The JRCS donated necessary equipment in the affected schools and also provided the students with opportunity to play together with their friends and widens their views to look for a brighter future.

The funds were allocated for the following major activities.

Students having lunch at school in Fukushima. Hot meals are delivered to schools in October 2011. (c) JRCS

The facilities to prepare school meals were damaged by the disaster. The JRCS quickly donated necessary equipment to meal centers to enable them to re-start providing the affected children and students with enough school meals. The JRCS contributed to the improvement of children’s nutritional status which might be unbalanced due to the change of living conditions after the disaster.
Target area: Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima
Target of people assisted: kindergarten pupils, primary school children and junior high school students
Number of items provided to 16 school kitchens and kitchen centers: 8,933 items (Large-size refrigerators, cooking tools, etc.)
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 21,000 - 41,000

School bus operation in Iwate in September 2011. (c) JRCS

In the affected areas of the disaster, some pupils and students moved into prefabricated temporary housing, and it became difficult for them to go to school on foot. When school education resumed in the affected areas, it was necessary to secure the means of transportation to school such as school buses in consideration of the distance from the prefabricated temporary housing to the school as well as the importance of ensuring the safety of the route to and from school.
This project aims to ensure the safety of pupils and students when commuting to and from school by allocating school buses and to create an environment where pupils and students can focus on their schoolwork. In addition, it also aims to reduce the anxiety of their parents as a secondary benefit. Initially, the JRCS started the project by renting a school bus or subcontracting the work for the operation. Later, when it was anticipated that the evacuation life would be extended for a long period, the JRCS donated school buses to secure the stable means of transportation.
Target area: Iwate and Fukushima
Target of people assisted: preschool children, primary school children and junior high school students
Number of buses provided: 18 buses were provided to 13 schools affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation from the nuclear power plant disaster.
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 220- 420

School clinic in Ishinomaki, Miyagi in October 2011. (c) JRCS

Necessary equipment and health & hygiene items in in-school clinics were running short due to the loss caused by the tsunami and the increased needs during the initial relief phase. The JRCS contributed to restore the function of in-school clinics to oversee and protect children’s health.
Target area: Iwate and Miyagi
Target of people assisted: primary school children and junior high school students
Number of set of items for school clinics provided: 160 schools’ clinics in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures.
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 36,600 (18,600 in Iwate, 18,000 in Miyagi)

Participants in a summer camp in July 2012. (c) JRCS

Following the GEJET, children, as a vulnerable group in a disaster, live a psychologically stressful life with environmental changes in their education and daily life caused by the destruction of the educational facilities as well as human suffering.
The JRCS invited the children living in the affected areas to Hokkaido, for four-day summer camp. The camp aims to have children recover from the after-effects of the disaster and to foster human resources that can take a leadership role in the community in the future through interactive learning in various youth programmes that the JRCS provides in its Junior Red Cross activities as well as through experiences and exchanges, in order to protect children’s health and safety and promote their psychological stability and health growth.
The project was successfully finished and was given overwhelmingly positive feedback from children and parents as well as the volunteers.
Target area: Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima
Target of people assisted: from 5th grade of primary school children to 3rd grade of junior high school students
Number of summer camp organized: 20 sessions, 5,788 children
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 5,788 (672 in Iwate, 2,535 in Miyagi and 2,581 in Fukushima)

Smile Park, Fukushima in February 2012. (c) JRCS

In Fukushima Prefecture, a nuclear disaster occurred with the spread of radioactive materials following to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in addition to the disaster caused by the tsunami.
Parents’ worry of radiation contamination due to the nuclear power plant accident confines children to their houses. As these children were not allowed to play outside, there was a growing concern that they would be suffer lack of physical exercise. In Fukushima Prefecture, the JRCS organized several events by setting up indoor playgrounds that provided the children with opportunities to move their bodies as they like in giant air-lifted playground, a ball pool, and an air track, etc. These events contributed to retrieve children’s physical strength, get rid of their stress, and get their bedtime rhythm back to normal.
Target area: Fukushima
Target of people assisted: preschool children
Number of children visited to the smile parks: 53,538
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 86,584 (53,538 children, 33,046 guardians)

International youth exchange programme in November 2018. (c) JRCS

Various activities, such as international youth exchange programme (Philippines and Thailand), summer camp, musical concerts, etc. managed by the local chapters and the Red Cross Volunteers in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima have been carried out.
Target area: Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima
Target of people assisted: primary school children, junior high and senior high school students
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 72,000

Dream blossom project, Kamaishi City, Iwate in August 2012. (c) JRCS

In collaboration with Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, the Board of Education of Kamaishi City in Iwate Prefecture and the JRCS Chiba Chapter conducted a four-day mobile creative art workshop for children in August 2012. The collaboration was established based on the close relation between the JRCS Chiba Chapter and Iwate Prefecture following the implementation of relief activities after the disaster. During the workshop, the children made badges and built large-scale works of art together. Some of them were donated to the Board of Education of Kamaishi City for further use in schools.
Target area: Iwate
Target of people assisted: primary school children
Number of children participated :146

Osawa Nursery School (c)JRCS

Yamada Town was one of the most devastated towns in Iwate Prefecture, with more than 50 per cent of the houses completely destroyed, including public facilities for children such as nursery schools, kindergartens, and after-school clubs. Under this project, the JRCS has supported reconstruction of four nursery schools, one kindergarten and two after-school clubs in Yamada Town, Otsuchi Town and Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture.

Hirota nursery school in Rikuzentakata City, was damaged by the debris generated by the tsunami. Relocation of the school to higher ground is crucial to provide a safe environment for children and staff, and the JRCS decided to support this reconstruction which was completed in March 2015. The school, located 30 meter above sea level, started its operation in April 2015.
Target area: Iwate
Target of people assisted: preschool and primary school children
Number of the facilities reconstructed: 7 facilities in Iwate.
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 330 - 560

Naraha Town Municipal Aozora Kodomo-En in September 2013. (c) JRCS

In Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, many residents were forced to evacuate from the town due to the nuclear power plant accident. Many of them stay in Iwaki City. The JRCS built a facility named “Naraha Town Municipal Aozora Kodomo-En” in Iwaki, which served as a kindergarten and a nursery school in response to the urgent needs of working parents. It opened in December 2012.
Target area: Fukushima
Target of people assisted: preschool children
Numbers of facilities established: 2 facilities
Number of people assisted (estimated): approximately 70-150