An emergency earthquake support centre for the diocese of Sendai in Japan swings into operation today.
A local bishop, Bishop Martin Tetsuo Hiraga and priest, Fr Peter
Shiro Komatsu, diocesan chancellor, will run the centre, with a Caritas
worker co-ordinating the aid work.
It is expected to be in operation
for at least six months.
So far, Caritas in Japan has received more
than €180,000 in donations, including over €70,000 from the Holy Father.
The number of confirmed dead and missing from the earthquake and
tsunami that hit the stricken country now stands at nearly 13,000 while
some 450,000 people have been staying in temporary shelters amid
sub-zero night-time temperatures.
There are just over half a million Catholics in Japan, just under
0.5% of the total population. 11,000 live in the devastated Sendai
region.
During the week Fr Komatsu, said that one church in Fukushima was
totally damaged but eight other churches were either unaffected or only
slightly damaged.
He was not sure of the state of other Catholic
churches along the coast.
He said petrol was the most needed
commodity.
“Since there is shortage of petroleum and roads are blocked
by debris, we have difficulties to reach other affected areas outside
Sendai city,” he told Ucan. He is currently contacting parishes to find
rooms for people made homeless by the earthquake.
Religious orders present in the country include the Salesian Fathers
and Sisters, the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and the Daughters of Mary
Help of Christians. All the priests and religious nuns are reported
safe.
The only death was of a Canadian missionary, Fr Andre Lachapelle
from the Quebec Foreign Mission Society who died en route from Sendai
to his church about nine miles away.
There were conflicting reports of
whether he suffered a heart attack or was lost in the tsunami.
The Salesians with twelve schools (from kindergarten to secondary),
reported that most of the order’s convents, schools and churches were
south of Tokyo and incurred only minor damage.
But they are faced with
the hard question of whether to stay or flee, especially now that the
threat of a nuclear disaster at Fukushima hangs over the country.
Foreign embassies are advising their nationals to get out and even
Tokyo, at 240 km from Fukushima is not considered to be out of danger.
Fr Aldo Cipriani, Provincial of the Salesian Fathers in Japan, said,
“The situation in the stricken area is truly terrifying and at present
it is difficult to know the effects of the radiation.”
He said that all
the eventual decisions would be taken in coordination with the other
religious Congregations and asked for prayers for Japan and its people.
The Sisters of Charity of Jesus have 46 houses in Japan. Their house
in Shiakaway in the province of Fukushima is closest to the
earthquake’s epicentre. The sisters are safe, but some students were
missing from their nursery in Fukushima.
Last weekend Pope Benedict XVI said prayers for the victims of the
quake and tsunami.
“May the bereaved and injured be comforted and may
the rescue workers be strengthened in their efforts to assist the
courageous Japanese people,” he said before the Angelus in St Peter’s
Square.
This was his last public appearance before going on his Lenten
retreat that started on Wednesday.
UCA News reported that Catholics in mainland China were among Asian
Catholics who expressed solidarity with the earthquake victims in Japan
and added prayers to their Masses last weekend.
Jinde Charities in
northern China’s Hebei province also offered an initial €7,000 to
support Caritas Japan’s relief efforts.