Japan

A team of six MSF Japanese psychologists have started working with the survivors of the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated areas of northeast Japan on March 11th.   MSF staff treat a patient in an evacuation centre in Minami Sanriku, Japan. Photo: Giulio Di Sturco/ VII mentor MSF sent a team to the area the day after the quake and tsunami flattened coastal areas, and have continued to work in the area since then.   Using small, highly mobile teams, MSF identified pockets of people whom the massive national aid effort had not yet reached and started running mobile clinics. The main medical issues addressed by 12-person MSF team have been the treatment of...

Houses and cars are swept out to sea in Kesennuma city March 11, 2011.The biggest earthquake to hit Japan since records began 140 years ago struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, ships, cars and farm buildings on fire. Photos: Reuters Following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunamis that devastated areas of northeast Japan on Friday afternoon, a chartered helicopter with two MSF teams has landed in Miyagi prefecture. The team is travelling to the medical coordination centre in the worst-affected area in Sendai city, Miyagi prefecture. The team comprises medical and logistical staff and...

As access improves in the region devastated by the 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunamis in northeast Japan, MSF is finding serious needs among pockets of populations in areas that had previously been impossible to reach by road. MSF currently has a team of 10 people divided into three teams conducting mobile clinics and assessments in Miyagi prefecture, following the huge earthquake and resulting tsunamis last Friday. The tsunamis have decimated coastal areas, which after huge efforts of Japanese authorities, are now becoming accessible by road. “In one area around Minamisunriku, in northern Miyagi, we were told by officials there were 9,200 people in 20 evacuation centres who needed water, non-food items and medical attention,...

On Tuesday, members of the 11-person MSF team in the area devastated by last week’s earthquake and tsunamis worked in evacuation centres with local medical staff in a small, isolated community in Miyagi prefecture. “There were two local doctors in Minamisanriku  who have been working in around 20 evacuation centres since the earthquake and tsunami, so team members today assisted them in their consultations,” said Emmanuel Goue, the emergency coordinator of the MSF team. From Tuesday, MSF staff plan to start a small clinic in another town near to Minamisanriku using drugs donated on Monday. Once additional medical resources from the massive Japanese relief effort arrive, MSF will try to find other pockets of...