Foreign Residents Affected by Kumamoto Quake Rely on Mutual Aid

Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Pref., Aug. 13 (Jiji Press)–Many foreign residents of areas affected by last month’s powerful earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, are relying on each other without using evacuation shelters due to language and cultural barriers. In the city of Yatsushiro, which recorded a seismic intensity of upper 6 on the Japanese scale, a vehicle carrying aid supplies such as emergency food and drinking water arrived in front of an apartment building Aug. 6. Cheers rose from about 30 foreign residents affected by the quake, including those who came to Japan under the technical intern training program. One such trainee, a 22-year-old from Indonesia, said she was very happy because she was running out of food. The supplies were delivered by an association of Vietnamese people in the prefecture, which usually gives advice on life to Vietnamese residents. The association’s leader, Le Thi Tram, 48, said that it is not customary in Vietnam to flee to evacuation centers following earthquakes and that many foreign residents in Japan do not want to go to such centers due to the language barrier or do not know where such facilities are. After the July 28 temblor, many Vietnamese people slept on tarps outdoors out of fear that their homes might collapse, the leader said. The association, established in 2022, has a network on Facebook of about 3,000 Vietnamese residents of Kumamoto, roughly half of the prefecture’s total Vietnamese population. It began delivering food and other supplies after receiving messages asking for help, including one reporting that there was no water. On Aug. 6, the group provided supplies to about 200 foreign residents affected by the quake in the cities of Yatsushiro and Uki. The association gives supplies to foreign residents regardless of whether they are Vietnamese because foreigners are often left out of public assistance. The temblor has laid bare various problems, the association leader said, expressing a wish to convey the reality of quake evacuations through its regular activities. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]