Japan: No rest for Red Cross medics as search and rescue efforts continue

By Patrick Fuller in Ishinomaki, Japan

In the small town of Ishinomaki on Japan’s north-east coast, Ishinamaki hospital has been like a magnet, drawing people in from miles around, many of whom simply find comfort in being able to sleep in a warm corridor with strangers. With all other local hospitals flooded or damaged, this hospital is a beacon of hope for thousands of local people whose lives have been shattered by the tsunami that slammed into the Japanese coastline on Friday 11 March.

In the last three days, the hospital has received over a thousand patients from the surrounding area, and every inch of floor space is occupied with the sick and the wounded. Most of the injured are brought by civil defence helicopters and buses, while others manage to limp in or are carried through the doors. The trauma is evident, written on the pale faces of many who have seen loved ones swept to their death.

It is the elderly who have been hit the hardest. The tsunami engulfed half the town and many lie shivering uncontrollably under blankets. They are suffering from hypothermia having been stranded in their homes without water or electricity. At night, the town is plunged into darkness and it is bitterly cold. The night sky is penetrated by the searchlights of civil defence helicopters, which continue the round-the-clock search for stranded households.

Dr Takayaki Takahashi is a surgeon who leads one of the five mobile medical teams that operate out of the hospital. He’s been on call for 48 hours straight. Each day he heads out with another doctor and three nurses to run clinics at the evacuation centres set up in public buildings where thousands of people have been housed.

http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/asia-pacific/japan/japan-no-rest-for-red-cross-medics-as-search-and-rescue-efforts-continue/

Consider giving a donation to the ICRC while you are there... if like me, you do not trust the ACR. They will make that money reach the Japanese Red Cross or will be used to move teams in from abroad.