AMBASSADOR Manuel M. Lopez has been busy marshalling the resources of the Philippine Embassy in Japan to secure and extend help to the Filipinos affected by the twin disasters that struck the country.

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake rattled Sendai on the afternoon of March 11, triggering a tsunami on the coast of Miyagi on Honshu Island. Of the estimated 225,000 Filipinos who live in Japan, a little over a thousand are based in Miyagi province, which was hit by the powerful tsunami.

On Sunday, March 13, a team from the embassy travelled to the northeast region, which includes Sendai City, to ascertain the condition of the Filipinos there.

“We are sending a team there to contact local authorities and our own community leaders and to inquire if there are Filipino casualties,” Amb. Lopez said. He added that Filipinos in Tokyo, Osaka and the western regions of Japan are relatively safe. The embassy is focusing on the Filipinos in the northeast.

Teams from the embassy are now ferrying Filipinos out of Fukushima prefecture, site of the stricken Fukushima Daiini nuclear power plant. More than a hundred nationals have been safely billeted at a Catholic Church in Kichijogi, the Lighthouse Ministry in Yokohama City, the Franciscan Church in Roppongi in Tokyo and at the Wesley Center at Minami Aoyama.

According to Amb. Lopez, more buses will be sent to Fukushima if necessary. “We are fully committed to remain here to serve the needs of Filipinos in Japan,” he stressed.

The Philippine Embassy remains open in Tokyo even as 25 foreign missions have shut down or moved out of the capital in the wake of radiation concerns.

“We are staying,” Amb. Lopez said. “The Philippine Embassy is open and will remain open to serve the needs of our people here in Japan, especially those affected by the disaster.”