The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilising the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organisation and its millions of volunteers are active in over 181 countries.
In Brief
This Information Bulletin (no. 01/2004) is being issued for information only. The Federation is not seeking any funding or other assistance from donors for this operation at this time.
The Situation
On Wednesday 20 October, typhoon Tokage, Japan's deadliest storm in years, swept through most of the southern half of Japan. People were overcome by the massive waves and flash floods triggered by the typhoon's heavy rains and strong winds, which left at least 69 people dead, 20 missing and some 342 injured, out of which 66 were serious injuries. The number of typhoon related casualties is the highest in over a quarter of a century, and it further destroyed fifty homes, damaged 1,350 residences and flooded 26,800 others. Typhoon Tokage is the tenth typhoon to strike Japan in 2004. Storms and floods have killed over 100 people in Japan this year, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, highlighting once again the importance of disaster management in both Japan and in East Asia.
Red Cross and Red Crescent action
The typhoon affected nearly the entire southern half of Japan, with the area extending from Tokyo to Miyazaki. Eleven Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) chapters located throughout the southern part of the country responded to the emergency and are providing relief assistance to the affected communities, exemplified by the immediately deployment of relief teams from the JRCS Hyogo chapter and the JRCS Okayama chapter on Wednesday 20 October. In 24 hours after heavy rains and landslides caused the evacuation of thousands of people, JRCS staff and volunteers had distributed a total of 3,653 blankets, 1,215 daily expendable sets, 70 comfort sets and provided 1,488 families with other urgently needed relief items. On Thursday 21 October, the JRCS Toyama chapter also deployed one relief team, while the JRCS Hyogo chapter sent out two additional relief teams.
As of 21 October, distributions of relief
items conducted by the JRCS to persons affected by typhoon Tokage are as
follows:
Japanese Red Cross
Society chapter | Blankets (pieces) | Daily expendable set | Comfort set | Various relief items |
| Ibaraki | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kanagawa | 140 | 140 | 0 | 0 |
| Nagano | 325 | 225 | 0 | 0 |
| Toyama | 160 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyoto | 710 | 240 | 0 | 0 |
| Okayama | 680 | 80 | 20 | 80 |
| Tokushima | 638 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ehime | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kagawa | 750 | 400 | 0 | 1228 |
| Saga | 50 | 50 | 50 | 0 |
| Miyazaki | 100 | 80 | 0 | 180 |
| Total | 3,653 | 1,215 | 70 | 1,488 |
For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:
Japanese Red Cross Society: Mr. Mitsuhiro Kato, Desk Officer, International Relief Division; phone +81 3 3438- 1311,fax +81 3 3435-8509
East Asia Regional Delegation: Mr. Alistair Henley (HoRD), email;ifrccn01@ifrc.org; phone+86 1350 1205 973, fax+86-10-6532-7166
Federation Geneva: Mr. Satoshi Sugai, Desk Officer, email;satoshi.sugai@ifrc.org; phone +41 22 730 4222; fax+41 22 733 0395
All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of the national society profile, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org
For longer-term programmes, please refer to the Federation's Annual Appeal.