Association of Medical Doctors of ASIA, founded in 1984, Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC since 1995

At 07:58 on June 18th (Mon), a magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit northern Osaka in central Japan.  In response to this, AMDA dispatched two coordinators from AMDA Headquarters in Okayama at 13:00. Surrounded by Japanese media, the coordinators said that, as it might be necessary to provide emergency medical relief, and there is a possibility of more damage caused by aftershocks, they will go to Osaka to grasp the scale of the situation. 

The two coordinators arrived in Osaka in the late afternoon and visited the disaster response headquarters in Takatsuki City and Ibaraki City. Both cities were hit hard by the earthquake. The team also visited Makami Community Center and Kawanishi Elementary school in Takatsuki City, which were both being used as evacuation shelters.


The next day (19th June), the coordinators visited the Disaster Crisis Management Division, the City Health Center, and two shelters (Kasugaoka High School and Higashi Middle School) in Ibaraki City.  The team then went back to Takatsuki City and visited two shelters there (Yosumi Elementary School and Kanmuri Elementary School). They were able to speak directly with a number of evacuees throughout the two cities. Some said that they decided to evacuate to the shelters due to the fear of aftershocks. Privacy was also a concern at many of the shelters due to a lack of partitions. In some areas, nearby stores had little to no food available to buy due to the disruption caused by the quake. According to latest reports, there have been five deaths and at least 393 were injured.


After speaking with municipal government officials in Takatsuki City and Ibaraki City, it was decided