PCT General Secretary reports on ground-assessment trip to Sendai

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3085 Edition

April 11-17, 2011

General Assembly News

PCT General Secretary reports on ground-assessment trip to Sendai

Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

Written by Lydia Ma

Barely one month after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami and still 
struggling to keep a nuclear crisis under control, Japan’s road to recovery 
seems long and strenuous. But it was in the midst of such circumstances that 
National Council of Churches in Japan (NCCJ) invited its closest partners in 
Asia to share in the nation’s struggles.

PCT General Secretary Andrew Chang, who currently serves as the Chairman of 
National Council of Churches Taiwan (NCCT), was among one of the delegates 
invited by NCCJ to see the devastation in Sendai first-hand. Other delegates on 
the same tour included leaders from national council of churches in Hong Kong 
and South Korea.

General Secretary encourages Taiwanese Church in Tokyo

Chang visited a Taiwanese church in Tokyo on April 10, 2011, to deliver a 
Sunday sermon and extend greetings and condolences on behalf of PCT to 
Taiwanese living in Tokyo, before heading to Sendai the following day.

Focusing his sermon on the reason for similar tragedies around the world in 
recent years, Chang reiterated Jesus’ words in John 16:33: “In this world you 
will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

He added that there’s no need for Christians to sugarcoat, vilify, or mystify 
suffering, because Christians are called to proclaim hope and peace that comes 
from God alone and such instances are great opportunities to demonstrate God’s 
love. 

While conversing with Taiwanese Christians after the service, he was told that 
while many foreigners fled Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake, many 
Taiwanese chose to stay instead because they still remembered how Japanese 
people came to Taiwan’s aid in the aftermath of the 921 earthquake.

One pastor’s wife said that her family had phoned several times to see how they 
were doing and urged them to come back to Taiwan. “The sheep can run, but the 
shepherd never abandons the flock,” she told her relatives.

Delegates survey hard-hit Sendai and Tokyo 

A total of 11 delegates met up at Narita Airport on the afternoon of April 11, 
2011, to board a northbound bus taking them to Sendai. The purpose of this trip 
was to get a hold of the magnitude of the devastation and make a ground 
assessment of people’s needs in the area.

They visited the hard-hit city of Ishinomaki on April 12 and saw many 
volunteers working hard to clear out mud and debris such as broken furniture or 
cars from residences and shops. All of these were leftover reminders of the 
tsunami. 

The delegation also met with Higashimatsushina Social Welfare Council officers 
in the afternoon and Sendai Christian Alliance leaders in the evening to 
discuss some joint relief initiatives they could do to help Japan recover.

Power supply soon became scarce in the aftermath of the earthquake, prompting 
Tokyo to start partitioning electricity to conserve energy. At the urging of 
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), many homes and businesses began voluntary 
energy-conservation initiatives such as turning off furnaces and wearing thick 
sweaters, maintaining minimal indoor lighting and opening one branch per area 
only, or closing operating hours a few hours earlier. Such mass efforts to 
conserve energy helped TEPCO lift partitioning measures as of April.

The future of nuclear energy remains uncertain amid massive needs

When Taiwan Church News interviewed a few Christians from Tokyo Taiwanese 
Church about the possibility of foregoing nuclear energy after such a crisis, 
opinions diverged significantly. 

One Taiwanese who’d lived in Tokyo for a long time said since weather in April 
is relatively comfortable in Tokyo, it wouldn’t be a problem to trade heaters 
for sweaters. However, summer can be scathingly hot to the point that elderly 
people may die of heatstroke without indoor air-conditioning.

Another Taiwanese said that nuclear energy was a necessary evil in Japan and 
recent nuclear spills have certainly awakened the masses to the dangers of 
nuclear energy. But unless society can function without television, computers, 
elevators, etc. Japan has a huge dilemma.

The most pointed question came from one interviewee who asked, “When summer 
comes around, will anyone still be anti-nuclear energy?” Though everyone 
acknowledged the crisis at hand, it seemed there was no way of overcoming the 
fact that urban society relies heavily on electricity powered by nuclear 
energy. 

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