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More than 200 volunteers arrived Saturday in Atsuma town, Hokkaido, which was the area hit hardest by an earthquake on Sept 6. At least 400 more are expected to arrive by the end of the day, disaster relief officials said.
Because Monday is a national holiday, many people contacted the town during the week to offer to help in Atsuma for the long weekend, Fuji TV reported. A special volunteer center opened on Saturday morning, with at least 200 volunteers ranging in age from university students to men and women in their 60s and 70s, on hand.
The volunteers are helping remove destroyed items such as furniture and fittings from local residents’ houses, as well as move farm machinery, cars and trucks that had toppled over or been damaged. Others were clearing roads and cleaning up houses that had been hit by landslides.
Officials said most of the volunteers will be spending the nights in Sapporo during the long weekend.
Forty-one people died in the quake and 1,600 others remain in shelters; 36 of the dead lived in Atsuma.
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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GW
Not the best photo to use for this, rescuing a forklift that never should have been used on wet soggy ground like that!
sf2k
watch the knees, dislocation is possible. Just abandon it if it can't be moved by people.
sf2k
also driver needs to get out, it's heavy enough
JonathanJo
Note that hard hats are only being worn by two bystanders.
sf2k
actually if you look the people on the right have rope tied to the top and are holding it, and the people to the left are getting set to push. Photo is a minute or two ahead of the action
Peeping_Tom
There are 3 people wearing hard hats!
Hiro
Weather is getting colder. Be safe and bless you for helping Atsuma out. Governement should have let the JSDF stay and do some labor work. They have nothing to do anyway. It's time they put some muscle on their body.
LunarTuner
Yep, allocate time and resources to a forklift in the mud...getting the water and food to the pensioners just up the road from the photo spot would be appreciated...
wtfjapan
Not the best photo to use for this, rescuing a forklift that never should have been used on wet soggy ground like that!
always amazes me how many people stand around watching , the only way that fork lift is getting out is forward, tie the rope on the front have 4 people pulling 3 people pushing and its out. Ive driven forklifts for 20 yrs and you drive them on soft ground or grass .