Yomiuri: Delays plague distribution of overseas aid
Help and offers of help have poured in from around the world since a massive earthquake hit northeastern Japan on March 11, but in some cases supplies have not been what devastated areas need or Japanese authorities have not been ready to accept the support. The Japanese government must respond in a more flexible manner, so that demonstrations of goodwill from abroad will not be wasted.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the government had received offers of support from 133 countries and territories, as well as 39 international organizations, as of 11 p.m. on Friday. They included the dispatch of personnel and aid supplies. As of Friday, the government had accepted contributions of personnel, including rescue teams, from 21 nations, territories and international organizations. As of Sunday, it had accepted aid supplies from 26. According to the government, supplies already distributed to disaster areas include 100,000 liters of water, 80 tons of food and 40 tons of clothes and blankets from U.S. forces in Japan. Two thousand blankets and 900 tents from China have also been distributed, as have about 2,500 blankets and 800 sweaters and other pieces of winter clothing from Mongolia.
Many governments indicated their support immediately after the earthquake. However, delays in arranging the shipments slowed the flow of goods in some cases. The Singaporean government sent 60 tons of aid supplies to devastated areas, including 20,000 bottles of drinking water, 4,400 servings of emergency provisions, 4,350 blankets and 200 mattresses. The government announced it would send these goods on March 11, but they were actually dispatched eight days later on March 19. "We couldn't send them until we got the green light from the Japanese government," the Singapore Red Cross Society said.
According to a Singaporean government official, that country asked the Japanese government if the supplies could be sent by military plane to transport them efficiently, but the offer was rejected by the Japanese government. Eventually, they were transported by private plane to Narita Airport, and the Singaporean government hired trucks from a private Japanese delivery company to take the supplies to quake-hit areas.
The European Union also started to prepare aid supplies on March 11 but it did not receive a request of necessary items from the Japanese government until March 15. As it also took time to transport the items, it was not until March 26 that blankets and mattresses actually began to be distributed at disaster sites.
The Indonesian government sent 10,000 blankets. According to an official at the country's national disaster countermeasure bureau, the blankets it initially prepared were not accepted because they were too thin for the cold areas struck by the disaster. The government then prepared thicker blankets, the official said.
The Thai government began working to send 10,000 tons of Thai rice and 5,000 tons of glutinous rice for cooking together with Thai rice so that the rice would suit Japanese people's tastes. However, it has not been sent because "we were told [by the Japanese government] that Japan has enough rice," according to the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Worried about radiation leaks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Ukraine, which experienced the catastrophe of a nuclear meltdown at its Chernobyl power plant, sent one ton of medical supplies, including iodine pills for Ukrainian people living in Japan. It also sent about 2,000 blankets. However, the medical supplies were returned to Ukraine by the Japanese government because "the medicine was not certified for use in Japan," according to an Ukraine government official.
