ASIA/JAPAN - Caritas: “We are ready to work side by side with the Government during the emergency and the reconstruction”

Rome (Agenzia Fides ) – Caritas Japan, with the support if the Caritas Internationalis network, is ready to work side by side with the Government during the emergency and in the rehabilitation of the people struck by the earthquake and the tsunami. So said Fr Bonnie Mendes, Director of the Asian Department of Caritas Internationalis, who from Bangkok is playing a coordinating role between Japan, the international network and the central offices.
“The work of Caritas in Japan,” he explains to Fides, “is currently to prepare and equip ourselves to meet the needs that the Government raises in the field of humanitarian aid. For this reason we have set up an emergency centre in Sendai. Emergency rescue operations are being conducted by Japanese civil defence personnel, highly specialised in terms of resources and technology. So, in this case, where the disaster has struck a very well organised society, there is no need for volunteers armed only with good will, rather we need targeted assistance. Caritas is one of the organisations, if summoned, which will be ready to enter the field to co-manage the emergency.”
Fr Mendes remarks, in fact, even “the problem of possible nuclear contamination requires great care and specialised personnel also among the rescuers.... Our work will be most useful, comprehensive and intense in the second phase, that of post-emergency rehabilitation.”
Fr Mendes says he is “very encouraged by the response from Asian countries: Caritas Singapore, Macao, Taiwan and even Vietnam and Myanmar - very poor countries with internal problems - have raised money. Caritas Korea, with other Christian groups, is taking action to support Caritas Japan with human and technological resources. Even in India and Pakistan the Catholic communities have initiated collections and they are accompanying the Japanese people through prayer. It is a great demonstration of solidarity which gives us much comfort.”
On the attitude of the Catholics and all people of Japan currently, Fr Mendes cites the words of Psalm 50: “A contrite and broken heart, O God, thou will not despise.” “I am sure,” he concludes, “that the Lord will welcome the cries and prayers of this people tried by suffering.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 17/3/2011)