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>>Dr. Masaki: First of all, I would like to thank everyone who is concerned about Japan
and I hear so many American good friends, and from all over the world, their sympathy,
concerns, etc. I am overwhelmed to hear that. The Lutheran Church in Japan, we have a partner
church, Japan Lutheran Church, which is located primarily in Tokyo area and Niigata, which
is the Japan seaside so the opposite side of the Honshu island, but very close. Then,
Hokkaido and Hokkaido coast, the south portion of the coastline also certainly affected by
the tsunami. We have two congregations in Fukushima prefecture where nuclear plant,
the program there is happening. As far as I know, there is no major damage to the congregations,
church buildings, etc., except for two congregations in Fukushima. One of them is vacant so we
don’t know much because we have no information. Another one has just two walls of the church
building had some damage that I hear. As far as I know, there is no major damage to our
partner church, the buildings. I don’t know about the people though.
We have one graduate from our institution, a pastor Manabu Wakabayashi who stayed here
for maybe six to seven years for Master of Divinity. He is now back in Japan in Niigata
prefecture as a pastor. According to him he felt, and his family felt, so much shakes
and so on because of the earthquake that he never experienced before, but he was okay.
His family, his congregation was okay. But, he has his own mother-in-law who lives only
1 km, that is about two-thirds of a mile, from the coastline where the tsunami hit the
hardest. So, only after four days he was able to make a contact with her. Actually, his
wife’s sister visited her in Sendai and that is where she found that his mother-in-law
was safe.
Similar stories are all over. So, overall as far as we know, we never know for certain,
but thankfully the Lutheran brothers and sisters have not been really damaged or injured or
killed, as far as we know. At this point, the prefecture like Fukushima or Sendai, that
is the Miyagi prefecture, those governors are also receiving some messages like this.
What they say now is that since the infrastructure has been broken, destroyed by not only earthquake
but also the tsunami, many regions still have high water level so that even the injured
and dead bodies may not be reached and collected even. So, probably the best thing for us is
to collect money and donations, and then Japan Lutheran Church as I heard it, they also have
started to do that. Once the collection is made, they are going to bring to the local
congregations near disastrous places to make sure that those collections will be brought
to the needy people.
I also hear from President Harrison’s office that they also want to do something. If we
do something, we would like to coordinate every effort together so at this point that
is maybe all I can say. But, in the long-run there will be a need. They need to start building
temporary shelters for those who are fleeing and we need to continue to pray for those
who have lost their possessions and people still searching for their family members.
We also give thanks to God, our Lord, for those who have been protected and as we help
those people we also like to bring comfort and consolation, which comes only from our
Lord, Jesus Christ.