Here are some ways that interested people can volunteer for the relief effort IN Tokyo.

http://www.foreignvolunteersjapan.org/

I know that people are numb from info overload, but this is some good information on volunteering (but I am sure that there will be much more as we get more information)--how it is being done and how to do it in the future.

I am pasting one section below just to give you an idea. In particular, look at #2 below: it explains the differences between the Hanshin and Tohoku earthquakes, and how this impacts the relief effort.

David Slater
Sophia U.

Donating Goods to the Disaster Victims: What You Should Know!
（Editor’s note: This entry is a direct reposting of an account written by Japanese journalist Toshinao Sasaki’s coverage at Uniken, the Japan Universal Design Research Institute. The original entry in Japanese can be found on *his web page . *Mr. Sasaki has given his permission for the full post to be republished on other sites.
Thanks to Camellia Nieh for the translation. )

On the 17th, when I announced my recent blog post titled “Report from the Disaster Area: Circumstances Differ from the Hanshin Earthquake” on Twitter, many people tweeted responses questioning my sources and accusing me of rumormongering. Immediately afterwards, I had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Yoshie Yokoo of the NPO Uniken on the telephone, further substantiating my position.

Uniken, Japan Universal Design Research Institute
http://www.npo-uniken.org/ (Japanese only) The non-profit organization Uniken currently has staff and volunteers on the ground in the disaster-affected areas conducting relief activities, launching a project dubbed “the Japan Universal Disaster Relief Headquarters.” The following is a summary of what I learned from Ms. Yokoo over the telephone.

(1) The Japan Universal Disaster Relief Headquarters, or Japan Universal, has deployed a large number of volunteers to the disaster-affected areas. In Kesennuma for example, volunteers are piloting and staffing three privately owned helicopters to conduct relief activities. Other volunteers left Tokyo at 6pm on March 16th in two 2-ton trucks loaded with relief goods. They arrived at their destination in Yamagata at dawn on the 17th, roughly 12 hours later. Without stopping to sleep, they continued onwards to Kesennuma, an area affected by the tsunami. Many other volunteers are conducting similar activities. Currently, only trained volunteers with significant disaster relief experience are entering the disaster zones. Japan Universal is certified by the Japanese Cabinet Office and has been issued a government permit to use the highways to transport goods out of Tokyo.

(2) What is now becoming clear is that *the circumstances **of this disaster are completely unlike those of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.** * In the wake of that disaster, the local governments of Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe City and Ashiya City were still functioning. For that reason, the local authorities were able to distribute relief materials and funds from the Red Cross to affected areas. This became the grounds for the widespread directives to “send money, not goods” and “coordinate [all volunteer activities] through the Red Cross.”

In this disaster, however, the local authorities who would normally coordinate aid have been completely destroyed. As a result, the Red Cross, Japan Self-Defense Forces, and firefighter rescue teams are unable to cover the entire disaster area. *This has lead to a dire situation:* *pockets of survivors taking refuge together in isolation, undiscovered by the* *authorities, and completely without water, food, fuel, electricity, or telephone acces