Much-needed relief supplies from Samaritan’s Purse were transported on Sunday to Sendai, the city nearest the epicenter of the earthquake and tsunami. The 93 tons of aid—which included blankets, hygiene items, heavy-duty plastic sheeting, and other materials—will be used by our team to help relieve the suffering of thousands of disaster victims.

The 747 jumbo jet carrying the supplies arrived at the U.S. military base in Yokoto, Japan, on Saturday. The U.S. military and Japan Defense Force offloaded the cargo from the charter flight in less than an hour.




The materials then were transported from the Yokoto base to Sendai airport in three C-17 flight rotations. This was a combined forces operation involving the U.S. Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Army. It was the first time that a C-17 plane has landed there. The supplies were loaded onto trucks and taken to our warehouse in Sendai.

READ MORE: A special cooperative effort quickly gets the relief supplies to Sendai.

More than 300 Japanese citizens volunteered to help unload the supplies at our warehouse. They included school children and their mothers, businessmen, and even the elderly who insisted on helping with the effort. They waited for several hours in the freezing cold and eagerly, cheerfully helped with unloading. Our team in Japan said that it was an incredibly humbling and emotional experience to see so many Japanese volunteers pitch in to help us help their community.



The emergency airlift departed Charlotte on Friday, a week after Japan's twin disasters. The cargo included 1,000 rolls of heavy-duty plastic, 16,860 blankets, 14,304 hygiene kits, 21,408 bars of soap, 1,111 buckets, and 18,432 jerry cans.

“This is a very difficult day when we think about one week ago the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan,” said Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham, as the 747 was being loaded at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. “We are here today to dedicate this shipment, to pray that God would take this material, that He would use it to bring comfort to the people of Japan.”




Samaritan's Purse is working through local churches to meet physical and spiritual needs among people devastated by the catastrophe.

“As we go in Japan, we go in Jesus’ Name,” Graham said. “My prayer is that these supplies will bring some relief to an incredible amount of suffering."

Ichiro Fujisaki, the Ambassador of Japan to the United States, thanked Samaritan’s Purse in a letter that Graham read before the cargo plane departed.

“Many thanks on behalf of the people of Japan,” the ambassador wrote. “Japan is now facing a challenge never before experienced. Many people are still suffering. In this time, these extraordinary gifts are greatly appreciated. They are exactly what are needed now and in such large quantities. Everyday, I am confirming how true is the saying, ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed.’ Thank you again, friends of Samaritan’s Purse. We will never forget this.”

Our staff in Japan is sending back reports of terrible devastation. They say that coastal towns look like war zones.

“The greatest need is prayer,” Graham said. “We need prayer for the people of Japan, we need prayer for our team. People are without hope. I want the Japanese people to know that God loves Japan, and God cares for Japan.”

Samaritan’s Purse launched a major relief effort soon after the earthquake.

“I've led Festivals through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Okinawa and Osaka, and my father visited Japan six times during his ministry,” Graham said. “So the first thing we did after the earthquake was to contact our church partners in Japan. We provided money, so they could immediately start buying and distributing supplies to the victims of this disaster. But the need is so great that we also got right to work organizing this emergency airlift.”

Samaritan's Purse , Japan , Emergency Relief , Airlifting Aid to Japan