Filipino priest Resty Ogsimer vividly recalls the overwhelming task he faced when other Filipinos living near the radiation-spewing Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant fled their homes and sought temporary refuge in Tokyo.
Acting on a request from the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, Ogsimer, known in the Filipino community as "Father Resty," and staff at the Catholic Tokyo International Center telephoned members of Tokyo-based Filipino communities, asking them to take in the evacuees, mostly Filipino women married to Japanese men and their children.
Kenji Arikawa, who works with Ogsimer as assistant director of the center, recalled that as many as 50 people stayed in the basement of the Franciscan Chapel Center in Tokyo's Roppongi district. The center served as a shelter for the evacuees, for several weeks assisting about 400 evacuees during that time.