VILLAGE OF OHIRA-MURA, Japan – About an hour ago it got dark, and just as I settled in to write this, the house started to shake. The bed rocked sideways back and forth for about ten seconds as unseen forces deep in the earth shuddered. It was an unsettling experience, and even though my mind told me it was just another aftershock, there was a stab of fear suggesting that it might be another big quake, and that I should be running for the door. Such is life in Japan.

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Many in the city of Shiogama, Japan are still living in shelters after the earthquake and tsunami. Along with much needed relief supplies like food and kerosene, Operation Blessing brought toys for the children of the shelter to enjoy.

SHIOGAMA, Japan – Today we were back in the city of Shiogama, the city we first visited after the tsunami. Last week we came with a van load of supplies. Today, we had a van and two trucks loaded with rice, thermal underwear, hygiene supplies and kerosene. We saw some familiar faces—city workers we had met last week. They were happy to see that OB had returned with the supplies they had requested. (more…)

ISHINOMAKI, Japan – The word tsunami is made up of two Japanese words: “tsu” meaning harbor and “nami” meaning wave. Today I stood at the harbor in the city of Ishinomaki and saw where the giant “nami” hauled a ship up onto dry land and smashed buildings and homes in its path. As the Operation Blessing team continues to deliver vital relief supplies in the hardest hit areas, the extent of the destruction is still being uncovered. (more…)

The Operation Blessing team continues to move north up the eastern coast of Japan distributing relief supplies to shelters that are now home to displaced tsunami survivors.

OTSUCHI, Japan – Today we did a relief distribution in a shelter in the town of Otsuchi where 1,000 displaced families are living. Half of the town’s 17,000 residents are “still missing.” (more…)

SHIOGAMA, Japan – The lack of sleep, the stress of the nuclear threat, the bitter cold, the lack of fuel and supplies, and the scale of the destruction are all adding up to make this one of the toughest disaster responses I have worked on. (more…)

SHIOGAMA, Japan – We arrived to Sendai and began a distribution of relief supplies at a school serving as a shelter for displaced families. Families are living in classrooms; many have lost everything, including their homes. (more…)

TOKYO, Japan – Every disaster presents residual danger for relief teams. In the Middle East, during wartime, the OB team had to work with the danger of unexploded ordinance. After the China quake in 2008, there was the danger of the “Quake Lakes” that were building up and threatening to drown the disaster zone. And in many places, the threat of diseases such as cholera can endanger the lives of aid workers sent in to provide assistance. Having responded to many disasters, I have been in dangerous situations many times, but none as sinister as what we are experiencing in Japan today. (more…)

11:15 a.m.; Tuesday, March 15, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – This morning at around 3 a.m. our time, I received David’s last email before he lost signal. He said that he and Don were speeding north on a deserted expressway headed to Sendai in a van packed full of high-protein food items and bottled water. (more…)

8:20 a.m.; Monday, March 14, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – I just spoke with David Darg who arrived in Japan about 6 hours ago. There is 13-hour time difference in Japan, so it’s about 8 a.m. here in Virginia and 9 p.m. in Tokyo. (more…)

11 a.m.; Sunday, March 13, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – Responding to Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disaster is especially challenging because we do not have infrastructure in Japan and have only limited local connections there. Anyone who watches TV can see that help is needed, but we don’t yet know exactly what kind of help to offer. Experience has taught us that the best way to find out what is really going on, and to learn how to help disaster victims most effectively, is to put our staff on the ground. (more…)