Media Release 17 January 2012

Donation From Japanese To Help People of Christchurch

The Nippon Volunteer Network Active in Disaster (NVNAD) is donating $17,000 to the Christchurch earthquake recovery.

The Rebuild Christchurch Foundation has been selected by NVNAD as the recipient of the funds and a delegation from Japan will present the money this weekend, in Christchurch.

Rebuild Christchurch’s Deon Swiggs, says his team is very grateful for the support from the Japanese organisation.

“We are finding almost a year on from February 22nd and more than a year after the September 4th quakes, people are very weary,” he says. “Rebuild Christchurch is totally focussed on long-term support, and donations like this will help us to help others on this long and difficult road back to normality.”

Nippon Volunteer Network Active in Disaster director, Hironobu Teramoto, says they selected Rebuild Christchurch because out of all of the recovery support groups they were aware of, they believed Rebuild Christchurch was working the most effectively for the people of the quake affected city.

“RebuildChristchurch.co.nz was still active in September 2011 when we started to look for a recipient, 7 months after the February quake and the communication with Mr Swiggs and his team was always detailed and professional,” says Mr Teramoto. “There was a great deal of information on the Rebuild Christchurch website, involving a lot of people and organisations. The information was always being updated and stayed very relevant which is an important part of moving forward after a disaster.”

Rebuild Christchurch is the only organisation NVNAD is supporting in New Zealand however many other countries have received their support including Indonesia (tsunami 1996), Turkey and Taiwan (quakes1999), India (quake 2001), Iran (quake 2003), Hurricane Katrina (2005), China (quake 2008) and a number of Japanese natural disasters.

Mr Teramoto and NVNAD President Atsumi they would like the money to be used to make “suffering people happier”.

“We would like to help Christchurch people as much as possible and believe Rebuild Christchurch will help this happen. After the March 11 disaster in Japan, we were very grateful to have huge support from all over the world. Please accept our deep sympathies on your loss from the quake on the 22nd of February,” he says.

ENDS: The NVNAD delegation will be hosted by Rebuild Christchurch on Saturday 21 February 2011. Deon Swiggs and Christchurch City Councillor Glenn Livingstone will show them around the inner city cordon and other parts of the city adversely affected by the earthquakes from 2.30pm that day. Please contact Ali Jones on 027 247 3112 if you would like any more information.

About the NVNAD:

The Nippon Volunteer Network Active in Disaster (NVNAD) is a non-profit organisation located in Nishinomiya city, Hyogo, Japan. Its mission is to support survivors, promoting local community around preparation for disasters, and contribute to the new society free from the grief caused by disasters. It was formerly called Nishinomiya Volunteer Network (NVN), which was originally established immediately after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (January 17, 1995) in Nishinomiya. It was re-organised into the Nippon Volunteer Network Active in Disaster in January 1996.

Internationally, the NVNAD is one of the windows through which Japanese relief efforts reach other countries. It is first activated as an information clearing house. It coordinates its member organisations and responds to the disaster. A typical response includes: (1) collecting cash donations from all over Japan, (2) bringing the donation money to the country affected by disaster, (3) purchasing there what the victims need, according to information from the disaster field, in order to provide as many needed materials as possible, and (4) donating these materials to a representative agency in the country.

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