Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)

On the Occasion of Two Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake

1. Full two years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11 2011, causing unprecedented damages. On this occasion, we sincerely express our condolences once again to those people who have fallen to victims of the disaster. We also express our hearty respect for those people who have lost their families, friends, calm daily lives, houses and home towns but are exerting their utmost efforts even in a state of deep grief and in a sense of loss. We sincerely wish them to recover their vigor as early as possible.
   
   Over the past two years, many people all over Japan and of many countries around the world have felt sympathy to the people in disaster-stricken areas and have spread the circle of various supports for reconstruction and revival. We really feel anew how noble and precious the “mutual tie (kizuna)” is, which we have come to recognize through the Earthquake.
   
   
2. However, many people including those who have lost their own houses to live in and are obliged to live in temporary houses, those who cannot go back to their native towns and cities and are driven to live in evacuation, those children who have lost their playgrounds, those people who cannot find stable employment and those people who cannot yet get out of mental pains are still walking the path of sufferings.
   
   RENGO will continue to demand the government and the organizations concerned to do their utmost efforts for earliest possible reconstruction of the stricken areas and earliest restoration of the life of sufferers by tackling various issues at an increased speed.
   
   
3. Furthermore, taking the opportunity of having participated in the RENGO Disaster Relief Volunteer Activities which continued for half a year since March 31, the circles of individually elaborated activities have been steadily spreading among the organizations including RENGO, its affiliates and RENGO Locals. RENGO will continue to spread the circles further. Moreover, taking every opportunity, RENGO will continue to call for reconstruction and revival of disaster-stricken areas and deliver our hearty feeling of “never allow our memories of disaster to fade away” to the workplaces and communities.
   
   
4. Today on March 11, members who get together in RENGO are expressing their sympathy to the people who have suffered from the disaster at their own places, at their own time and on their own stands. On the occasion of full two years after the Great Earthquake, we would like to pledge ourselves to do our possible utmost efforts for reconstruction from our own positions, keeping our memories of the disaster in mind.