When Joyce Teshima heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the first thing she wanted to know was what area of the country was hit.
Born and raised in Tokyo and just south of the capital, the Redmond Elementary School principal still has extended family in Japan. And although they are mostly in the south, Teshima can’t help but worry about them. With many phone lines down and requests to limit calls into Japan, Teshima still has not contacted her relatives overseas.
“I worry about those people,” she said. “Hopefully they’ll all be okay.”
Teshima said in Japan, earthquakes were almost a weekly occurrence but in her experience, they were mostly just slight shifts in the ground; none was big enough to even knock things to the ground. So when she watches the news now, the images are familiar, but Teshima still has a difficult time visualizing what’s happening.
“It’s too big a devastation to understand,” she said. “I just can’t imagine what it must be like.”
Although Japan is probably the top country for earthquake preparedness, Teshima said nothing could prepare anyone for an earthquake of last week’s magnitude, which has been reclassified to 9.0, and the resulting tsunami.
PACKED AND READY
To aid the recovery, Redmond businesses and organizations are collecting donations to send to the American Red Cross and other relief-aid agencies.
Medical Teams International (MTI) is collecting financial donations that will be designated to its church partners in five regions of Japan that have been affected by the disaster. MTI is an organization that recruits and deploys medical personnel and supplies to developing countries as well as areas hit by disasters.
James Mhoon, executive director for the organization’s Washington branch in Redmond, said the money collected will pay for drinking water, food, blankets and other basics for people. He said people from their church partners are literally using the money to drive to neighboring communities to purchase these items.
“It’s very grassroots,” Mhoon said.
In cases of a natural disaster, he said MTI would typically send medical supplies, but Japan is “unusual” in that it is not a developing country and has not made a request for anything yet — nor does he expect them to. But MTI has Interagency Emergency Health (IEH) kits packed and ready to be deployed at the drop of a hat. Mhoon said these kits contain medical supplies and equipment to serve 10,000 people for up to three months.
MTI would also usually send medical teams to the disaster area, but Japan requires in-country medical licenses to practice.
“We have people who are willing to go, but legally, they can’t do anything (once they get there),” he said.
The medical teams deployed through MTI’s Redmond office consist of physicians from all over the country, although many are from the Northwest, including Oregon, where MTI started. Mhoon added that teams contain different medical specialists such as cardiac or orthopedic and are built based on what services are needed.
Barb Jensen, a member of the Washington-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (WA-1 DMAT), is in a similar position as MTI in that she is ready to deploy to Japan if needed. Jensen, manager of Evergreen Hospital Medical Center‘s preparedness programs at all of its locations, including Redmond, said WA-1 DMAT has various functions including providing equipment and supplies for on-scene, mobile hospitals and providing support staff at actual hospitals in areas where disasters hit.
TECH SUPPORT
While MTI and WA-1 DMAT are ready to provide medical assistance, some Redmond businesses are finding other ways to help.
Microsoft Corporation has made an initial financial commitment of $2 million, which includes $250,000 in cash as well as in-kind contributions such as software.
Akhtar Badshah, senior director of global community affairs, said the company is also matching full-time Asia Pacific employee donations dollar for dollar, up to $100,000 to Japan and New Zealand earthquake relief campaigns. He added that Microsoft will continue with the company’s matching program for full-time U.S. employees, which matches up to $12,000 per year per employee.
“Microsoft has a long-standing commitment to supporting relief and rebuilding efforts following natural disasters,” Badshah told the Redmond Reporter. “We know that technology can play an important role in getting aid to people more quickly and effectively as well as getting the rebuilding efforts underway … In Japan, like any major disaster, we focus our efforts on supporting customers, partners, government agencies and of course our nonprofit partners.”
Microsoft is also using MSN and Bing.com to help drive awareness and donations for relief efforts.
Badshah said Microsoft will offer a number of services for free, including free incident support to customers and partners affected by the disaster, free temporary software licenses, making a number of online applications and programs available at no cost for 90 days to customers in Japan.
Additionally, Microsoft is making a Cloud-based disaster response communications portal available to governments and nonprofits to help them communicate among each other and directly with citizens.
Although Microsoft is helping those affected by the earthquake and tsunami, the company could have had employees affected by the disaster. Badshah said Microsoft has roughly 2,500 employees in Japan, but fortunately, all have been accounted for.
“We have no reports of injuries, and we continue to ensure that everyone is well,” he said.
EATING FOR A CAUSE
Another Redmond business getting involved in the relief effort is Bai Tong Thai Restaurant at 14804 NE 24th St.
On Saturday, the restaurant is donating not just the profits but the day’s entire revenue to the Red Cross.
“We just want to do something,” said co-owner Pat Chaiseeha. “I’ll do whatever I can.”
With an average revenue of $5,000 to $8,000 on weekends, Chaiseeha hopes to surpass this number and raise $10,000.
In addition to volunteers from his church, Chaiseeha will receive extra help from Bai Tong employees who are planning on working Saturday even though they would normally have the day off. A number of the employees will also be contributing their tips to the fund, he said.
Bong Tai employee Manivan Vongsouthit won’t be able to come in on Saturday, but fully supports the restaurant’s cause. She has been telling friends and family about the event and has also mentioned it on Facebook, as have many of her coworkers. Vonsouthit said helping is a two-way street and hopes that if such a disaster hit locally, others would also lend a helping hand.
“We’re all human, right?” she said.
Chaiseeha said this was one of the reasons he is holding the event. Earthquakes and other natural disasters are mostly unpredictable and can happen anywhere.
“This kind of tragedy can happen any time,” he said. “It’s kind of scary.”
Teshima, who is planning to call her relatives in Japan this weekend, agrees. Even a country as well-prepared as Japan is prone to sudden disaster.”You just never know,” she said.
