Since April 11, around 770 volunteers from 30 countries have clocked up 42,000 hours cleaning up and repairing in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, with U.S.-based NGO All Hands. A partnership with Habitat for Humanity Japan has enabled All Hands to keep this seaside hamlet supplied with a steady influx of volunteers eager to help with the recovery effort following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
"All Hands were able to establish themselves on the ground and we were able to bring them volunteers," explains Malvin Pagdanganan, HFHJ's project manager for the Japan Disaster Response Program.
"The partnership is a-two pronged affair with HFHJ bringing in weekend volunteer groups a few times a month and partially funding a house-repairs and small-repairs program," says Pagdanganan. "All Hands then houses, feeds and coordinates the volunteers and the projects they work on from their Sakari headquarters. Most volunteers apply directly through www.hands.org."