Hi everyone,
Thank you for praying for Japan in the wake of the New Year’s earthquake in the Noto Peninsula. As of this morning, official reports put the number of dead at 232, with 21 people still missing. 26 people remain isolated in five remote villages. Currently there are around 13,934 people staying in 359 evacuation shelters.
Please continue to pray for rescue, relief and repair workers, and for the health, safety and peace of mind of survivors.
Since it will take some time for communities to be rebuilt, many evacuees are now being moved from shelters into more comfortable temporary housing outside of the disaster area. This includes hotels and community centres.
One such centre (a public sports complex) here in Hakusan is welcoming some 600 people. Since this is literally in our neighbourhood, we have signed up as volunteers and will be serving there a few days next week to begin with. Please pray for us, that we can be a blessing and encouragement there.
Meanwhile, Christian relief efforts have also begun, as several organizations and churches are coordinating efforts under the banner of “Noto Help.” There is a lot of work to be done in the coming months. Please pray for the Church and missions community to be united and well-organized in reaching out to those in need, and that God will use these efforts to sow Gospel seeds in this largely unreached area of Japan.
If you would like to donate to these Christian relief efforts, please check out this email from JEMA, which lists up trusted Christian organizations who are engaged in relief work.
If you want a recommendation from us, CRASH Japan is a trustworthy Japanese organization who are well set-up to receive donations from overseas: https://crashjapan.com/en/donate/
Thank you again for your prayers!