OpSafe in Japan

At the CRASH Command Center in Tokyo

 

Yesterday was my first time home in the two weeks since the quake and tsunami. I was able to spend some precious time with my family and worship with my church and then came back to CRASH Command Center in Tokyo. CRASH is an organization that I founded around six years ago to coordinate Christian relief in Japan for natural disasters. The acronym stands for Christian Relief, Assistance, Support and Hope. We work to support local churches, some who are responding to the disaster and others affected by the disaster to bring help and hope to those who are suffering.
Since the quake we have become a focal point for Christian relief groups from around the world who are seeking to help and for the Japanese church as well. While we have been instrumental in bringing in hundreds of tons of relief and cooperating in its distribution our focus and goals are broader than that. I fully expect the Japanese government and Japanese Red Cross to be able to meet the physical needs of the region in a very short period of time. They are doing everything they can to respond to this crisis that has cut the very country to the core.
But imagine four times the damage of Katrina and seven times the loss of life of 9/11 in a nation that is barely the size of California and with a struggling economy roughly a third the size of the US. What does that do to a country? What does that do to a region? Now consider a family or individual waiting for help to come. The greatest thing that we have to offer Japan is hope. Hope is not something that can be shipped in a container, or airlifted in. Our teams are operating from five regional bases throughout the entire area. One team near the area evacuated around the nuclear power station described the evacuation centers as well stocked and well run, but the people as terrified. Hope is packaged not in a box but in a person. Our focus is to send thousands of volunteers to stand beside the people of Japan until the job is done. To help them clear the rubble, rebuild their homes, and find hope for the future.
Jonathan Wilson
CRASH