Feeling that desire or need to help out Japan but afraid of getting ripped off? I know many are and I know that the people of Japan need our help more than ever. Over at
Party Blueprints, they have a new post where you can join Social Media Moms and Partyblueprints to raise awareness and money to support the work being done by "Save the Children" in Japan.
All it takes is a click and you can donate to help. Click here to read all the details and help.
Facts taken from Partyblueprints site:
Japan Disaster Facts
- An estimated 100,000 children have been displaced from their homes
- Japan facing three disasters: earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation
- Japan is on high nuclear alert for two nuclear reactors in Fukushima
- Many tsunami-affected areas are still cut off from relief
- More than 465 roads, 43 bridges and seven railways washed away
- More than 380,000 people evacuated across the country
Due to the fact the quake and tsunami hit during the day, most children were in school or nurseries separated from their parents – fears are that many will be orphaned.
The triple horror of Japan’s earthquake, tsunami, and potential nuclear disaster has raised concerns over the long-term impact on children, some of whom are already displaying signs of trauma, from screaming nightmares to silent withdrawal.
The potential for lasting trauma is compounded by the unusual multiple nature of the event: a massive 9.0 earthquake, a devastating tsunami and a nationwide scare over a possible meltdown at a nuclear plant.
Experts say the scale of the loss and disruption for some children would have been almost inconceivable: homes destroyed, friends disappeared, one or both parents maybe killed, or siblings and other close family members missing.
Initial efforts to help them come to terms with the tragedy can only be made in extremely stressful circumstances, with families packed into ill-equipped evacuation shelters, suffering bitterly cold nights and frequent terrifying aftershocks.
“We found children in desperate conditions, huddling around kerosene lamps and wrapped in blankets,” said Save the Children spokesman Ian Woolverton, who visited a number of evacuation centres in the coastal regions of northeast Japan that bore the brunt of the March 11 tsunami.
“They told me about their anxieties, especially their fears about radiation,” Woolverton said, adding that several youngsters had mentioned the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which they know from school books.
Parents, many traumatised themselves, have struggled to keep their own fears in check as they try to soothe their children and provide them with some sense of normality and security.
Atsushi Takahashi, 36, said his two-year-old son Haruto has been terrified by the constant, sometimes powerful aftershocks.
“He’s been very scared, crying out ‘the house is shaking. I don’t like the house’,” Takahashi said, holding his son as he waited in a queue for a truck bringing fresh water to his neighbourhood.
“I always tell him that everything is okay and I hug him,” Takahashi said. “I think we just have to let time heal the wounds.”
Many children have had trouble sleeping, woken repeatedly in the night by bad dreams, while others have mentally shut down, shunning any company but their parents, whom they refuse to let out of their sight for even a moment.
Woolverton said the priority for Save The Children was to set up “child-friendly spaces” where children of a similar age could interact and start to play together again.
“I know from years of experience that if children play, it can ward off the chance of major long-term emotional trauma,” he said.
“The idea is also to relieve the stress on parents and to give them a break from childcare duties as they register for emergency assistance, try to find food, locate friends and family members and, in the longer term, jobs and housing.”
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