This earthquake caused aftershocks of 6.0 on the Richter scale in the Tohoku and Kanto regions and tsunamis ranging from 14-20 meters, causing 9,000 deaths and 21,000 causalities as of March 24, 2011.  There has also been the collapse of communities and loss of housing for over 250,000 disaster victims.

In addition to such broadly affected areas, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, one of the nuclear plants in Fukushima prefecture, was damaged by tsunamis and causing radiation emissions and endangering nearby residents, necessitating evacuations. Due to this earthquake, the liquefation of land is happening in large areas.  Thus this earthquake sparked a massive chain of disasters.

Now there is a need for victim relief, securing temporary housings, life support, and area rehabilitation.  We at the UCRCA are asking ourselves how we can help to rebuild after this massive and multilateral disaster.

Although UCRCA mainly focuses on urban communities in Asia and its development, being faced with the current crises, we are eager to   expand our activities and information updates regarding redevelopment and revival in local cities to include the damaged communities in Tohoku region of Japan.