(Image courtesy Jeff Johnson of Asian Access)

Japan (MNN) — It’s been three years since a devastating tsunami and corresponding nuclear crisis hit northern Japan. Survivors are still struggling today, but Takeshi Takazawa of Asian Access (A2) says hope remains.

“We have seen many, many people becoming Christians. They have seen the tangible love, and they’re responding to it,” Takazawa states.

A2 is looking to plant more churches in disaster-affected areas to support these new believers.

“We establish that hope is center and comes from Jesus Himself, and Christ’s body, which is [the] local church, must be established in the midst of those areas,” Takazawa explains.

Remembering 3-11-11
On the afternoon of March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the coast of northeast Japan triggered a catastrophic tsunami. Entire families were killed as giant waves swept through coastal cities and villages; the disaster claimed some 15,884 lives. Another 2,633 people remain missing.

The tsunami’s waves also destroyed three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, causing core meltdowns and releasing massive amounts of radioactive material. Around 134,000 people were evacuated from communities near the Fukushima plant; most are still living in temporary housing today.

Damage left by the 2011 tsunami.
(Photo courtesy Tamaki Seto
via Wikimedia Commons)

“Many disaster-hit victims are still leading a difficult life in the afflicted areas and places where they have evacuated to,” said Emperor Akihito at last week’s memorial service. “My heart still aches when I think about the fact that many people have yet to have prospects of returning to their homes.”

Nearly 270,000 disaster evacuees are still living in temporary housing throughout Japan.

“Most of the people want to just forget about it and move on,” says Takazawa.

“For the victims, it’s still every single day you have to face it, especially [those in] the nuclear zones. For the people who have small children, the concern for contamination is severe.”

Despair surrounds these survivors; some 3,000 have died from stress-related factors, including suicide. But A2 is shining the hope of Christ to these communities, and has been since the start.

Asian Access responds
A2 leaders were gathered together in Japan for their annual retreat when the disaster struck. In what could only be God’s timing, these leaders were prepared to hit-the-ground-running in the days and weeks following the tsunami.

A few days before the tsunami, A2 leaders had taken part in disaster response training. The all-day session was specifically designed to help Christians know how to respond in the case of an earthquake.

A disaster relief work team helps churches rebuild.
(Image courtesy Asian Access)

By the end of March 2011, A2 was working with 400 pastors and 1800 churches — roughly 20-25% of Japan’s total congregations–to help meet the spiritual and physical needs of survivors.

“When the Global Church came to the disaster area and tangibly served victims, people said, ‘Oh, Christ has come! Jesus people [are] there!'” Takazawa shares.

“Some people said, ‘Grandma, Jesus is doing barbeque and distributing food and blankets.'”

The ministry set up a special relief fund and partnered with SIM USA to meet ongoing needs. Two $1 million matching grants were launched and met for 2011-2013, and a multitude of projects are successfully underway.

In addition, A2 has a vision for transformation that will counterbalance the 2011 disaster.

A new future
Takazawa says the Lord continues to show A2 leaders that the local church is key to moving forward in post-disaster Japan.

“We want to see this church established, Christ’s body established, all over this disaster area in the midst of the hopeless people,” he says. “If we leave this area and leave nothing [behind], it’s ‘Christ came, Christ gone’ for the non-Christian people.”

By coming alongside A2 financially, you can help them plant more churches and train pastors to lead them.

“Continue to remember us, continue to pray for us,” requests Takazawa. “As people forget about it, people stop coming to visit us.”

Find specific prayer needs here.

Shortly after the nation had observed a minute of silence to
remember the 13,000 people killed in the March 11 disaster and the 15,000 who
officially remain missing, buildings began swaying and the disorientation of
another temblor began to build.

Electricity had been partially restored across a huge area
of northern Japan from the April 7 aftershock, but the latest tremor took parts
of the system offline again, including the critical systems at the Fukushima-Daiichi
nuclear plant.

In response, the Japanese government widened the evacuation
zone around a stricken nuclear plant. This last month has seen the worst tragedies to envelop the country
since World War II.

Wycliffe Associates is trying to fund
some aid efforts to the quake survivors. Through its Missionary 911 fund,
Wycliffe Associates helps the work of Bible translation move forward in the
face of such emergencies as natural disasters and civil unrest by providing
assistance that can include temporary housing, evacuations, and the replacement
of some personal belongings.

Wycliffe Associates' Bible translation
partner in Japan, Wycliffe Japan, is scrambling to help meet the most basic of
needs of those around them and is asking for help with funds. Akira, director
of Wycliffe Japan, sent this urgent request: "Please remember in your prayers
both the people of Japan and the churches in Japan at this difficult time." He
reported that all personnel and their immediate families who were
in Japan at that time  thankfully have been accounted for and are safe.

