To IFLA members from Japan Library Association
Onsdag den 6. april 2011

Thank you very much for your message and concerns on the damages of library materials and other records caused by March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Tohoku district (north-east part of Japan), especially, Pacific coasts of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki prefectures, are devastated.

Japan Library Association (JLA) has been investigating the situation, though we do not yet know the whole picture. The prefectural libraries in the region have been temporarily closed. However, the staff there are active and they are also gathering the information on the situation of city/town libraries in their own prefectures.

Libraries in other regions, JLA, private sectors and the Government are trying to figure our necessary supports. Providing books for evacuated children and the like will come first, but we are sure restoration of damaged materials is vital and we have a lot to learn from other countries' experience and expertise on the matter.

Sincerely yours,

Matsuoka Kaname, Secretary General,
Japan Library Association(JLA)

http://www.jla.or.jp/index-e.html