Ensure disaster victims have daily necessities

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Mar. 15, 2011)
Ensure disaster victims have daily necessities
救助と支援　被災者へ十分な生活物資を（3月14日付・読売社説）

Thousands of people are still waiting for rescue in the cold. Two days have passed since a large earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku and Kanto regions along the Pacific coast Friday afternoon. Rescue operations must proceed as quickly as possible.
　今も寒さの中で、大勢の人たちが救助を待っている。大地震の発生から２日が過ぎた。救出を急がなくてはならない。

Police and firefighters from across the country have been mobilized, and the government will increase the number of Self-Defense Forces personnel dispatched for rescue operations to 100,000.
　全国から警察や消防職員らが駆けつけた。政府は自衛隊の派遣を１０万人に拡大する。

Rescue teams from the United States, South Korea and Singapore, among others, went to disaster-stricken areas after arriving in Japan one after the other.
　米国、韓国、シンガポールなど外国からの救助隊も続々と到着し被災地に入った。

Successful rescues have been reported from various parts of the devastated areas, including evacuations by helicopter of people stranded on a building's roof and a 60-year-old man rescued by a Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel after two days adrift at sea.
　建物屋上で孤立していた人たちがヘリで救出されたり、沖合１５キロで漂流していた男性が２日ぶりに自衛艦に助けられるなど、救助の知らせが各地から入っている。

The death toll from the disaster is likely to top 10,000 in Miyagi Prefecture alone. Any and all means should be used to rescue as many people as possible.
　犠牲者は宮城県だけで１万人を超える、との見通しもある。だが今は、一人でも多くの救出に全力を尽くすべき時だ。

We hope the authorities concerned will provide sufficient food, medicine and other necessities to people who remain stranded at their homes or who have evacuated to public facilities.
　自宅や公共施設などに残っている人たちへは、十分な食料や薬などを届けてほしい。

Hundreds of thousands of people are huddled together in evacuation centers throughout the area.
　各地の避難所でも、計３０万人以上が身を寄せ合っている。

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Food needs acute

Food equivalent to 1 million meals a day is estimated to be needed at evacuation centers alone, and there is said to be a shortage of bread and rice at such places. Not a small number of evacuation centers are finding it difficult to secure enough water, as water trucks have not yet arrived.
　避難所だけで１日１００万食近い食料が要る計算だ。パン、おにぎりなどが十分に届いていないという。給水車が未到着で、水の確保にも困る所が少なくない。

Emergency meal preparation service is being provided by community associations, but their powers are limited. A system for transporting daily commodities to the affected areas promptly and preferentially is urgently needed.
　自治会組織の炊き出し支援なども行われているが、限界がある。食料や衣類など、生活物資を迅速かつ優先的に被災地へ送る態勢を確保しなければならない。

In addition, lifelines to areas that normally cover more than 1.5 million households in the Tohoku region and elsewhere have been cut off, as power outages continued Sunday night. Water and gas supply has also been suspended in various areas. We hope such services will be restored as quickly as possible.
　ライフラインも寸断された。１３日夜も、東北地方などで１５０万戸以上が停電している。水道、ガスも各地でストップしている。復旧を急いでもらいたい。

Due to accidents at its nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday it would implement planned power outages from Monday in which it would suspend electricity supply to areas under its network in turns.
　原発事故の影響で、東京電力は管内の各地域で順番に電気を止める計画停電を実施する。

In implementing the plan, care should be taken so patients who are recuperating at medical institutions or at home using medical equipment are not adversely affected.
　医療機関や、自宅で医療機器を用いて療養中の患者らに悪影響が出ないようにする必要がある。

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Volunteers key to recovery

From this point forward, volunteer efforts will grow in importance in the damaged areas. After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake, various relief offered by volunteers through visits to evacuation centers and households proved incredibly helpful.
　これからは被災地でのボランティア活動が重要になってくる。阪神大震災や新潟県中越地震でも、避難所や各戸を回っての様々な支援活動が、大きな力となった。

The government has appointed Kiyomi Tsujimoto--a House of Representatives member who has experience with a nonprofit organization--as adviser to the prime minister in charge of coordination of disaster volunteer activities. We want the government to unify the channels for volunteer work so aid can be dispatched efficiently to the stricken areas in line with their needs.
　政府は、災害ボランティアの総合調整をする首相補佐官に、ＮＰＯ出身の辻元清美衆院議員を任命した。窓口を一本化し、被災地のニーズに合った計画的な派遣体制を作ることが求められる。

A great number of people certainly want to rush to the damaged areas, and campaigns to collect relief donations have already started.
　一刻も早く駆けつけたいという人が全国に大勢いるだろう。被災地に義援金を送る運動も一斉に始まった。

After this great disaster, reconstructing a state of normalcy will most certainly be a long battle. All of us must pull together to support the recovery of the affected areas.
　大災害から立ち直り、復興に至るまでの闘いが、長期戦になることは間違いない。国民全員で被災地を支えていくことが大切だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 14, 2011)
（2011年3月14日01時05分 読売新聞）