Dear friends, letter from JRU President Takei

22 March, 2011

Dear Friends and Comrades,

      First of all, thank you for your concern about us. All your warm encouraging messages are so touching for us, and they give us much energy to fight against the challenges we are facing now.

      As you know, on 11 March an earthquake with a historic magnitude of 9.0 struck the locations in northeastern Japan, registering the highest intensity level of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale in Miyagi Prefecture. In the wake of the earthquake, a huge tsunami rushed toward the coastal areas and engulfed the towns and villages. As of 19 March 7,197 people have been confirmed dead and more than 18 thousand are still missing. The figure is updated every day. The quake-hit area is covered by JRU and its affiliated union, East Japan Railway Workers’ Union (JREU).
      As for our members, all of them on duty on the day were safe. We have tried to do our best to make contact with many off-duty members. Sad to say, we confirmed that one of them lost his life in the disaster, and there are some members we are still unable to make contact with. Now, not a few members have confronted the loss of their family members and houses.
      What is the most serious now is a dangerous radiation leak from the crippled Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant. That gives an additional blow to us. The government ordered an evacuation to those living within a 20 km radius from the power plant. And people living from 20 to 30 km are advised to stay indoors.
      In this difficult situation, JRU and its affiliated unions have dispatched officers and members in order to help our members and deliver relief goods. We at JRU are all okay, and will never give up. The following is the statement which JRU released in order to call on our fellow members to stand together.

We bear in mind that we have many friends across the world and they stand together with us in solidarity, which encourages us more than anything else in this trying time. Thank you so much. I will keep you informed of further development.

Yours in solidarity,

Masaharu Takei
President of Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Unions (JRU)

(Photo: Upper / derailed locomotive of JR Freight at Ishinomaki.
Lower /  visit to JREU Sendai region office.)

Statement regarding “the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake”

12 March, 2011

On 11 March Japan was shaken by a devastating earthquake with a seismic intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale (9.0 magnitude), reportedly equivalent to 360 times as powerful as that of the 1995 Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake. Immediately after that, the northeastern coasts of Japan were hit by a 7.3-meter-high tsunami, which engulfed the wide costal areas. The damage is beyond our imagination.

JRU expresses its heartfelt sympathy to all the disaster victims, and at the same time pay its genuine respects to all the aid workers now in the quake-affected places.

JRU has been reported that not a few union members have taken the brunt of the earthquake. JRU calls on all its affiliated unions to exert the greatest possible effort to confirm whether all our fellow members are safe, and check on the damages.

The earthquake caused serious damages to the facilities of the JR and its related companies. JRU pays respect to the members who have been helping reconstruction efforts in the difficult situation that they themselves were also struck by the disaster.

JRU will take all the measures, placing top priority on safety ensuring and disaster relief for the members and their families. JRU urges all of you to approach the task of the recovery and rescue work with special attention to your own safety and health.

JRU also calls on you, who escaped from the disaster, to take another look at your disaster countermeasures. In addition to that, it requests you to encourage the afflicted members, and provide self-sacrificing and aggressive support for them.

We have received many letters with warm messages of sympathy and encouragement from workers across the world since the earthquake. Keeping their solidarity in our minds, we are determined to make a great effort to advance reconstruction and rescue work.

JRU wishes that all the disaster victims including members of JRU and their families will get over the difficulties such as psychological shock as soon as possible and resume regular life.

Let’s keep fighting together!

Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Unions (JRU)