"The initial relief work is going on,
but it will take years and years to restore those affected churches," says
Akira. "That is why Wycliffe Japan needs our support so that Christians and
churches who survived the disaster will be restored quickly and be able to
reach out to the community as the light of the world," states Bruce Smith,
president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. The most critical needs include
things like food, temporary housing, replacement of lost belongings, clothing,
and blankets.

Smith adds that with so much recent
turmoil in the world, the organization's Missionary 911 fund can get depleted
quickly.

Wycliffe Associates involves people in
accelerating the work of Bible translation through their time, talents, and
treasure. Because millions of people around the world are still waiting to read
the Scriptures in the language of their heart, Wycliffe Associates is working
as quickly as they can to translate every verse of the Bible into every tongue
to change every heart. The organization partners with nationals, mother tongue
translators, staff, volunteers, and supporters to direct and fund these
efforts, as well as provide logistics, networking, and technical support.
Through a growing global network, Wycliffe Associates is striving to overcome
local limitations of time and resources to achieve the goal of beginning the
translation of God's Word in every remaining language that needs it by 2025.

Jeff Palmer of Baptist Global Response says to put the
distress into perspective, the quake on April 07 was of the same strength as
the one that leveled Haiti in January 2010.

However, "We assessed our folks very quickly to make
sure they were okay. We were anticipating a lot worse situation, but the news
coming out is very, very good."

While the physical damage wasn't made worse, the psychological
damage was a huge setback for the hundreds of thousands already displaced by
the original massive quake. The partners in the joint relief effort–which
includes the Tokyo Baptist Church, the Japan Baptist Convention, members of the
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Network and International Mission Board
personnel–were already in place dealing
with the logistics of feeding and housing thousands of survivors from the
earlier strike.

They're also building the base for what's coming. Eventually, more in-depth counseling will be
necessary to stem the inevitable tide of post-traumatic stress disorder that
accompanies trauma like this.

"We do have a team
right now, on the ground, from  the
U.S.–some specialists in trauma
counseling. They're working with our Japanese partners. They're doing a lot of
processing with them, but they're also doing training with them as they go out
into the areas to do the feeding, and the food distributions, and the clothing
distributions."

The trauma counseling training was already underway. Right now, Palmer says, they have a group of
180 Japanese believers ready to start work. "We are equipping them with
culturally sensitive materials, and of course, biblically-based materials on
how they can minister to people who experienced a terrible disaster. The folks that are ministering have
gone through it, too."

The scope of the crisis and the overwhelming hurt means
burnout can happen quickly. Who helps
the trauma counselors? Palmer explains,
"We have some checkpoints in place. We monitor how our team is doing. We
provide good counseling, good debriefing, with all of our teams as we go along."

Restoring physical safety is a high priority, but so is
reuniting family and creating community wherever possible. "If we
can get these tools–like grief counseling, like mud-outing, debris cleanup,
how to feed large groups, mass feedings–we have this expertise and skills, and
we can put those into Japanese partners. It just multiplies the ability to
really meet people in their need."

Palmer says there's a lot riding on the shoulders of the
response teams. "Be praying for wisdom and knowledge as we train and equip
Japanese believers to really be the ones where the water hits the wheel out
there in ministering to people."

You can also support the effort. We have a link here.

It's the same area already devastated
by the March 11 quake and tsunami, and residents were immediately
evacuated. A tsunami warning was issued
and then cancelled when no wave formed. 

While that's one bit of good
news, the strong aftershock is wreaking havoc on the survivors' psyches. Matt Panos with Food For the Hungry says
their team from Japan International Food
for the Hungry (JFHI) is already on the ground dealing with the aftermath of
the earlier temblor.   

So far, "We
have still not yet had any word on any additional damage, or any additional
loss of life, or any other issue that would be supplementary to the initial
quake and tsunami."

Their greatest concern is the
supply chains. "There are between four and six million people without access to
food and water. Their traditional supply chains of grocery stores and things
were all destroyed."

A disruption could be costly in
terms of human life. "We're praying for stamina and strength, and that the
supply chain would not be broken. This earthquake could cause breaks in our
supply chain for getting food and water."

In the more rural areas, "At this
point the supply chains that are in place that are bringing supplies in, food
and water, that are connected to literally hundreds of small Japanese churches
around Japan that we've already been funneling money to. They're developing
their supply chains, they're buying supplies and water, and they're moving them
into the northeastern part of Japan."

