2011 Tohoku Disaster Relief Efforts

This page will describe Tenrikyo's 2011 Tohoku Disaster Relief Efforts for the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (東北地方太平洋沖地震, Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin, literally "Tōhoku region Pacific Ocean offshore earthquake") was a 9.0-magnitude megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on Friday 11 March 2011. The epicenter was 130 kilometers (81 mi) off the east coast of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku near Sendai, with the hypocenter at a depth of 32 km (19.9 mi)

Damage to Diocese Churches

• Completely destroyed: 26
• Half-destroyed: 29
• Partial or minor damage: 272

According to Michi no Tomo, there are 134 churches in Miyagi Prefecture (12 churches exist only on paper, making 122 active churches total).

• Location: Total number of active churches in mentioned location (Damage rate according to above data)
• Higashimatsushima: 3 (100%)
• Ishinomaki: 11 (36.36%)
• Kesennuma: 13 (15.38%)
• Motoyoshi County, Minamisanriku-cho: 1 (100%)
• Natori: 2 (50%)
• Osaki: 10 (10%)

Churches washed away from tsunami

• Inai (Ishinomaki City)
• Shizugawa (Motoyoshi County, Minamisanriku-cho)
• Kesennuma (Kesennuma City)
• Yuriage (Natori City)

Submerged by/exposed to tsunami flooding

• Rikuzen Takaki (Higashimatsushima City)
• Hone'mori (Higashimatsushima City)
• Nobiru (Higashimatsushima City)
• Oshika (Ishinomaki City)
• Oka (Ishinomaki City)
• Ishi'ichi (Ishinomaki City)
• Kanaeura (Kesennuma City)

Fully destroyed

• Shida (Osaki City)

Disaster Relief Efforts

So far, there are only two efforts initiated by Church Headquarters which are currently accepting donations:

• Disaster Relief Fund for Affected Dioceses
• Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps (DRHC)

Relief Efforts

• Tenrikyo Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake Disaster Relief Headquarters (headed by Director-in-Chief of Administrative Affairs Yoshitaro Ueda) was established on March 11, 2011 in Tenri City.
• Donations made to Disaster Relief Fund: 1,601 donations totaling 114,123,808 yen (US$1,357,647), as of March 29, 2011
• Donations made to Tenrikyo Fund to Support Affected Dioceses and Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps.: 975 donations totaling 91,959,095 yen (US$1,093,969)
• Tenrikyo Disaster Relief Headquarters dispatched five water trucks on March 16 in partnership with various organizations
• Disaster Relief Headquarters sent to the Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures 10 million yen each. (30 million yen or $367,000USD total).

Tenrikyo Disaster Relief Fund

Tenrikyo Disaster Relief Fund (天理教災害救援募金, Tenrikyo saigai kyūen bokin)

• 2011-03-16 Disaster Relief Corps sent 5 water trucks to Niigata Diocese Office in Niigata City and Miyagi Prefecture
• 2011-03-19 Disaster Relief Corps sent 5 more trucks to the Tohoku region. The trucks went to Sendai City.

Tenrikyo Fund to Support Affected Dioceses and Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps

Tenrikyo Fund to Support Affected Dioceses and Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps (天理教被災教区災救隊支援募金, Tenrikyo Hisaikyoku Saikyuutai Shien Bokin) (literally, Tenrikyo Fund for Affected Dioceses and Disaster Relief Aid Corps)

Locations accepting donations

• Tenrikyo Church HQ announces relief funds
• Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in Brazil
• Tenrikyo Oceania Centre (announcement not found on website, contact for more information)
• Tenrikyo Mission Center in Singapore (announcement not found on website, contact for more information)
• Tenrikyo New York Center
• Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters of Hawaii

Stopped Accepting Donations

• Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America has announced that they have ended their collection of donations that have exceeded $100,000.