The Search for Meaning: Creative Responses to Depression
October 2007
Banner photo: Davis McCardle/Getty Images
Relief Efforts Following Niigata Earthquake
A powerful earthquake hit Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on the morning of July 16. Measuring upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7, the quake left at least 11 dead and injured more than 1,000, flattening hundreds of homes.
The Soka Gakkai immediately set up disaster relief centers to assist in local emergency rescue and relief efforts. Local leaders visited the affected areas, while youth division members delivered food and drinking water by motorbike. Soka Gakkai's Kashiwazaki Makiguchi Commemorative Hall in Kashiwazaki city, one of the hardest hit areas, served as an emergency shelter for evacuees. A four-member medical relief team provided medical care to victims, and members of the young women's nurses group assisted doctors on their rounds and comforted evacuees.
