Some disaster-hit areas have had to stop accepting donated items because of a lack of storage space? What can be done to alleviate this problem?

Well, why is there a lack of storage space? Is it because there are too many donating items, or because there is a backlog in distributing these items to those who need them?

Stop people from emptying their damned closets while "donating" wud be a good start!

Virtual warehousing, where donated goods remain either with the person donating until required, or in a central warehouse ready for distribution as required.

Warehouse it in a centralized location and distribute to all the refugee centers as requested. Stockpile anything not perishible and not used for the NEXT disaster. Winter clothing not needed anymore? Maybe the next disaster will occur in the middle of Winter. Better to have stores on-hand than to start from scratch every time.

Fadamor, I like the way you think

I knew this was going to happen by about 3.20. This region cannot except all the cast off clothing of an entire planet.

What is "this problem?" To alleviate this problem, donation of clothing should be left to LOCAL donations only in the future. Seasons, fashions, etc. are best matched from people in the region, and I am SURE that enough was donated from Japan that it alone was sufficient.

As for THIS problem, Fadamor seems to have the right idea, but it won't work. The fan heaters are a hazard to store in huge numbers. The clothes will go out of style. (Imagine surviving a tsunami and then having to wear bellbottoms or overalls for the next three weeks.) In this humidity, it will cost more to store them than they are worth, and some will get all moldy no matter what you do.

The best thing to do is probably to .... well.... why not let the experts handle it? Hard Off, Book off, used clothing stores. Let them each have a truckload and try to put it into their pipeline. They will have to hire and train employees to sort, clean, fold, etc. The gift of jobs would be helpful, and the items will not just go to waste.

I went to a makeshift landfill in Sendai this week. People are throwing away thousands (millions?) of tons of stuff. Stuff. And more stuff. Sodai gomi paradiso. I talked with this cute attendant there. I asked her if it was good to see people who were cleaning up and getting their lives started again. No. Her first comment was, "Sugoi Mottainai!!" Uh huh. By the way, there was a fire at one of these places in Sendai last week, which highlights the dangers of storing fan heaters and spontaneous combustion that can occur when you try to stockpile anything.

Stuff needs to be reused, then recycled. Distribution is the problem, not accumulation.

When you run out of storage space why not renting containers for that purpose, I wonder. Surely government can help to pay the cost because having plentiful is always better , cheaper for government in the next emergency.

Well, why is there a lack of storage space?

Simple answer - because a massive tsunami came a long and destroyed everything in it's way which means there is very, very little storage space available in the communities that have been affected.

Perhaps the usable excess could be stored in a more centralized location within the prefectures that were most affected however that's obviously not a priority for them. And as has already been mentioned the cost involved in transporting and storing the stuff so that it's in a good, usable condition doesn't really make it feasible.

Storing stuff in a centralised location ready for the next emergency sounds like a good idea, but in real life things aren't so simple. Tokyo had a plentiful supply of blankets etc for emergency use stored near (I think it was) Shinjuku Station, a nice, centralised spot. Trouble was when 3.11 occurred and there were suddenly thousands of people trapped in the metropolis for the night and needing blankets, gridlock on the roads meant that there were huge delays in getting the stuff distributed.

Up in Tohoku at the moment there is no space to store stuff, or space to install containers; every bit of available open land is needed for emergency housing, or to pile rubble cleared from urban areas.