44 Filipinos repatriated from Japan

Of the 68 Filipinos who wanted to be repatriated, 44 arrived in Manila on Sunday 13:00 aboard Philippine Airlines.

This number represents 2.2 percent of the 2,000 Filipinos who reside within the 50-kilometer radius from the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant who returned home following Japan's decision to raise the nuclear alert level to the maximum of 7 early this week that led to the widening of the danger zone from 30 kilometers to 50 kilometers.

Ana Bolaer-Kimura, one of the returnees said, "There’s no place like home."

Kimura resides in Fukushima Prefecture, one of the heavily damaged areas after the triple disasters. She brought along her three-year-old daughter Ayaka. She plans to leave Ayaka to her parents in Marilao, Bulacan, north of Manila, after six months to return to Japan where she works as a "bedmaker" in Hotel Toyo located 45 kilometers from the damaged nuclear plant.

"But I need to return to Japan soon because my (Japanese) husband is waiting for me. I also have a job waiting for me in Fukushima City, which I consider my second home."

Meanwhile, Sonia Ausa-Akagi is another repatriate who plans to return to Fukushima soon.

Originally from Lapu-Lapu, Cebu in central Philippines, Akagi brought her two kids saying, "It’s much safer for my kids to be here while the authorities are fixing the radiation-related problems at the Fukushima plant … Right now, it’s still not safe to stay at our place, which is about 60 kilometers from the nuclear plant.

"I don’t want to lose my job as a caregiver in Fukushima City. We thank our government (for its voluntary repatriation program for Filipinos residing within 100 kms of the damaged facility)."

Accompanying the 44 was Ambassador Manuel Lopez.

The returnees underwent health and radiation checks before their return.

Another batch of returnees is expected on Wednesday in the capital city, said Foreign Assistant Secretary J. Eduardo Malaya.

There are 300,000 Filipinos in Japan and 200,000 of them are in Tokyo.

The nuclear plant was damaged on 11 March following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

Details of this story here.

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Here is a public service from Earthquake Information Japan Website.

Support the airfare to come back to Japan for International Students

April 15, 2011 14:00

Multilingual Support Center for the Tohoku Earthquake out at Pacific Ocean

Disaster Information 118th Translation Edition

Support the airfare to come back to Japan for International Students

There are many students temporarily left from Japan after the Earthquake.

The Japanese Government offered the airfare in coming back to Japan for Scholarship Students who forced temporarily to leave from Japan.

In addition to that, the Japan Student Service Organization will offer additional recruitment for study grants of privately-financed international Students who have excellent academic performance and suffered by economic necessity due to the Earthquake. Monthly pay is 65,000JPY for Graduates and 48,000JPY for undergraduates.

For more information, please contact your current university.



【Contact Information】

Multilingual Support Center for the Tohoku Earthquake out at Pacific Ocean

E-mail：tabumane110311@yahoo.co.jp