of 46 people dead and more than 1,000 injured — 208 of them seriously — in Japan’s worst humanitarian disaster in five years.
Many who abandoned their damaged or destroyed homes have had to sleep in temporary accommodation, huddle in makeshift shelters or even sleep in their cars, and local media have reported problems in delivering food and other essentials as well as raising health concerns.
Through the years, the INC, through its Aid to Humanity or “Lingap sa Mamamayan” efforts, had been helping victims of calamities and disasters in the Philippines and abroad.
Today, Friday, April 29, the INC will be holding one of its biggest outreach operations in Tondo, Manila which has one of the highest concentrations of poor families in the Philippine capital. INC organizers said they would be giving out clothes, shoes, food