It's also winter in Japan. In addition to the shock of another earthquake,
some of the earlier rescue work will have to be re-done. Panos explains that "the temporary housing is simply not equipped
to handle additional earthquakes of any magnitude. So, if this current one was large enough to
where it really shook people, many of the temporary housing situations that
have been built have probably either come down or been damaged."

"We've got hundreds of churches
represented now in north Japan. This opportunity is just incredible to have the
hands and feet of Christ available to those who've been displaced."

As survivors make sense of their
loss and grief, JFHI is networking with churches to provide encouragement to
the survivors and convey Christ's hope. Panos describes one incident where a relief team did a supply
distribution in one area. "A woman, an
unbeliever, had said to her, ‘You must be the face of Jesus.' That was her
comment back to her, realizing she was a member of a Christian church. That's the
exact image we want to portray."

JIFH is training pastors and
church staff to give emotional support to disaster survivors. Church members
and volunteers are ministering to communities in distribution and clean-ups,
with special focus on assisting the elderly.

There are many needs. Click here to see where you might be able to
help.

No one knows what the future holds for them. With more
crowding and more ambiguity, many are leaving for an equally uncertain future,
but it's more familiar. Jeff Palmer with Baptist Global
Response explains, "We found that there are a lot of people that are
not in those shelters. They've gone back to their homes. They're staying in
their cars, and there's no electricity and no heat."

"People still want to go back, to start
cleaning up, and to pick up. The problem is: there's nothing there. A house may be still standing, but the power has
not been restored. There's no electricity and heat, and it's still below zero in many of these areas.
65% of those population areas are over 60 years of age."

That's presenting another problem. The oldest members of the communities are
often among the more vulnerable. In humanitarian crises, Palmer says, "If you're not in a shelter and
you ‘re not being cared for, you're kind of in limbo. There's a lot of those
areas that we're finding and we're mobilizing help to them."

BGR has a partner on the ground. "One of the things
that we've been able to do is find ways to be able to get hot meals, warm
clothing, and sanitary needs to those people who are without electricity and
water."

They've already launched a feeding program for 3,000 with
the help of a national partner. However,
the needs are quickly outstripping their supplies and know-how. BGR
is training local partners on how to develop long-range plans, administer them,
and deal with the other logistics of response.

It's an absolute necessity to answer the ever-changing
situation, Palmer says. "The feeding program
is going through a local partner of 3,000 meals a day. We're going to be helping them to increase
that to 6,000. You don't just feed 3,000 more people without some
skills and some plans of HOW you do that."

Another advantage to working through the local church partners is
meeting the RIGHT needs. People working
on the ground can communicate specific, if unusual, needs. For example, Palmer says, "One thing we're
doing is helping distribute long underwear. With the elderly people being
affected, it's one thing that is being requested by people on the ground."

And then comes the clean up. First, there's the physical part: "Eventually,
we'll be helping with clean out teams and training them: how do you go back and
recover such a widespread devastated area? How do you clean out? How do you mud out?" 

Then, the emotional: "This week, we're doing training and
equipping in grief and trauma counseling. We're trying to train Japanese spiritual
leaders. They're fatigued also. A lot of these folks are trying to shepherd and
care for their people, and they've lost family. They've lost houses. "

Why? "Basically, the Gospel goes from person to
person. It doesn't go from a project. It doesn't go from just food and water. Those things
are important, but it's the people that we are working with, that are followers
of Christ, that are showing the compassion of Christ, that are ministering and
giving that cup of cold water, giving that word of Hope."

Damages to the area are estimated to cost hundreds of billions of
dollars. BGR needs funds to get behind
their national partners. You can help. Follow the link in the sidebar.

Radiation levels in the sea near
quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant are 3,000 times above legal limits. The new numbers suggest that radioactive
water continues to leak from the plant, threatening coastal livelihoods. Radioactive materials have also been found in
locally-grown vegetables.

Even as more bad news emerges, it doesn't change the
struggle to survive the next 24 hours for the hundreds of thousands of people who
remain homeless. Government
reports say there are 27,600 who are dead or missing. Damage could reach $310 billion, making the quake, tsunami, and radiation
crisis the most expensive natural disaster on record.

Pioneers has three teams on the
ground evaluating where their relief response will be most effective. Spokesman Matt Green says, "They're still in the process of really
assessing how they can serve the nationals and what impact the radiation and
contamination will have on their continued ministry in the affected area."

The Red Cross says the number of Japanese people in shelters
has dropped from nearly half a million to 244,000, and more supplies are
reaching the areas that need help the most. The top priorities are still getting
fuel, housing, clothing and medicine to the survivors. Almost one million people still do not have
running water.

