Japan said Wednesday that further assistance from the United States was needed to help keep the nuclear cores at a power plant from overheating, after last week\’s quake and tsunami knocked out the plant\’s cooling systems.
Almost as soon as the catastrophe in Japan began unfolding last Friday, Jewish groups scrambled to figure out how to get help to the area. In Israel, search-and-rescue organizations like ZAKA and IsraAid readied teams to head to the Japanese devastation zone. In Tokyo, the Chabad center took an accounting of local Jews and began organizing a shipment of aid to stricken cities to the north. In the United States, aid organizations ranging from B’nai B’rith International to local and national federation agencies launched campaigns to collect money for rescue, relief and rebuilding efforts in the Pacific.
A third explosion in four days rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeast Japan early Tuesday, the country\’s nuclear safety agency said. The blast at Dai-ichi Unit 2 followed two hydrogen explosions at the plant – the latest on Monday – as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.
A civilian Israeli search-and-rescue team left for Japan in the aftermath of a major earthquake and tsunami.
ZAKA International Rescue Unit said Friday it will send a team of trained volunteers from Israel to help the search and rescue efforts in Japan, following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that rocked the country earlier that day.
In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Japan, the organized Jewish world is lining up support for the rescue and relief effort in the region.
Jewish organizations are mobilizing their responses to the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.