Pioneers ministry leadership at the
Orlando, FL, base stands ready to support the efforts of those teams in any way
needed. Green explains that "their
hope is to connect with national believers and do what they can to alleviate
the suffering, and also resource the nationals to really love their fellow
Japanese."

Green goes on to add, "Our teams
there are building relationships, coming alongside the Japanese Evangelical
Church, serving them and helping them learn to reach their own people."

Operation World reports that only
1.5 percent of Japan's 126 million people are believers. And based on
statistics from the Joshua Project, the Japanese are the second-largest
unreached people group in the world.

Although Pioneers church planting teams
were in areas physically unaffected by the earthquake, they want to bring hope
to those who are suffering. At the
same time, Green says, "Our hope would be that God would use this to mobilize more
people to go and serve in Japan. We've seen this happen in other parts of the world
where disaster has hit."

Mobilizing more people to help is
not a priority until the government gets the crises under control. However, that idea goes farther when applied to
ministry in the future. In fact, Green
says, this may have been a wake-up call from God. "One
of the Japanese pastors said to the team yesterday, 'We have, up to now, been
mostly concerned with increasing our numbers rather than faithfully
proclaiming the Gospel and demonstrating the love of Christ.'"

Please join Pioneers in prayer for
the people of Japan, asking that God would spare the lives of those still in
danger, and that their team would be His agents of love and mercy. "Pray for the softening of hearts of the Japanese
people. They've been resistant to the Gospel for many years. God is the only one who can open their hearts."

However, the nuclear crisis is what really has the
government worried. The radiation from
damaged nuclear reactors in the Fukushima complex complicates Southern Baptist
disaster relief efforts in Japan, according to one member of the assessment
team. Jeff Palmer, Executive
Director for Baptist Global Response, says, "We've looked at plans for helping in the earthquake
areas. The tsunami areas are fairly well closed to private volunteer
organizations. The Japanese government
is handling that, and on top of that, those are in the radiation areas.

The scope of the damage is in the billions. A wide swath of the country lies in
ruins. Within the government
restrictions, Palmer explains that "a lot of us are focusing our response on
those peripheral earthquake-affected areas which are requiring food, shelter,
and help for folks who are being evacuated or have left the area." 

Events are unfolding on a minute-by-minute basis, which
means planning needs to stay fluid. The
Japan disaster relief situation is unlike any other in recent history, noted
Pat Melancon, BGR's disaster management specialist. Palmer says, "We're all scrambling to come
up with an effective plan for the immediate, because it is basically
chaos–everything we're getting from our Japanese partners, everything from our assessment team right now. But
that's the nature of a huge disaster like this."

Palmer goes on explain, "You'll have the disaster event, and
then you have the responders. You go in and basically rescue, help. Then you'll move
on to a recovery/rehabilitation phase which means getting them stabilized, getting them back. And then we'll start development." 

With three disasters converging in one country, each
response plan has a direct impact on the other plans. Palmer says eventually, everything will be
addressed. Even with the crisis so
fresh, BGR is keeping an eye cast to the future. "This is a long term response. We're just
starting to see a semblance of normalcy after over a year in Haiti of getting
things back, getting homes, and getting people back to life. Japan is going to be this bad, or worse."

BGR is working primarily through Japanese Christian partners. They are providing the resources those
partners need to effectively execute  the
relief strategy. For the survivors, spiritual moorings have been shaken. Palmer
notes that "as our folks go in, they will be sharing their lives, one-on-one,
helping people and also giving their story on how God has made a difference in their lives, because in
anything like this, people lose hope. People lose that focus, and we have a
great message of hope that is found in the Gospel."

Although there are limitations to where they can help, he
says, "We will respond and help people
where they are hurting. At the same time, we will also offer them a hope that
is found in eternal hope, a hope that is here and now as well as later and
beyond, a hope that is found in Jesus Christ." 

There are many ways to help. Usually it's: Pray, Give, or Go. Palmer says right now, it's more effective to say, "Pray, Give, and Wait,
because of this complex humanitarian event with the tertiary
radiation." 

Palmer ends with this request: "Pray
for Japan as a nation. Pray for the victims, the survivors, the emotional
healing that needs to take place. Pray for the responders that are able to be
there–the Japanese government. Pray for the country, that the comfort of Jesus
and the hope of the Gospel could come forth into their lives."

Give. We've got a
link here. 

Wait…on the Lord. Doors will open in the near future. Palmer says, "We need to let our experts,
trained people, and Japanese partners lead us in our efforts."